Charles Recknagel is standards editor for RFE/RL.
After Russia vetoed a UN Security Council resolution to establish an international tribunal for MH17, proponents of the court are left with only weak second choices.
A reported Turkish-U.S. agreement to create an Islamic State-free zone in northern Syria offers both benefits and risks.
Dushanbe's new directive to officials to speak first to the state news agency could dramatically reduce independent journalists' access to information.
Investigative journalist Khadija Ismayilova made a name for herself uncovering official corruption in Azerbaijan, where criticism of the government is rarely tolerated and frequently punished. She's now been sentenced to 7 1/2 years on charges she says are politically motivated.
The Vienna nuclear deal would provide Iran with only partial relief from decades-old sanctions, many of which would still remain in place.
Although an historic Iran nuclear deal has been reached, at least one thorny issue remains.
After 17 hours of negotiations, eurozone leaders on July 13 offered Athens a new 86 billion euro bailout ($95 billion) -- the third bailout for Greece since 2010. This is what you need to know.
From airspace violations to overflights to provocative military exercises, in 2014, Russia tested and probed NATO's defenses more than at any time since the Cold War.
The Russian Central Bank has raised its interest rate to a staggering 17 percent in a move to stop the ruble devaluing further. But the ruble keeps falling and the bank's action risks weakening Russia's ailing economy further.
As the value of Russia's ruble tumbles amid low oil global prices and Western sanctions, it is taking the currencies of many former Soviet republics down with it.
Tens of thousands of Kyrgyz are changing their names to sound more Russian in the belief it will make their lives easier.
Ukrainian journalists are protesting the government's creation of a new Ministry of Information that Kyiv says is needed to confront Russian propaganda. Some journalists fear their own efforts to gather truth could become subject to oversight.
Russian President Vladimir Putin's says he is breaking off South Stream because of EU opposition to the project. What he didn't say is Brussels would approve the project if Russia complied with EU anti-monopoly laws, something Moscow refuses to do.
Pope Francis is reaching out to Muslims and Orthodox Christian believers as he visits Istanbul on his first official visit to Turkey. The gesture is part of efforts to build better interfaith relations to counter fundamentalism and terror.
In many countries, oil generates windfall profits that enrich only the governing elite. Maybe they should look to Norway for a better way to manage their oil wealth.
The world could look very different depending on the success or failure of the Iran nuclear talks.
Murdering journalists is one way to keep the public in the dark about criminal activities. It is also virtually risk-free, since worldwide 90 percent of the killers never face justice.
In many parts of Eurasia, people think they are far enough away from Africa to be safe from Ebola. Is that a false sense of security?
The price of oil has fallen some 20 percent since June, spelling big trouble for oil exporting countries like Russia and Iran. What's behind the drop?
Speaking in Prague, the foreign minister of Iraq's Kurdish regional government is calling on Turkey to open its border to volunteers seeking to reinforce the Syrian Kurdish city of Kobani.
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