This is a legacy website featuring a collection of work by the Carnegie Endowment’s global network of scholars on topics including Russia, Ukraine, Eurasia, and the post-Soviet states. This site is a product of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace based in Washington, D.C. For more recent work by Carnegie scholars in this field, please visit Carnegie Politika.
Uzbekistan sees itself as a regional Central Asian leader, and in fact the situation in Central Asia is largely determined by the developments inside this country.
As the Russians recognize that the current Syrian regime is likely to be overwhelmed by its opponents, there is a chance that Moscow and the West could finally reconcile their positions on Syria.
Developments in Egypt will not only affect the country's own future, but also that of the wider Middle East and the rest of the world.
The United States is coming closer to a resolution of the Syrian issue, either through diplomatic channels by forging an accord with Russia or, if that fails, by means of military aid to the opposition.
The Obama administration must realize that no “foreign policy” issue will matter as much to global economic, political, and ultimately security conditions in the coming year as whether the United States can demonstrate that it is able to deal with its economic crisis.
However damaging the violence and shrill the rhetoric, the current round of fighting between Gaza and Israel is likely to be anything but decisive. The most likely outcome is a return to something like the status quo ante.
As the Obama administration moves into its second term, it makes more sense to deal with the Israeli-Palestinian conflict that really exists rather than to pretend that there still is a "peace process" that only needs one more round of quiet talks to succeed.
The world is seeking leadership from U.S. President Obama on a range of foreign policy challenges, from Iran’s nuclear program to Sino-U.S. relations.
It is unlikely that Obama will act to worsen U.S.-Russia relations during his second presidential term.
Since 2011, the driving forces in the Middle East have been the Arab people, the Gulf monarchies, Iran, and Turkey, not the United States. As global power realities shift, so must U.S. foreign policy.