Executive Summary: Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, and Uzbekistan have formed a plan for the transmission of green energy to the European Union via the Caspian Sea. The use of Caspian routes to transport energy to Europe has increased following Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine and the subsequent... MORE

Executive Summary: The acquisition of a 49 percent stake in a Georgian port by a state-backed consortium advances the PRC’s global port strategy—the PRC currently owns stakes in over 90 ports). As Xi Jinping has stated, “to become rich, one must first build ports.” A... MORE

Executive Summary: Georgia faces a civilizational dilemma between democratic and non-democratic worlds specifically exemplified with the developments surrounding the recent adoption of the law “On Transparency of Foreign Influence.” Georgian Dream does not itself want to officially end Georgia’s European course and instead seeks to... MORE

Executive Summary: Reports are spreading that Georgian Dream leader Bidzina Ivanishvili is secretly working with the Kremlin on a confederative structure for the separatist territories of Abkhazia and South Ossetia. Despite the bold claims, some believe that the reintegration plans are merely a pre-election bluff... MORE

Executive Summary: Azerbaijan has taken a more conservative stance on the war in Gaza, maintaining relations with Israel, on the one hand, and avoiding declaring Hamas a terrorist organization, on the other. Baku’s position represents a break from the responses of Türkiye, Pakistan, and many... MORE

Executive Summary: Ramzan Kadyrov’s regime in Chechnya is showing signs of weakness, and Moscow may want to exploit Kadyrov’s difficulties to install a more pliable figure as the region’s new leader. The large-scale invasion of Ukraine limits the Kremlin’s ability to manipulate regional elites in... MORE

Executive Summary: Officials in Russia and the occupied Georgian territories of Abkhazia and South Ossetia decried Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze’s declaration that by 2030, Georgians will once again live with Abkhazians and Ossetians. Georgian Dream officials and propagandists have alluded to a backdoor agreement between... MORE

Executive Summary: The Georgian Dream government has announced that a Chinese-Singaporean consortium dominated by the Chinese state won the tender for the construction and management of the strategic Anaklia deep-sea port. The port could drastically change the geoeconomic and geopolitical situation in the region, providing... MORE

Executive Summary: Azerbaijan and Türkiye signed an agreement for cooperation with natural gas, which includes increased export of Central Asian and Azerbaijani gas to Türkiye with Turkmenistan being a primary exporter. Debate over including Iran in these agreements adds uncertainty to the project due to... MORE

Executive Summary: Protests that initially opposed border delimitation and demarcation process between Armenia and Azerbaijan have since become focused on removing Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan from office. The demonstrations have increasingly turned into smaller acts of civil disobedience, such as Archbishop Bagrat Galstanyan managing... MORE