Word: russia
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...headline on Bobby Ghosh's article, "Can we be friends?" is perhaps going too far [July 13]. Friendship cannot spring up without common understanding and common interests. The improvement in relationships between Russia and the U.S. should be fostered on both sides; let us hope that Mr. Obama and Mr. Medvedev, two young and charismatic leaders, honestly face this tough challenge. Ignacio O'Dogherty, MADRID...
...Moreover, as the U.S. deepens its ties with Pakistan's historical rival, India, foreign policy experts suggest Islamabad may be trying to expand its relationship with Moscow. Since the Soviet days, India has always been Russia's traditional South Asian ally. Now Pakistani defense officials have mooted possible deals for Russian military hardware, moving away from the tacit understandings of a Cold War past. "Russia is trying to find a foothold in the region," says Brahma Chellaney, a strategic affairs analyst at the New Delhi-based Centre for Policy Research. "There's no reason why it shouldn't start selling...
...delegations from seven other former Soviet republics. An increased American interest in the region - if only as a logistical hub for its war effort in Afghanistan - has driven Moscow to reassert itself in its backyard. After the U.S. secured its lease of an air base in Kyrgyzstan this month, Russia now intends to persuade the Kyrgyz government to allow the building of a second Russian base on its soil. Moscow sees its pervasive influence, both economic and political, in the region as a stabilizing force...
...parties who met in Dushanbe must also deal with the social powder keg that is Central Asia. The recession has badly hit the region, with shrinking job markets in richer nations like Russia and Kazakhstan sending thousands of migrant workers home to poorer ones, such as Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. What promises to be a very bleak year for many Central Asian households has only amplified questions over the stability of the region as a whole...
...Moscow is also part of the problem, says McGlinchey of George Mason University. The legacy of Soviet rule - from gerrymandered borders and dislocated populations to regimes of censorship and corruption - shapes Central Asia's politics to this day, and lingers in the cozy dealings between Russia's rulers and those ensconced in power throughout the region. Moreover, human rights advocates claim that Central Asian governments often raise the specter of terrorism to mask the abuses of their rule and the legitimate protests of their citizens. (See pictures of the politics of water in Central Asia...