Today's headlines speak of the bleak but sadly not unfamiliar news of another human rights activist being murdered in the North Caucasus.  On Sunday, businessman and rights defender Maksharip Aushev was killed when 60 rounds of bullets were sprayed into his car along a highway in the province of Kabardino-Balkaria.  Aushev is the third human rights activist to be murdered in the trouble spot in a little over three months, following the murder of Memorial's stalwart Natalya Estemirova in July and childrens' charity officer Zarema Sadulayeva and her husband in August. The Guardian adumbrates Aushev's trajectory into the sphere of human rights advocacy, prompted by the experience of his own son and nephew being kidnapped, followed by ...

TODAY: Obama firm on reasons for missile defense decision; Medvedev and Putin seem to take it as a positive sign; Putin wishes to see trade the next barrier broken; Russia will abandon Kaliningrad missile plans.  Pressure mounting regarding Iran situation; Israel apparently promises Medvedev no attack on Ahmadinejad regime.  Top cleric murdered in Ingushetia; disappearances abound.Barack Obama is still arguing the independence of his decision on missile defense saying, 'the Russians don't make determinations about what our defense posture is,' but if they are 'less paranoid' as a result, than can be considered a 'bonus'.  Defense Secretary Robert Gates has reiterated this position in an article in the New York Times.  Medvedev sees otherwise: '...

TODAY: Ingush President returns to work; concerns about dam surfaced decade ago; Georgian minister retracts comments on US aid; Medvedev in Mongolia; TB alert; anniversary of the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact sees debates resurface.President Medvedev is, according to ITAR-TASS, confident that Ingushetian President Yunus-Bek Yevkurov, who is returning early from convalescence, will institute order in the region.  Yevkurov has expressed a desire to see an increase in the number of police following an upsurge in violence.  The Kremlin has rejected claims from a Chechen website that separatist group the 'Battalion of Martyrs' was responsible for the Sayano-Shushenskaya hydrodam disaster as part of an 'economic war' against Russia.  Apparently no explosives were found at the site.  According ...

Though Chechnya often gets the street cred, Ingushetia is a pretty rough place as well, and one of the most bloody war zones of the Caucasus.  Before his untimely death, the last article that lawyer Stanislav Markelov contributed to this blog was about the murder of journalist Magomed Yevloyev, and the lack of a legal opposition in Ingushetia.  Following Markelov's murder, throughout the first seven months of 2009 the situation has dramatically worsened.  On June 22nd, Ingush President Yunus-Bek Yevkurov was very nearly murdered in an assassination attempt (photo of Medvedev visiting him in the hospital).  Nameless dead bodies, supposedly of militants or government opponents, are regularly found in various hiding places.  On July 4th, nine Chechen ...