*To read Part One, please click here. *To read Part Two, please click here. *To read Part Three, please click here.   Over the past two decades, the main international mechanism for resolving the Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict over Karabakh—the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe’s... MORE

Islamic State in Greater Sahara Sets Sights on Burkina Faso Jacob Zenn In late 2019, Islamic State (IS)’s Sahel-based fighters under the leadership of Adnan Abu Walid al-Sahrawi surged ahead of their al-Qaeda rivals in the Group for Supporters of Islam and Muslims (Jama’at Nasr... MORE

On November 26, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Belarus summoned Ukrainian Ambassador Ihor Kyzym and presented him with a note of protest, expressing strong concerns over the series of “anti-Belarusian actions” held near Belarus’s embassy in Kyiv and its honorary consulate... MORE

*To read Part One, please click here. *To read Part Two, please click here. Irrespective of the rights and wrongs of the issue at stake, mediators are expected to be impartial between two parties to a conflict. Yet the Minsk Group’s co-chairing Western governments—those of... MORE

*To read Part One, please click here. The second Karabakh war between Armenia and Azerbaijan (September–November 2020) has conclusively discredited the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe’s (OSCE) Minsk Group, the instrument of multilateral diplomacy mandated 28 years ago to mediate a solution to... MORE

The turbulent stalemate in Minsk continues, despite the fact that street protests have been subsiding and their full-scale resumption is not expected before March, as noted by, among others, Belarusian political commentator Artyom Shraibman (Current Time TV, November 20). By then, not only will the... MORE

The 44-day war between Armenia and Azerbaijan (September 27–November 9) has resulted in an Azerbaijani national triumph, a Russian geopolitical and diplomatic victory over the West, and a conclusive discrediting of multilateral diplomacy as an instrument for conflict-resolution in and around the post-Soviet space (see... MORE

On November 20, the Moldovan Central Electoral Commission validated the results of the country’s recent presidential elections, officially giving a victory in the second round (November 15) to Maia Sandu (Protv.md, November 20). The Constitutional Court will still have to confirm the outcome, after the... MORE

On October 31, the Tsargrad Hotel, owned by Russian “Orthodox oligarch” Konstantin Malofeev, hosted the Sixth Congress of the Union of Donbas Volunteers (UDV). The UDV is headed by former prime minister of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic (DPR) Alexander Borodai (Komsomolskaya Pravda, October 31).... MORE

On October 27, the Constitutional Court of Ukraine (CCU) canceled the requirement for government officials and supreme judges to file electronic declarations of all their assets, including salaries, property and other sources of income. This was one of the key reforms implemented since the 2013/2014... MORE