In the upheaval following World War I and with revolution in the air across Europe, Ukraine followed the example of Poland and Finland to gain independence out of the ruins of imperial Russia.

• March 8, 2011

U.S. President Barack Obama has held talks at the White House with Kyrgyz President Roza Otunbaeva.  

• March 8, 2011

Vladimir Putin headed the Russian delegation and European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso headed the EU delegation. The agenda of the visit of the Russian delegation included three issues: Russia’s accession to the WTO; the EU-Russia energy trade; and the free visa regime for Russians traveling to the EU.

• March 7, 2011

Armenia and Azerbaijan held talks Saturday on the disputed Nagorny Karabakh region, signalling their wish to resolve the conflict peacefully after tensions heightened in recent months.

• March 7, 2011

Lebanese protesters have called for an end to the country’s sectarian political system.

• March 7, 2011

A police officer stopped at a traffic light in Dagestan's capital is gunned down from an adjacent car. A driver blows himself up at a checkpoint. The mayor has survived 15 assassination attempts.

• March 5, 2011

Two Philippine military planes chased Chinese patrol boats from disputed waters in the South China Sea on March 2. The Philippine military claims that the patrol boats were harassing a Philippine vessel belonging to a private oil firm conducting seismic explorations of the natural gas and oil reservoirs in the Reed Bank, located 240 kilometers off the west coast of Palawan.

• March 5, 2011

Amid the talk in Washington and London of military intervention in Libya, Tim Coles considers how the Anglo-American portrayal of Mu’ammar Gaddafi changed from bogeyman to friend when it became apparent that he would grant oil contracts to various Western companies.

• March 5, 2011