Latest Articles about South Caucasus
Turkey: a Source of Strategic Reinsurance for Georgia
Following recent miscalculations regarding Azerbaijan, Turkey, and Armenia, US policy in the South Caucasus also suffers from an erosion of credibility with regard to Georgia. A recent spate of commentaries in US mainstream media has taken cognizance of Washington’s and NATO’s de facto strategic disengagement... MORE
Zurab Noghaideli’s National Council Bandwagons With Russia
On May 13 in Tbilisi, the political bloc “National Council” announced its intention to open representative offices in Moscow and St. Petersburg. The declared goals are to maintain liaison with Russia’s executive and legislative authorities and also with the Georgian diaspora in Russia (Civil Georgia,... MORE
Tbilisi’s Municipal Election: a Game on the Radical Opposition’s Turf
Georgia is holding local elections country-wide on May 30. The municipal election in Tbilisi is the main event in these elections. Many in the opposition and in Moscow regard the Tbilisi election as a possible trigger of upheaval for regime-change in Georgia.Most opposition groups, whether... MORE
Parliamentary Race Looms in Azerbaijan
On May 6, the official date for the next parliamentary elections was announced in Azerbaijan. According to the spokesman of the central election commission, Azer Sariyev, the next elections for the legislative body of the country will be held on November 7 (Trend News Agency,... MORE
Moscow Grooming a Political Team in Tbilisi
Each spring from 2007 to date, Georgia’s radical opposition has linked its regime-change campaigns with a powerful patron, in the hope of counterbalancing the state authorities. Initially that patron was an internal one the tycoon, Badri Patarkatsishvili, whose resources rivaled those of the state until... MORE
Georgian Radical Opposition Launches Seasonal Offensive
Georgia’s extra-parliamentary opposition has launched its annual spring offensive in the streets, for regime change outside the constitutional framework. This campaign has become an annual occurrence since the spring of 2007, regardless of economic cycles or the government’s economic performance, which is highly rated internationally... MORE
The US and Azerbaijan: Unraveling a Strategic Partnership?
The hitherto strong relations between the US and Azerbaijan have hit a low point following the US-facilitated signing of the Armenian-Turkish protocols on October 10, 2009. If ratified, the protocols would lead to establishing diplomatic ties between Turkey and Armenia and re-opening their joint border... MORE
Frustrated Armenia Freezes Accords With Turkey
Armenia has suspended the universally welcomed process of normalizing its relations with Turkey, after months of frustration with Ankara’s linkage between its successful completion and a resolution of the Karabakh conflict acceptable to Azerbaijan. Still, in an announcement made by President, Serzh Sargsyan, on April... MORE
US Conflict Resolution Policy Backfires in Yerevan
The US State Department seems disappointed, but not entirely surprised, by Yerevan’s April 22 suspension of Armenian-Turkish “normalization.” Assistant Secretary of State, Philip Gordon, in charge of this policy, finds solace in Armenian President, Serzh Sargsyan’s decision to suspend, rather than terminate the effort; and... MORE
Armenia Suspends US-Backed Normalization of Relations With Turkey
On April 22, Armenian President, Serzh Sargsyan, announced a unilateral suspension of the process of normalizing Armenia-Turkey relations –a process driven by the United States on its own terms of reference. In follow-up statements on April 24, Sargsyan interprets the goal of normalization as being... MORE