Prague, 18 May 2004 (RFE/RL) -- The assassination yesterday of Abd al-Zahra Uthman Muhammad (a.k.a. Izz al-Din Salim), the head of the U.S.-appointed Iraqi Governing Council, dominates much of the commentary in the press today. As the scheduled 30 June date approaches for the return of sovereignty to Iraqi hands, several analysts are looking at the possibility that the nation will naturally fracture along religious and ethnic lines, despite Washington's calls for a unified and democratic government to take over. Also at issue today are Georgia's options for reuniting its restive provinces under Tbilisi's central control, and the difficulty of making the news in Chechnya.
The United States says advancing human rights and democracy around the world reflects its values and promotes its interests. The recent scandal involving U.S. troop abuse of detainees at Iraq's Abu Ghurayb prison has been a blow to Washington's image as a human rights standard-bearer. A report issued yesterday by the U.S. State Department paints a mixed picture of the work the U.S. government is doing to promote democracy and human rights in Iraq and elsewhere.
18 May 2004 -- A Russian military court today convicted a navy admiral of negligence in the fatal sinking of a decommissioned nuclear submarine, sentencing him to four years in jail.
18 May 2004 -- Russian news agencies say gunmen killed 11 Russian soldiers in an ambush in Chechnya.
17 May 2004 -- Two Russians abducted by insurgents in Iraq last week were freed today in the southern outskirts of Baghdad.
16 May 2004 -- U.S. national security adviser Condoleeza Rice has said that Washington and Moscow share "a common understanding" on how to bring stability to Iraq.
15 May 2004 -- U.S. national security adviser Condoleeza Rice held talks at the Kremlin on 15 May with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
14 May 2004 -- The lawyer for the families of several Chechens killed in January 2002 by Russian troops said today he would appeal the soldiers' acquittal on murder charges.
Akhmed-hadji Kadyrov Five days after the death of pro-Moscow Chechen administration head Akhmed-hadji Kadyrov, there are still no clear indications who was responsible for planting the bomb that killed him and five others on 9 May. Nor is it clear whom Moscow plans to co-opt and install as Kadyrov's successor.
President Kocharian 14 May 2004 -- Armenia's President Robert Kocharian is due to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin today at the start of a three-day visit to Moscow.
13 May 2004 -- The son of slain Chechen leader Akhmed-hadji Kadyrov told a Russian television program today that he was not interested in running for president of Chechnya.
A decade ago, many thought Russia had irreversibly crossed the boundary separating dictatorship from democracy. But if the processes unleashed by Mikhail Gorbachev and continued under Boris Yeltsin have not lead to liberal democracy under Vladimir Putin, what kind of system has taken hold in post-Soviet Russia? A new book by U.S. and Russian scholars seeks to answer that question.
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