Latest Articles about The Caucasus
GEORGIA REGAINS CONTROL OVER BATTLE IN KODORI
Following President Mikheil Saakashvili July 24 call “to give Georgia’s enemies their gruel,” Georgian troops launched a special operation in Kodori Gorge to neutralize the local chieftain, Emzar Kvitsiani, and his officially disbanded “Monadire” (Hunter) militia, after he defied the central authorities in Tbilisi on... MORE
NEW POLL SHOWS ARMENIANS EQUALLY SUPPORTIVE OF RUSSIA, WEST
A U.S.-funded opinion poll released this month paints an interesting, if contradictory, picture of the geopolitical preferences of Armenia’s population. It shows that the vast majority of Armenians continue to support the close political and military ties with Russia maintained by their government. At the... MORE
MOSCOW UNLEASHES A MOUNTAIN CHIEFTAIN AGAINST GEORGIA
Russian authorities, having recently co-opted Kodori Gorge chieftain Emzar Kvitsiani, are now unleashing him against Georgia. The Georgian free mass media as well as Russia’s unfree ones are amply disseminating his message. Televised reports show him flanked by armed men in uniform, some of them... MORE
AZERBAIJAN IS GROWING RAPIDLY, THANKS TO ITS OIL
The July 13 opening ceremony of the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline marked the beginning a new era in the history of Azerbaijan, Georgia, and Turkey. Azerbaijan is already begun to collect dividends from its oil sales, as reflected in a recent public announcement by Azerbaijani officials on... MORE
MOSCOW’S ANTI-GEORGIAN AGITPROP TARGETS WASHINGTON
Responding to Georgia’s call for the replacement of Russian “peacekeeping” troops by international police (see EDM, July 20), Moscow now accuses Georgia of a premeditated intent to launch military operations in South Ossetia and/or Abkhazia. Moreover, Russia threatens to intervene with its troops on the... MORE
BAKU’S CHAOTIC CONSTRUCTION BOOM DRAWS INCREASING CRITICISM
In recent weeks, more and more political parties, members of the intelligentsia, and media outlets have begun to criticize the haphazard, chaotic construction boom in Azerbaijan’s capital city, Baku. Increasing oil revenues and the growing demand for new apartments have turned the city into a... MORE
GEORGIAN PARLIAMENT CALLS FOR REPLACING RUSSIAN PEACEKEEPERS WITH INTERNATIONAL POLICE CONTINGENT
Georgia’s parliament approved on July 18 a resolution calling for the withdrawal of Russia’s “peacekeeping” troops from Georgian territory in Abkhazia and South Ossetia and the deployment of internationally mandated police forces in the two areas. The resolution’s preamble notes that Russia’s actions in blocking... MORE
Chechnya and the Northern Caucasus without Shamil Basaev
For the president of the Russian Federation, the past month has been full of good news from Chechnya. It was only on June 17 that information about the death of Abdul-Khalim Sadulaev, leader of the Chechen separatists, had come to light and now, just a... MORE
DEZINFORMATSIYA ALIVE BUT TRANSPARENT
Two forgeries now circulating in Europe and North America bear the classic imprint of Soviet disinformation, presented, however, in modern-looking packaging developed by Modest Kolerov’s department of the presidential administration in the Kremlin. One of these forgeries attempts to portray Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili as... MORE
GEORGIAN PARLIAMENT SHOWS RUSSIAN PEACEKEEPERS THE DOOR, BUT QUESTIONS REMAIN
On Tuesday, July 18, the Georgian parliament passed a resolution calling for the withdrawal of Russian peacekeepers from South Ossetia and Abkhazia. The resolution, adopted overwhelmingly amid harsh anti-Russian rhetoric, declares that Russia’s so-called peacekeeping operation itself poses a major obstacle to a political settlement... MORE