News @ A Glance
Russian patriarch calls Putin era "miracle of God"
The head of the Russian Orthodox church on Wednesday called the 12 years of Vladimir Putin's rule a "miracle of God" and criticised his opponents, at a gathering where religious leaders heaped praise on the prime minister.
Putin wants support from spiritual figures for his campaign to win his third term in the Kremlin in a March 4 election. He is facing a growing protest movement and needs to consolidate his core support to avoid a runoff. -Source
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Obama says U.S., Georgia Exploring Free Trade Pact
(Reuters) - President Barack Obama said on Monday the United States and Georgia were exploring the possibility of a free trade agreement to expand commerce and strengthen trade relations.
In a White House meeting with Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili, Obama said the two countries had agreed to start a dialogue that would look at various trading options "including the possibility of a free trade agreement." He did not lay out a timetable for the process.
"Obviously there's a lot of work to be done and there are going to be a lot of options that are going to be explored," Obama told reporters in the Oval Office, with Saakashvili sitting beside him. -Source
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Magog In Review: Large-scale geopolitical changes of the Middle East provide
for new problems for security of South Caucasus
Head of the Institute of National Strategic Studies of the Defense Ministry of Armenia, Advisor to the Minister of Defense, Major-General Hayk Kotanjyan has presented a report at a workshop on the topic of "South Caucasus – New Challenges". It was organized by the Association of Graduates of the Center named after J. Marshall, European Center for Security Studies and US embassy to Armenia, Armenpress reports. The report runs as following:
"Large-scale changes gaining an intense circulation in the geopolitical system of the Greater Middle East provide for new problems for the security of the South Caucasus fraught with а dangerous aggravation of existing intra-regional threats. The possible reconfiguration of the geo-strategic system in the Middle East – under the shift of the global center of influence on the world processes to the East – coming into resonance with the growing crisis in relations among the major actors in the Middle East is reflected in the dynamics of critical changes of the security environment in the South Caucasus.
The difficult-to-predict developments of the "Arab Spring", the growing international tensions over Iran's nuclear program, the transformation of Turkish foreign policy of "Neo-Ottomanism" towards the Islamic World, the complexity of development prospects of the security dynamics in Central Asia in connection with the scheduled withdrawal of the Coalition troops from Afghanistan, as well as the deepening system crisis in the geostrategic space of the European Union – all these are the main external factors affecting the dynamics of security environment's changes in the South Caucasus. - Source
Azerbaijan most militarized country in South Caucasus
According to a global military index, Azerbaijan is the 15th most militarized country in the world, out of 149 ranked countries. The index is calculated by the Bonn International Centre for Conversion, which compares military expenditure with GDP, and studies the amount of heavy weaponry available to a nation's forces. The most militarized country in the world, according to 2010 data, is Israel, followed by Singapore, Syria, and Russia. Georgia places 54th, with Armenia at 24th, Turkey at 26th, and Iran at 32nd. -Source
