North Korea conducted its third nuclear test on Tuesday in defiance of existing U.N. resolutions, drawing condemnation from around the world, including from its only major ally, China, which summoned the North Korean ambassador to protest.

• February 12, 2013

Azerbaijani gas will be supplied from the Shah Deniz offshore gas condensate field to Europe in 2019, SOCAR Vice-President Elshad Nasirov said at a meeting of the Euronest PA Energy Committee in Baku today.

• February 12, 2013

Transition in Ukraine: A Critical Assessment and Current Challenges
January 2013

When the communist bloc disintegrated between 1989 and 1991, Western understanding of transition had been largely influenced by authoritarian transitions in Latin America and Southern Europe since the 1960s. Few scholars of post-communist transition have sought to develop a theoretical framework that encapsulates all four aspects of the quadruple transition: political and economic reform, state and nation building. Few scholars have grappled with the added complication of newly independent states, such as Ukraine, not only introducing political and economic reform simultaneously but also building institutions and a state while forging a unified nation-state. READ MORE

• February 12, 2013

Transition in Turkey: A Critical Assessment and Current Challenges
January 2013

Following the footsteps of Kemal Atatürk, post-WWII Turkish political leaders kept the Western-oriented and secular orientation of the country. The Kemalist leadership was based on six main untouchable principles: “republicanism,” “nationalism,” “populism,” “secularism,” “reformism” and “statism.” READ MORE

• February 12, 2013

By Claudia Nocente, Research Associate Global Security
February 2013

Key points:

• Egypt’s new administration between international praise and domestic unrest
• Morsi assumes pharaonic powers in an attempt to rid Egypt of Mubarak judges
• The felool take another shot in Egyptian politics
• The generals remain silent
• The Egyptian economy sinks

• February 12, 2013

Given the politicisation of Iran's nuclear programme issue, its solution requires time and patience, Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi said in an interview with the Russian service of the Iranian IRIB News TV channel.

• February 11, 2013

China and Japan engaged on Friday in a fresh round of invective over military movements near a disputed group of uninhabited islands, fuelling tension that for months has bedeviled relations between the Asian powers.

• February 11, 2013

Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili has said he is prepared for immedate talks with Prime Minister Bidzina Ivanishvili and the government regarding "constitutional changes and other issues affecting the development of the country."

• February 11, 2013