When the Israel-Hamas conflict broke out in October, one of the questions asked was whether Lebanese Hezbollah would open a second front against Israel. Like Hamas, Hezbollah is a member of the Iran-led “Axis of Resistance,” which includes several non-state militant actors and governments, including... MORE

The Caspian Sea is in danger of drying up. On June 7, government officials in the coastal city of Aktau, Kazakhstan, released a statement declaring a natural state of emergency for the maritime industry due to the sea’s low water levels (Facebook.com/Aktau_Press, June 7; Eurasianet,... MORE

On October 29, the Israeli government granted a tender to the State Oil Company of the Republic of Azerbaijan (SOCAR) for gas exploration in Israel’s Exclusive Economic Zone in the Mediterranean Sea (Azvision.az, October 30). The deal came two days after Turkish President Recep Tayyip... MORE

On November 8, the European Commission made the historic recommendation to award EU candidate status to Georgia (Ec.europa.eu, November 8). The final decision to officially grant that status will be made on December 14 and 15. This development is an important step for EU expansion... MORE

Few prospects worry Moscow more than a potential reduction of tensions between the United States and China. Such a development, even if half-hearted and temporary, would threaten a curtailment of Beijing’s support for Russia in the international arena—at least from Moscow’s perspective. The Asia-Pacific Economic... MORE

Baku and Ankara have dropped plans to establish a land corridor to Azerbaijan’s Nakhchivan exclave via Armenian territory. Yerevan’s reluctance to reopen the Zangezur Corridor and Western and Iranian opposition to any border changes in the South Caucasus largely motivated this pivot. The Azerbaijani government... MORE

Anti-Semitic demonstrations in various cities in the North Caucasus marked the end of October. On October 29, in Dagestan, several hundred people broke into the Flamingo Hotel in Khasavyurt demanding the removal of Jews who had recently arrived from Israel (Ura.news, October 29). On the... MORE

The South Caucasus has received increased international attention of late with heated discussions on Georgia’s possible EU membership (see EDM, October 19) and growing prospects of peace between Armenia and Azerbaijan after the restoration of Baku’s sovereignty over Karabakh on September 20 (see EDM, September... MORE

On October 7, following the brutal attack by Hamas terrorists on Israel, the Palestinian-Israeli conflict began evolving into a full-scale war. The Kremlin's propaganda does not hide the fact that this escalation in the Middle East benefits the Russian state (see EDM, October 16). This... MORE

On October 14, Uzbekistan’s Ministry of Transport held talks via videoconference with the transport ministers from Kazakhstan, Turkey, Turkmenistan, and Iran regarding plans to develop new regional transit corridors (Azernews, October 14). This comes as Tashkent, Ashgabat, and Tehran have expanded cooperation in developing a... MORE