Scott Shane & Charlie Savage
NYT 06.29.2010
[O]n Monday, federal prosecutors accused 11 people of being part of a Russian espionage ring, living under false names and deep cover in a patient scheme to penetrate what one coded message called American 'policy making circles'... The suspects were directed to gather information on nuclear weapons, American policy toward Iran, C.I.A. leadership, Congressional politics and many other topics, prosecutors say... But the charges did not include espionage, and it was unclear what secrets the suspected spy ring — which included five couples — actually managed to collect. After years of F.B.I. surveillance, investigators decided to make the arrests last weekend, just days after an upbeat visit to President Obama by the Russian president, Dmitri A. Medvedev.
Associated Press
Guardian 06.17.2010
Kyrgyzstan's interim government has accused the country's deposed president, Kurmanbek Bakiyev, of igniting longstanding ethnic tensions by sending gunmen in ski masks to shoot members of both groups. The government, which overthrew Bakiyev in April, also accuses the leader of corruption and says he and his supporters were attempting to damage official control of the south and reassert their control of the Afghan heroin trade in the area. The official death toll on both sides is 189 but the true number appears to be far higher. Many Kyrgyz have been killed but the victims appear to have been predominantly Uzbeks, traditional farmers and traders who speak a distinct but separate Turkic language and have traditionally been more prosperous than the Kyrgyz, who come from a nomadic tradition...A few parts of the south have been all but purged of ethnic Uzbeks. In other areas hundreds who had not fled piled up old cars on the streets, barricading themselves into their neighbourhoods.
Luke Harding
Guardian 06.27.2010
Kyrgyzstan's interim government tonight claimed victory in a controversial referendum, held just two weeks after 2,000 people were killed and tens of thousands were left homeless in ethnic violence. Rosa Otunbayeva, the country's acting leader, said she had won overwhelming support for her plan to create a new parliamentary system... Today's ballot was designed to legitimise the current government and to replace the country's abuse-prone presidential system. The new European-style model is a first in central Asia, which is run by authoritarian "super-presidents". A new government would be formed on 10 July, Otunbayeva said, without a "temporary" tag. But international observers and human rights groups today criticised the timing of the poll, which took place against a backdrop of the worst ethnic violence in central Asia for two decades. They also warned that the vote could exacerbate divisions between the north and south of the country and hasten its break-up, or lead to civil war.
Elliot Hen-Tov & Bernard Haykel
NYT 06.18.2010
Iran paradoxically stands to lose much influence as Turkey assumes a surprising new role as the modern, democratic and internationally respected nation willing to take on Israel and oppose America... Turkey’s Islamist government has distilled every last bit of political benefit from the flotilla crisis, domestically and internationally. And if the Gaza blockade is abandoned or loosened, it will be easily portrayed as a victory for Turkish engagement on behalf of the Palestinians... For Americans, it may be hard to see the blessings in a rift with a longtime ally. But even if Turkey’s interests no longer fully align with ours, there is much to be gained from a Westernized, prosperous and democratic nation becoming the standard-bearer of the Islamic world.
