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On July 1 voter unrest over Mongolia’s recent parliamentary elections boiled over into street demonstrations during which five people were killed, 300 injured and more than 700 arrested, leading the government to declare a state of emergency. Underlying voter unrest were concerns about economic issues, including record-high inflation and contracts with foreign mining concerns eager to exploit the country’s vast mineralogical wealth. Seizing on the issue of imminent massive foreign investment both leading parties promised voters a “share of the treasure” equivalent to the average worker’s annual salary. In reality however, amendments to the country’s 1996 Mining Law have yet to pass Parliament, frustrating foreign investors and leaving national windfall profits to the future even as the recent elections raised the issue’s visibility among the electorate.

At the July 2008 Council of CIS Defense Ministers in Bishkek, members agreed to boost air defenses and jointly celebrate the 65th anniversary of the Soviet Union’s victory in the Second World War. Both agreements exposed the CIS’s wish to follow the abrupt success of its smaller branch, the CSTO, whose structures multiplied and military cooperation have widened. While being a military organization, the CSTO’s formation was primarily driven by the common Soviet identity among its members, therefore allowing further expansion of its functions beyond military cooperation. As such, the CSTO sought an ideological dominance among its members through promoting the Kremlin’s ideological projects at the organization’s platform.