Owen Matthews

Ibrahim Tatlises—prolific singer, entrepreneur, and target of an apparent mob hit—touched the hearts of an entire generation.

As revolutions across the Mideast bring religious parties within sight of real political power, Turkey's Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan is becoming the region's go-to man for Islamist leaders looking for a makeover.

In the seven months since being arrested by the FBI and drummed out of the U.S., flame-haired spy Anna Chapman has become Russia's hottest cultural icon.

While much of Europe slashes spending to reduce deficits, surging oil prices are allowing Russia to splurge. The Kremlin's choice of stimulus package is a bit of a throwback, though—among other things, a new fleet of warships to challenge China.

Putin's get-tough policies are a disaster, as the Moscow airport bombing proves. Why are Russians so unwilling to admit it?

An explosion killed at least 31 people today at Moscow's Domodedovo airport, sparking fears of a new wave of terrorist attacks in Russia.

The founder of modern Turkey, Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, was so fond of raki that he died of liver disease. But alcohol is becoming the latest battleground in Turkey's culture wars. New regulations introduced this month by the conservative, Islamic-leaning AK Party government have caused a storm of protest from the imbibing elite.

Yuri Milner has singlehandedly made Russian capital a significant player on the Internet market. Owen Matthews on the Russian entrepreneur behind this week's $500 million Facebook investment.

Look at global economics from a moral point of view, and it's a story of virtue rewarded. Growth in the West, fueled by easy credit and consumption, collapsed in the 2008 financial crisis. Growth in the East, by contrast, fueled by saving and production, has held steady. But look more carefully, and the reality is that Asia's legendary culture of saving, while not quite a myth, is fast declining in many places.

The oil tycoon's second conviction on questionable charges marks a turning point for Russia. Or, to be more precise, proves that those who believed Russia was at a turning point under Dmitry Medvedev are sadly wrong.

Ultimately, the outcome of Turkey's ongoing culture wars between the ultra-secularists who defend military dictatorship and the Islamists who seek to jail the officers who overturned Turkey's Constitution is about more than coming to terms with the past.

The WikiLeaks documents released so far paint a remarkable picture of just how closely the U.S. and Russia have been working on containing Iran. An extremely detailed exchange of views between top U.S. and Russian officials in Washington in February is described in detail.

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev's lofty rhetoric is at last coming true—to a point. The country's Federal Migration Service has announced an easing of the Soviet-style registration system that has kept many citizens from living wherever in Russia they choose.

In a visit to London last week, Turkish President Abdullah Gül declared his country to be a bright spot amid Europe's gloom: "It wouldn't be surprising if we start talking about BRIC plus T [for Turkey]." The boast was more symptomatic of Turkey's geopolitical ambitions than its real economic heft—in cash terms, its GDP is only half of Russia's, the poorest BRIC nation.

Dmitry Medvedev has made his name talking up liberal ideas and blasting corrupt bureaucrats. But when his nation's pride is at stake, Russia's president sounds like his hard-nosed mentor, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin.

Medvedev suggests he is willing to go after the people who attack reporters, but it remains to be seen if he's just a talking head spouting liberal clichés while journalists get taken out on the whim of influential bureaucrats.

The recent suicide bombing in Istanbul was a blow to Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, threatening an eight-year run of rising stability and economic growth.

To this day, many Russians can only wish they had never heard of Afghanistan. But two decades after the Soviet Union's humiliating pullout, NATO is working to get Russia back into the country. The plan, championed by NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen, would have Moscow provide helicopters to Afghan and NATO forces, train Afghan national-security forces, and assist in counternarcotics programs and border security.

Two decades after the Soviet Union's humiliating retreat from Afghanistan, NATO is working to get Russia back into the country to help fight drug trafficking and rebuild Afghan security forces. The deal is championed by NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen as part of a "new start in the relationship between NATO and Russia."

On Monday the German-based media company Axel Springer announced the closure of NEWSWEEK RUSSIA, the Russian-language title it had licensed from NEWSWEEK since 2004. It was one of the few independent newsmagazines left in Russia, and its demise marks the end of one of the last bold and critical voices in the country's increasingly bland and docile media landscape.

Why Russia fetes its criminals.

After 36 years and more than 40,000 deaths, one of the world's bloodiest and longest-running insurgencies—the separatist struggle of Turkey's Kurds—could soon be over.

Why Moscow should beware Beijing.

The Russian political elite has lined up behind the new president, Dmitry Medvedev, rather than the old one, Vladimir Putin.

Moscow's barrel-chested mayor, Yury Luzhkov, has been a force in Russian politics since 1993, but recently he learned who's boss. When the -mayor thought he could run a highway through a patch of woodland on the city's outskirts, Dmitry Medvedev blocked it—and when Luzhkov publicly complained, the Kremlin launched a media campaign accusing the -mayor of corruption, intimidation, and even murder.

Putin is still building grand illusions.

Back when there was no tourism but only travel, the rich would take steamers and luxury trains to Constantinople to visit one of the world's most cosmopolitan cities. A century later, Istanbul is as international as ever—it's been named Europe's Capital of Culture this year—and many of the grand old hotels have new face-lifts, while many boutique hotels are opening in historic buildings.

Turkey's prime minister has become a hero in the middle east for standing up to the west. But Islam isn't what's driving him.

There's a reason Russians oppose the extradition of arms dealer Viktor Bout—the man known as "the merchant of death"—to the United States: he knows their secrets.

Yevgeny Chichvarkin once took London by storm. Bounding onto the stage at the Russian Economic Forum four years ago in red sneakers, graffiti-sprayed jeans, and a top that proclaimed that he was MADE IN MOSCOW, the 34-year-old Russian businessman told the elite gathering how he'd grown his Evroset mobile-phone company into a billion-dollar empire in just five years, and that a "new generation of young businesspeople" was "ready to integrate Russia into the world economy."