Latest Articles about The Caucasus
New Ingush President Shows Signs that he’ll Take a Different Approach
Prague Watchdog on November 19 published a piece that warmly praised Ingushetia’s new president, General Yunus-Bek Yevkurov, who replaced the wildly unpopular Murat Zyazikov (North Caucasus Weekly, October 31). The website called Yevkurov “an idealist in general’s stripes.” “From the very first moment of his... MORE
Polish, Georgian Presidents’ Motorcade Shot at from South Ossetia
At dusk on November 23, machine-gun fire from the direction of a Russian checkpoint forced Presidents Mikheil Saakashvili of Georgia and Lech Kaczynski of Poland to cut short a visit with Georgian refugees from South Ossetia. By most accounts, three bursts were fired into the... MORE
Azerbaijan-Georgia Corridor: Growing Transit Volumes Bolster Security
Russia’s invasion of Georgia severely disrupted the operation of the energy transit corridor during August and September, causing revenue losses in the hundreds of millions of dollars to Georgia, Azerbaijan, and the oil and gas companies. Physical damage to the corridor, however, turned out to... MORE
Azerbaijan Hosts Energy Summit
Presidents and other senior officials from 14 countries in the Caspian, Black Sea, Central European and Baltic regions, as well as U.S. and EU delegations, attended an energy summit on November 14 in Baku. The event signaled political support for connecting Caspian basin oil and... MORE
A Breathing Spell for Political Reforms in Georgia
n the aftermath of the war with Russia, the Georgian leadership is refocusing its attention on the development of the political system in a broader institutional framework. The main initiatives in this regard originate from the top and are set for easy passage by the... MORE
Georgia’s Radical Opposition: Regime Change Today, Tomorrow, and Forever
Five radical opposition parties restarted a campaign for regime change in Georgia on November 7, with a ritualized rally outside parliament and a march on Tbilisi’s Rustaveli Avenue. These small parties are not represented in parliament, though several of them are headed by past and... MORE
Council of Europe Convinces Ter-Petrosian To Hold Independent Investigation of Violence in Yerevan
Bowing to Western pressure, Armenian President Serzh Sarkisian has formed a supposedly independent body to investigate the deadly clashes in Yerevan that were sparked by his controversial victory in last February’s presidential election. The new inquiry could undermine the Armenian government’s justification for the use... MORE
Azerbaijan’s President Synchronizes Watches with Turkey
Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev visited Turkey on November 5 and 6 as his first official trip abroad since reelection, underscoring the two countries’ special relationship. While traditional, that relationship has evolved substantially during Ilham Aliyev’s presidency and is no longer asymmetrical. As he remarked during... MORE
Death of Dagestan’s Sharia Jamaat Leader Fails to Halt Rebel Attacks
The position of top commander in Dagestan’s Sharia Jamaat has been vacant for a month now since the death of its former leader Abdul-Majjid on September 8th near the Dagestan-Azeri border during a joint Russo-Azeri special forces operation that lasted over 10 days (www.azeri.ru/papers/echo-az_info/26465). Commenting... MORE
Briefs
Special Forces Members Targeted in ChechnyaPrague Watchdog reported on November 3 that a checkpoint on the road between Gudermes and Shuani manned by a company from the Vostok special battalion came under fire from unidentified gunmen traveling in a Zhiguli car on November 1. According... MORE