Fighting Stance

Tempers in Serbia and Kosovo are once again at the boiling point over the configuration of Kosovo's next international law-and-order mission. The dispute comes as Belgrade finds itself increasingly at odds with nearly all of its Balkan neighbors. More

Could Georgia Really Get Sochi Games Moved?

Officials on Georgia's National Olympic Committee -- supported by more than a dozen Georgian Olympic champions -- have said that the 2014 Winter Olympics should be withdrawn from the Russian Black Sea resort of Sochi. More

Low Prices, Low Demand Don't Yet Mean Deflation

Recessions are bad enough. Add serious deflation and you can end up in an economic depression, although not necessarily one as bad as the Great Depression of the 1930s. Does that mean the world faces a round of deflation? RFE/RL asked William Niskanen, who served as acting chairman of former U.S. President Ronald Reagan's Council of Economic Advisers and is now chairman of the Cato Institute, a private policy research center in Washington. More

Identifying Chechnya's Dead

The Kremlin and its handpicked leader take credit for what they say is a return to peacetime life in Chechnya. But despite a reconstruction boom in Grozny, Russia has yet to come to terms with the legacy of two devastating wars, and there has been no systematic identification of the dead. More

Transitions Peaceful, If Not Always Well-Organized

Stephen Hess, a senior fellow emeritus of governance studies at the Brookings Institution in Washington, D.C., has participated in every U.S. presidential transition since the Eisenhower White House in the 1950s. For the current presidential election season, Hess has written "What Do We Do Now?"-- a guide to what happens when one commander in chief leaves the White House and a new one comes in. More

Turning Point For Taliban?

Indian Muslim leaders recently endorsed a religious decree by the Deobandi movement, the Taliban’s spiritual fathers, denouncing terrorism as un-Islamic. Now, the Deobandi political leader has told RFE/RL that he will convene Muslim clerics across South Asia to endorse the fatwa. Is this a turning point for the Taliban? More

Obama Confirms He Will Close Guantanamo Prison

U.S. President-elect Barack Obama has confirmed he will close the Guantanamo Bay detention facility and "make sure we don't torture," calling those steps necessary "to regain America's moral stature in the world." The closure of Guantanamo would end one of the most controversial chapters in U.S. President George W. Bush's war on terror. More

EU Envoy Says No 'Business As Usual' In Talks

As part of the EU-brokered cease-fire between Georgia and Russia, the two sides met in Geneva on October 15. Little progress was made and the second round was set for November 18. Ahead of those talks, the EU's special representative to the South Caucasus, Peter Semneby, talked to RFE/RL's Georgian Service about what the EU can do, and what unresolved issues he sees going forward. More

Turkmen Campaign Begins, But Will Anything Change?

Campaigning for parliamentary elections has begun in Turkmenistan set for December 14 -- the first parliamentary polls held with President Gurbanguly Berdymukhammedov as head of state, and some changes are evident. The new parliament will have more powers and more than twice the number of deputies, and international monitors have even been invited to watch the proceedings. More

Nazarbaev Attempts To Impose Pluralism, Free Media

Kazakhstan is due to take over the chair of the OSCE in 2010 but many, even within the OSCE, have expressed doubts about its credentials when it comes to democratic reforms and respect for basic rights. Astana appears prepared to come closer to the OSCE's ideas of democracy, but its approach to getting there falls short of the ideal. More