Tajik President Imomali Rakhmonov (file photo) Labor migration is not just about impoverished people leaving their homelands for the greener pastures of countries where they can earn higher wages. Increasingly, the phenomenon serves as the focal point for a welter of issues that go beyond the economic realm to fuel ethnic and cultural tensions, set the stage for xenophobic politics, and even alter the dynamics of international relations. Nowhere is this more evident than in the case of Tajikistan and Russia.
Tensions are rising at two separate locations in the Caucasus. In Georgia, the leadership of the breakaway Republic of South Ossetia rejected on 12 June Georgian allegations that Russia sent a military convoy of 160 trucks carrying materiel and some 120 troops into the breakaway Republic of South Ossetia the previous day to repulse an anticipated Georgian military incursion. Further north, an opposition parliament deputy in the Republic of Ingushetia has sounded the alarm over the arrest of two young men for distributing publicly materials discrediting the Ingushetian leadership.
12 June 2004 -- Tensions mounted in South Ossetia today as Georgian authorities said that a column of vehicles carrying troops and weapons from Russia has entered the separatist region.
Russian press coverage this week of the 5 June death of the United States' 40th president, Ronald Reagan, was for the most part measured and respectful. Although acknowledging Reagan's humble origins, commentators credited him for his flexibility, pragmatism, directness, and ability to consider points of view at odds with his ideological framework. Aleksandr Yakovlev, former Politburo member and adviser to Communist Party General Secretary Mikhail Gorbachev, told "Izvestiya" on 8 June that although Reagan uttered the phrase that "'America won the Cold War,' in fact, in the course of important negotiations he made it clear that he never believed that." According to Yakovlev, Reagan understood that "it was hard to find a winner in cold wars -- it is common sense that wins."
12 June 2004 -- Russian President Vladimir Putin said today that Russia has "chosen the values of patriotism, freedom, and democracy" as the country observes its independence day.
11 June 2004 -- A top Russian diplomat has met with U.S. Ambassador Alexander Vershbow to complain of Georgia's use of U.S.-trained troops in a separatist region.
11 June 2004 -- Current and former world leaders paid tribute to former U.S. President Ronald Reagan, calling him a leader who participated in historic changes and helped bring about the end of the Cold War.
Moscow/Prague, 11 June 2004 (RFE/RL) -- The Russian Duma passed a law today giving Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov operational control of the army.
11 June 2004 -- Russia's lower house of parliament, the State Duma, passed today a government-sponsored bill that makes it more difficult for nongovernmental groups to call for a referendum.
In some countries, the "black," or underground, economy rivals the size of the official economy. It has flourished particularly in the transition countries of Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union. Yet because these transactions are hidden, their impact remains poorly understood. In this second of a two-part series, RFE/RL's Mark Baker looks at some of the innovative techniques economists have developed to measure the black economy.
In cities across Russia yesterday, thousands of trade unionists took to the streets to protest the government's economic reforms. Demonstrators oppose the Kremlin's plans to replace health and transportation benefits for pensioners, veterans, and other socially vulnerable groups with simple cash payments. They also called for higher salaries for state employees.
Washington, 11 June 2004 (RFE/RL) -- U.S. President George W. Bush said yesterday it would be unrealistic to expect more NATO countries to provide troops in Iraq. But he does hope to see a NATO role in helping train Iraqi security forces.
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