4th annual conference of the Middle East Dialogue of the Valdai International Discussion Club, titled “Islam in Politics: Ideology or Pragmatism?”, will take place in Marrakesh, Morocco, on May 14-15.
Issues of commonalities and differences in the Muslim communities of Russia and Canada, as well as problems of their integration into the legal frameworks of their respective countries, were the main topics of discussion at the conference Muslims in Russia, the CIS, and Canada: Cohabitation and Cooperation
The conference Muslims in Russia, the CIS, and Canada: Cohabitation and Cooperation presented by Carleton’ Institute of European, Russian and Eurasian Studies, the Department of Political Science, the Carleton Centre for the Study of Islam, and the Valdai Discussion Club is to be held on March 8, 2013 at the Carleton University, Ottawa.
The analytical report “Russia’s Economy: after Transformation, before Modernization” was prepared after discussions at the Valdai Discussion Club Summit held on October 21–22, 2012. The report incorporates many of the conclusions on Russia’s political development contained in the 2011 Valdai report “Russia Should Not Miss Its Chance: Development Scenarios”.
The Russia Development Index (Valdai Index) reflects the combined opinion of the world's leading experts on Russia as regards Russia’s political, economic, social, cultural and international performance. The annual poll aims to study changes in Russia’s development trends over a year. It is important that respondents assess not the current situation, but changes.
The analytical report “Military Reform: Toward the New Look of the Russian Army” summarizes the results of the conference of the Valdai Discussion Club Defense and Security section titled “Modernization of Russia’s Armed Forces and Cooperation in International Security” which was held on May 25-27, 2011 in Moscow.
11/07/201211:44 The Russian agency Rosoboronexport and the Spanish company Navantia have signed a contract to arm Spanish Avante-class patrol ships with Russian weapons for further export to third-party countries. Spain has become one of the first NATO member states to engage with Russia in a very sensitive area of military and technical cooperation.
10/11/201210:33 Russia’s military completed their “Caucasus 2012” strategic command and staff exercise in the country’s volatile southern regions. Military leaders believe the exercises validate the recent reforms of Russia’s armed forces.
08/20/201212:38 It is impossible to say now what sort of features the new strategic missile will have. The idea that this will be the Kh-101 or the Kh-102, the conventional version, has not been confirmed yet.
06/26/201212:30 Five major U.S. government contractors have approached Russia’s Rosoboronexport to supply Russian-made ammunition on a subcontract basis.The benefit of the Russian weapons for NATO and U.S. forces is their unfailing reliability in difficult conditions.
05/15/201212:13 In the next few years Central Asia will become a focus of Russian foreign policy both where the Kremlin’s interests in the post-Soviet space are involved and, in a broader perspective, in the context of the Afghanistan factor, relations with the Asia-Pacific Region, and “friendly rivalry” with China.
05/10/201211:46 One of the main premises of Russia’s Military Reform involved eliminating the mass mobilization army and replacing it with one focused on permanent readiness, and getting rid of the units that just had officers and equipment but didn’t have any soldiers available for mass mobilization in times of war.
04/26/201209:57 In addition to military contracts, Russian companies have other investments in Syria, primarily in natural gas extraction. These are valued at approximately 20 billion dollars and include a pipeline and a liquefied natural gas production facility.
03/22/201211:30 It may be that Russia has decided to keep a ship in Tartus in case evacuation of Russian citizens becomes necessary, though that seems to be a bit of a waste of resources.
03/20/201210:54 Russia needs a one million man army. That level of manpower is excessive for dealing with local and regional conflicts, while more serious conflicts with NATO or China can be deterred with nuclear weapons.
03/13/201211:10 This summer, the VDV will receive the first cohort of sergeants graduating from the three year training program in Riazan that is designed to train sergeants to command troops. This sounds great, but the Russian military will need a lot more of these sergeants before there will be much effect on overall discipline in the force.
