President Barack Obama promised in a letter released on Monday to tackle "serious issues" straining relations with Azerbaijan, an important link in Afghan supply lines and energy export routes to the West.

• Date: 08.06.2010  |  Published on EGF: 08.06.2010  |  Energy  |  from reuters.com

Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates arrived here today to express U.S. gratitude to this former Soviet republic on the western shore of the Caspian Sea for its contributions to the coalition’s efforts in Afghanistan.

• Date: 07.06.2010  |  Published on EGF: 07.06.2010  |  External Relations  |  from globalsecurity.org

Israel has begun expelling the latest group of activists detained for trying to break the Gaza blockade. Meanwhile, Israel's ambassador to the US has rejected a probe into an earlier deadly raid on a Gaza aid flotilla.

• Date: 07.06.2010  |  Published on EGF: 07.06.2010  |  Security  |  from Deutsche Welle

When Vladimir Putin traveled to Guatemala three years ago to personally promote Russia's bid for the 2014 Winter Olympics, he pledged the Games in Sochi would be "safe, enjoyable, and memorable."

• Date: 07.06.2010  |  Published on EGF: 07.06.2010  |  External Relations  |  from Radio Free Europe

The annual report of the Stockholm Peace Research Institute says that the world has never spent more on defense, in spite of the global financial crisis.

• Date: 03.06.2010  |  Published on EGF: 03.06.2010  |  External Relations  |  from Deutsche Welle

While its relations with Israel continue to plummet to new depths in the wake of the Gaza flotilla raid, Turkey is considering how to handle the US as Washington tries to balance its ties with Jerusalem and Ankara.

• Date: 03.06.2010  |  Published on EGF: 03.06.2010  |  External Relations  |  from Deutsche Welle

Afghan security forces patrol ahead of Wednesday's start of a three-day peace conference in Kabul. KABUL—The Afghan government kicks off a national assembly in Kabul Wednesday, the first in a string of events that officials hope will chart a path to reconciliation with insurgents, seize the political initiative from the Taliban and lay the groundwork for...

• Date: 02.06.2010  |  Published on EGF: 02.06.2010  |  External Relations  |  from World News

Despite seemingly encouraging words about freedom of speech from Vladimir Putin, the Prime Minister, Russian opposition activists were again beaten and detained when they tried to hold peaceful protests across the country yesterday.

• Date: 01.06.2010  |  Published on EGF: 01.06.2010  |  Security  |  from timesonline.co.uk