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West Asia
Armenian Elections and Regional Implications
On April 2, Armenians will go to the polls to elect a new parliament. Although Armenia has a very poor record of free and fair elections, this particular ballot stands as a milestone for the country; this for several reasons. First, this election marks the start of the transformation to…
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Central Asia
Visit of Mirziyoyev to Kazakhstan may bring big changes to the region
President of the Republic of Uzbekistan, Shavkat Mirziyoyev has started his two-day state visit to the Republic of Kazakhstan at the invitation of President Nursultan Nazarbayev, on March 22. Generally, there is nothing unusual: newly elected president of a country is paying a visit to a neighboring state. However, if to…
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West Asia
Women’s political participation in Georgia
International Women’s Day, originally called International Working Women’s Day, is celebrated on March 8 every year. In different regions, the focus of the celebrations is usually a general celebration of respect and appreciation towards women for their economic, political and social achievements. This day will also be celebrated in Georgia where woman…
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East Asia
Military action against North Korea ‘on the table’, says US
U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson declared an end to the Barack Obama administration’s policy of strategic patience in dealing with North Korea, vowing to explore all options including harsher sanctions and military action. The U.S. top diplomat also stressed the importance of China’s role in forcing Pyongyang to abandon…
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East Asia
The process of impeachment in Philippines and Indonesia
The Constitutional Court upheld the impeachment of President Park Geun-hye last Friday, removing her from office after a 92-day leadership crisis, triggering a presidential election in the weeks to come. However, another case of impeachment has occurred: President Rodrigo Duterte in the Philippines. The first impeachment complaint against President Rodrigo…
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East Asia
China’s THAAD strategy
Lee Seong-hyon / The Korea Times South Korea should buckle up for a long, arduous ride against China’s tidy incremental economic pressure to backpedal on THAAD. China will continue to ratchet up its “economic card” as the primary means to inject pain into South Korea’s economic bloodstream because it proved…
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Central Asia
Russia’s S-400 in Turkey not to be integrated into NATO system
S-400 missile system that Ankara plans to buy from Russia will not be integrated into NATO missile defense system, the Turkish Defense Minister Fikri Işık said. “The Russian S-400 system will not be integrated into NATO missile defense system,” Sputnik cited Işık as saying. On Wednesday, Turkish Defense Minister said…
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Central Asia
Putin against restoring monarchic rule in Russia
Russian President Vladimir Putin has a cold attitude towards the ideas of restoring monarchic rule in Russia, the presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov said, commenting on recent statements by Crimea’s head Sergey Aksyonov. “Monarchy in an individual region of Russia is ruled out,” he said, when asked if it might be…
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East Asia
Criticising the citizen Park Geun-hye
Today marks the first day former President Park will spend in her private residence as an ordinary citizen. After being criticized for staying in the Blue House two additional days since her impeachment, Park was driven to her home in Samseong-dong (Gangnam) late Sunday evening. Upon arriving at her residence,…
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East Asia
The “Real Asia Pivot”: Trump Will Do What Obama Only Talked About
Former President Obama should be given credit for recognizing this and for attempting, however weakly and ineffectively, to transition American attention further east. Ironically, due to his Administration’s failures, it is likely to be the successor to America’s self-purported “First Pacific President,” the ever-pugnacious but unabashedly pro-American Donald Trump, who…
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