GPF Team
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Watch List Findings: Oct. 28, 2017
The Chinese government in the private sector, European separatist movements, U.S.-Indonesia relations
Business Review – Ambassador Maior: Romania is engaged in the reconstruction of EU
The North Caucasus: Russia’s Southern Buffer
Oct. 28, 2017 The North Caucasus stretches from the Caspian Sea in the southeast to the Sea of Azov in the northwest. The westernmost part of the area, composed of Krasnodar region and the enclave of Adygea, lies within the Southern district. Krasnodar consists mainly of flat lands, which allowed Russia to more easily slavicize the territory after the forced exodus of its Circassian inhabitants in the late 19th century.
The rest of the North Caucasus region – the North Caucasian district – has maintained its distinct Muslim identity and hence was configured into a single federal district. This district runs from Krasnodar to the Caspian Sea and consists of the republics of Karachay-Cherkessia, Kabardino-Balkaria, North Ossetia, Ingushetia, Chechnya and Dagestan. The region of Stavropol – sandwiched between Krasnodar in the west and Dagestan in the east, and sharing borders with each of the other republics in the south – and North Ossetia are the only majority ethnic Russian and Orthodox Christian units within the North Caucasian district.
Business as Usual in the Middle East
Oct. 27, 2017 The region may look different as new alignments form and old ones fade, but the pursuit of interests at the expense of others will remain.

The World Explained in Maps