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This paper examines U.S. engagement in Central Asia over the past two decades, with specific reference to the Shanghai Cooperation Organization. While alarmist voices occasionally warn of the threat to American interests from China and Russia through the SCO, the organization's influence appears limited. Washington has engaged it only sporadically, preferring to conduct relations bilaterally with the Central Asian states. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Given China's rising power and its growing influence in post-Soviet Central Asia, Russia's active advertising of the merits of the China-inspired Shanghai Cooperation Organization looks surprising. However, when one explores the many geopolitical advantages that Moscow can extract from this young multilateral organization, its interest appears more than justified. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article the author considers a number of aspects of international relations between Russia and North Korea. Of primary importance is an examination of Russia's two most important objectives in the pursuit of relations with North Korea: a ban of nuclear weapons for that country and the promotion of Russian influence in North Korea as a counterweight to the importance of the United States and Japan on the Korean peninsular. The author examines the failure of Russia's anti-nuclear campaign and its position going forward.

The article examines the debate among relevant sections of Russia's foreign policy elite regarding the country's military-technological cooperation policy with China and changing views under Presidents Yeltsin and Putin. Russian views are ambivalent at best and significantly affected by the dynamics of U.S.-Russian relations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]