Russian officials label the humanitarian crisis in Chechnya as a 'well directed play' as thousands of Chechen refugees into Ingushetia - and back - now the border crossing is finally reopened.
The only real opposition to President Eduard Shevardnadze's Citizens Union of Georgia after last month's vote was Aslan Abashidze's Georgian Revival Party. Next year the two will face off again in the presidential poll.
An independent TV station in Azerbaijan remains shut down and its staff on hunger strike a month after armed police stormed the studios after the showing of a programme critical of President Heydar Aliev.
How deep was the crisis between President Robert Kocharian and the military? Thousands of troops were pointedly still patrolling the city last week.
The Russian authorities use the kidnap threat to discourage reporters from attempting to travel to Chechnya, and those who dare to try are being stopped at the border. The result is a news blackout that benefits only the Kremlin.
On the surface at least, constitutional order has been preserved in Armenia in the wake of the October 27 attack on the Yerevan parliament - but tensions with the military continue.
Armenia's president is weak and its prime minister is dead. Whatever follows the attack on the National Assembly, political change is inevitable.
The idea of resignation on principle - even over such a sensitive issue as Nagorno-Karabakh - is a new one on most Azeri politicians. If the wave of departures from the Azeri government have a cause, it is little to do with honour.
By Mark Grigorian in Tblisi (Published on October 29, 1999)
By Mikael Danialian in Yerevan (Published on October 29, 1999)
