A Georgian news agency surprised everybody on August 28 with the announcement that the country’s armed forces had launched a special operation against an armed group near the Russian-Georgian border. It was presumed that the armed group had crossed from Russia into Georgia in the... MORE

Following a summer lull, August 2012 became one of the most eventful periods for Azerbaijani politics, featuring several key developments, which may significantly affect the situation in the region. First, after several months of negotiations and numerous visits of Russian delegations to Azerbaijan, it became... MORE

Echoing Ronald Reagan’s 1980 election campaign theme, Georgia’s governing United National Movement (UNM) tells voters to “ask  [themselves] a very simple question:  Is Georgia now a better country than it was eight years ago? And if the answer is positive and if we want to... MORE

The fourth anniversary of the August 2008 Russo-Georgian war has been marked by a seemingly open spat between the supporters of President Vladimir Putin and Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev. In a 47-minute documentary film of unclear origin, “Lost Day,” posted on YouTube, retired and active... MORE

The Trans-Anatolia Pipeline (TANAP) project, initiated by Azerbaijan with Turkey, is the first real boost to the EU-backed Southern Corridor for Caspian gas to Europe. Planned to carry Azerbaijani (and, in due course, also Turkmenistani) gas, TANAP has resurrected the Corridor’s centerpiece, the Nabucco pipeline... MORE

Twenty years ago, on July 21, 1992, the Russian 14th Army’s intervention in the Transnistria conflict forced Moldova to accept the deployment of Russian “peacekeeping” units. Six days later (July 28), the first of those units was air-lifted from Russia’s interior to Moldova, on both... MORE

The Georgian Dream opposition coalition, and its dominant party of the same name, has presented almost all of its candidates for single-mandate districts in Georgia’s upcoming parliamentary elections. The name “Georgian Dream” applies both to Bidzina Ivanishvili’s party and to the coalition that the Georgian... MORE

Bidzina Ivanishvili, multi-billionaire leader of the Georgian Dream opposition party and coalition, has almost completed the nomination of candidates for the upcoming parliamentary elections in single-mandate electoral districts. Most of these candidates are non-political individuals (veteran cultural figures and sportsmen, some employees of Ivanishvili’s organizations)... MORE

Iranian-Azerbaijani relations, which were recovering from a recent blow (see EDM, April 23), have begun to worsen again. An apparent spy war has erupted between the two countries, leading to unprecedented statements from both sides. The latest deterioration in relations began when Azerbaijani poets Farid... MORE

From the outset of his political project (October 2011) to date, Georgian Dream movement’s billionaire leader Bidzina Ivanishvili has expressed total confidence in winning the upcoming parliamentary and presidential elections. Before long, Ivanishvili and his allies were implying that the government could only win through... MORE