The South Caucasus: New Realities After the Armenia-Azerbaijan War (Part One)
Xi Jinping Boosts the Party’s Control and His Own Authority
Boko Haram’s Pan-Nigerian Affiliate System after the Kankara Kidnapping: A Microcosm of Islamic State’s ‘External Provinces’
GLONASS Program for 2021–2030
In January, Russia started a new federal ten-year program for developing a GLONASS dual-use satellite navigation system. Its main goal, and challenge, is to replace the old generation of satellites with new ones and increase... MORE
Growing Presence of Cossacks in 2021
The role of Cossack organizations in Russian life will likely grow in 2021, as last month’s Presidential Council for Cossack Affairs (PCCA) meeting demonstrated. The council’s deputy chairman and presidential adviser, Anatoliy Seryshev, outlined concrete... MORE
Russian “Peacekeeping” in Karabakh: Old Model, New Features, Mission Creep (Part Two)
Under the November 9–10, 2020 armistice declaration, Russia’s “peacekeeping” mission in Upper (Nagorno) Karabakh is limited to 1,960 motor-rifle troops with light weapons and armored personnel carriers (see EDM, November 12, 13, 2020). According to Russian... MORE
Egyptian-Russian Naval Exercises in the Black Sea: Strategic Balancing against Turkey?
In November 2020, Russia and Egypt conducted their first joint naval exercises in the Black Sea. The Bridge of Friendship-2020 naval drills brought the Egyptian Navy to the Black Sea for the first time (PortNews.ru,... MORE
Russian ‘Peacekeeping’ in Karabakh: Old Model, New Features, Mission Creep (Part One)
Russia’s “peacekeeping” operation in Upper (Nagorno) Karabakh, which ended the 44-day war last November, is laying the foundation of a Russian protectorate in this Armenian-inhabited territory of Azerbaijan (see EDM, December 8, 10, 2020). This... MORE
Karabakh Victory Transforming Meaning of Black January for Many Azerbaijanis
Moscow’s brutal dispatch of more than 35,000 Soviet troops into Azerbaijan in January 1990— nominally to defend the Armenian minority there but in fact to block moves toward that republic’s independence—remains a deep wound in... MORE
Moscow in Confrontational Mode Reacting to Biden’s Inauguration
The Kremlin-controlled Russian media and top officialdom have greeted President Joe Biden and his administration taking power in the US with a massive, almost hysterical propaganda broadside. Kremlin news outlets have been castigating Biden as... MORE
Year 2020 in Review: The Scorched-Earth Political Strategy of the Pro-Russian Ex-President Dodon
In a recent interview, the Russian president’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov remarked that Moldova’s president Maia Sandu had more than enough domestic challenges demanding her attention than requesting the withdrawal of Russian military forces from the... MORE
Even the Near Future Is Uncertain in Belarus
The Belorysy i Rynok newspaper asked three prominent Belarusian analysts to predict the country’s near future. But two out of three only shared observations, not forecasts. Thus, Piotr Rudkovsky, head of the Belarusian Institute for... MORE