By Oscar Pardo Sierra (8/19/2009 issue of the CACI Analyst)

One year after the August war between Georgia and Russia, the EU’s profile in Georgia has strengthened. The most visible consequence is the presence on the ground of the EU Monitoring Mission, which aside from seeking to implement cease-fire agreements provides decision-makers in Brussels with first-hand information about developments in the country. Before the war, however, implementation of the European Neighbourhood Policy (ENP) was patchy; key areas such as market reforms and regulatory convergence faced strong opposition in key circles of the Georgian government.

By Richard Weitz (8/19/2009 issue of the CACI Analyst)

The Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) has yet to resolve the problem presented by Iran’s efforts to become the institution’s seventh full member. For the fourth consecutive year, existing SCO governments have declined to accept new full members or formal observers. Instead, the SCO has resorted to proliferating new categories of external association, producing a confusing hodgepodge of members, observers, “guests,” and now “partners.

By Stephen Blank (8/19/2009 issue of the CACI Analyst)

Iran’s recent electoral protests and the more recent demonstrations in Xinjiang suggest that Eurasian societies are still fundamentally unsettled or possibly entering a new dynamic phase of political development. Both episodes underscore the inherent fragility of authoritarian societies and their susceptibility to internal violence. In Iran the government brazenly rigged its recent presidential election, then launched high-handed coercive efforts to strangle the ensuing protests.