The Nabucco Committee’s meeting (see accompanying article) on May 21 in Bucharest has provided perhaps the final opportunity for comprehensively assessing the Nabucco-West project’s comparative advantages as a route for Azerbaijani gas to Europe. Prior even to the Committee meeting, the Nabucco participant governments had... MORE

On May 29, in Baku, addressing the final session of the Azerbaijani-American Forum’s “Vision for the future,” former United States Senator Richard Lugar underscored that the Nabucco-West gas pipeline project could considerably ameliorate the energy security of vulnerable countries in Central and Southeastern Europe, including... MORE

On May 14, Russia’s Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu visited Russia’s 7th military base in Gudauta, in the Georgian breakaway region of Abkhazia. At the base, Shoigu toured a Russian military sanatorium and parking lot under construction, which is planned to house current and incoming military... MORE

On April 21–24, Azerbaijani Minister of Foreign Affairs Elmar Mammadyarov visited Israel. This was the first visit of a high-ranking official of Azerbaijan to this country since Baku became independent. During his trip, Mammadyarov held several meetings with the Israeli leadership, including President Shimon Peres,... MORE

The Georgian government under Prime Minister Bidzina Ivanishvili is escalating the level of repression and threats against the pro-Western opposition United National Movement (UNM). The arrest of UNM’s leader Vano Merabishvili on May 21 caps a series of repressive measures, which Ivanishvili had earlier threatened... MORE

On May 21, United National Movement (UNM) Secretary General Vano Merabishvili, a probable candidate in the upcoming presidential election, former internal affairs minister and prime minister, was arrested by prosecutors on criminal charges, and detained without bail. The prosecution announced that Merabishvili and co-accused Zurab... MORE

The office of Georgia’s prosecutor general announced it had arrested Secretary General of the United National Movement (UNM) Vano Merabishvili after questioning him for five hours (https://www.civil.ge/eng/article.php?id=26090). Merabishvili had previously served as Georgia’s interior minister (December 2004–July 2012) and prime minister (July–October 2012). He has... MORE

On May 17, several hundred gay rights activists from the organization Identoba (Identity) attempted to hold a rally in central Tbilisi to mark the International Day Against Homophobia (https://www.tabula.ge/ge/story/71188-17-maisis-aqcia-live-feed). Although the government deployed police to protect the demonstrators, thousands of anti-gay mobs led by radical... MORE

In an interview with the Kavkazskaya Politika website, the well-known Circassian activist Ibragim Yaganov said Russia must take steps to alleviate the hardships it inflicted on the Circassians. Yaganov contrasted Russia’s policy of stubborn silence on the Circassian issue to the European colonial powers, which... MORE

On May 8, Robert Mueller, the director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), visited Georgia. The official reason for the visit was to assess the terrorism risks in the region in connection with the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi. “The FBI is responsible for... MORE