Nowadays, the leader of each North Caucasian republic is expected to select either the Chechen path of development or the Kabardino-Balkarian path. The Chechen path is crude, concentrating all power and resources into one person’s hands. The Kabardino-Balkarian path is about professing calmness and being... MORE

Prime Minister Bidzina Ivanishvili achieved an impregnable political standing and carried Georgian Dream on his coattails in the October 2012 parliamentary elections. He led many voters to believe that his multi-billion dollar wealth could translate into handouts on a comparable scale for the populace. But... MORE

Georgia’s presidential election campaign is moving toward a seemingly predetermined outcome. Prime Minister Bidzina Ivanishvili’s personal choice, Giorgi Margvelashvili, looks set to win the October 27 vote and replace the United National Movement’s (UNM) Mikheil Saakashvili as president. The governing Georgian Dream, the UNM parliamentary... MORE

On July 17, a frequent writer on Circassian topics, Andrei Yepifantsev, attacked Circassian activists for “nationalism” and pushing for help to the Syrian Circassians caught in the civil war in that Middle Eastern country. “Three primary themes of the Circassian nationalist movement are recognition of... MORE

Nearly 10,000 Chechens have sought political asylum in Germany since the start of 2013, an unprecedented number that is nearly six times as great as the flow a year earlier—and greater than the number of Afghans and Syrians doing so in the course of the... MORE

Experts have warned that the Dagestani authorities are opting for more heavy-handed measures in their efforts to resolve security issues in the republic in contrast to the previous republican leadership. On July 16, a roundtable on the remaking of Dagestani politics after the appointment of... MORE

Reverberations from the military operation in the Dagestani town of Semender in March have been felt throughout the republic, attracting attention to this small suburban town near the republican capital of Makhachkala. From March 20-27, government forces clashed with militants who were blockaded in a house.... MORE

Former speaker of the Georgian parliament Nino Burjanadze announced her decision to participate in the presidential elections that are scheduled for October and expressed her confidence in winning the race (https://en.trend.az/regions/scaucasus/georgia/2166923.html). Burjanadze is, indeed, widely considered to be the most dangerous rival to the ruling... MORE

Gas marketing options of the Trans-Adriatic Pipeline (TAP) project consortium may look either flexible or vague at this point. Azerbaijan’s State Oil Company (SOCAR) seems the only reassuring exception in this regard among the Shah Deniz gas producers. SOCAR had indicated all along that gas... MORE