The United States is nearing a decision on whether to take action at the World Trade Organzation against China's rare earth minerals export restraints or other practices by Beijing to help its clean energy sector.

• December 21, 2010

Security forces in Belarus have detained over 600 people, including seven opposition candidates, after smashing a mass rally protesting fraud in the landslide re-election of president Alexander Lukashenko.

• December 21, 2010

Kyrgyzstan's parliament elected a speaker and approved a new government on Friday, laying the foundation for Central Asia's first parliamentary democracy after months of upheaval and violence.

• December 20, 2010

Russia, a leading oil and gas exporter, has used more than 50% of its known oil reserves and might need to attract enormous investment to modernise its oil infrastructure.

• December 20, 2010

North Korea has allowed UN nuclear inspections to resume after talks with visiting New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson, CNN reported on Monday.

• December 20, 2010

A number of agreements would be signed.These agreements would in areas of space, economic and defence sectors," External Affairs Ministry Spokesperson Vishnu Prakash told reporters in New Delhi.

• December 20, 2010

December 2010

Key positions:
• In recent months Turkey has witnessed harsh prison sentences and threats of litigation by Turkish authorities in response to Kurdish protests and unfavourable press respectively in the past months. This is a worrying sign in that after nearly a decade in power, AKP authorities have become just as reactionary as the military backed governments of previous decades, only this time with an Islamic tinge.

• At the NATO Lisbon Summit on November 19-20, Ankara claimed victory for swaying its allies away from designating Iran as the main threat facing the alliance with regards to a proposed missile defence system which NATO is currently considering. While Turkish government officials indicated prior to the conference that they would demand command and control of the system if based on their territory, in Lisbon, that decision was put off for future discussion.

• Wikileaks’ release of American diplomatic cables have detailed the gossip and personalities of leading AKP politicians, but offered little else that could be described as damaging.

• In regional energy developments, Russia and its energy subsidiary, Gazprom, have been opting for pragmatism over threats in recent months by signing deals throughout the region with Bulgaria, Serbia, and Ukraine in order to strengthen prospects of realising the South Stream gas pipeline. Brussels and Sofia, for their part, have reached an agreement on bank guarantees for Nabucco (the EU’s rival to South Stream). READ MORE

• December 20, 2010

Issue 1: November/December 2010

A Snapshot Of Key Developments In The External Relations Of The Russian Gas Sector

Half a year after the gas dispute with Belarus, Gazprom has created a new ‘daughter’ company in Minsk, Gazprom Transgas West, as a potential operator of the Belarusian stretch of the Yamal-Europe gas pipeline. The current operator of the section in question is Beltransgaz, in which Gazprom holds a 50% stake. However, the new ‘daughter’ company, which will exercise complete control over the Belarusian section of the pipeline, will be completely controlled by Gazprom. Although few experts predicted that another gas dispute in 2010 was likely, since the current contract between Gazprom and Beltransgaz does not expire until the end of 2011, establishment of Transgas West implies that Moscow has been taking steps to prepare for the likelihood of future dispute scenarios. READ MORE

• December 20, 2010