The September 25 independence referendum in Iraqi Kurdistan highlighted two important implications for the Karabakh conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan. First, official reactions from Baku and Yerevan have been noticeably cautious. Second, recent debates in Armenia and Azerbaijan have focused on whether the notional independence... MORE

The working dinner in Ankara, last Thursday (September 27), between Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and Russian President Vladimir Putin, was not a productive affair or a cordial meeting of minds. Erdoğan announced it immediately after speaking with United States President Donald Trump in New... MORE

Tensions flared between the United States and Russia, with Moscow’s top generals and diplomats insisting that Washington is siding with terrorist groups in Syria to attack Russian soldiers and their allies. Russia’s defense minister, Army General Sergei Shoigu, reportedly canceled a visit to Belarus last... MORE

In what seemed like an ill-considered move amid the highly tense pre-election atmosphere in Kyrgyzstan, President of Kazakhstan Nursultan Nazarbayev received the self-nominated presidential candidate Omurbek Babanov, in Almaty, on September 19. Babanov heads the Respublika opposition party and served as Kyrgyzstan’s prime minister in... MORE

Azerbaijani Defense Minister Zakir Hasanov paid a visit to Israel, on September 11, to discuss cooperation in the military and military-technical spheres with the host country’s leading defense industry enterprises. While there, he also toured the Command and Control Center (CCC) of the Israeli Armed... MORE

Russian President Vladimir Putin opted not to attend this year’s United Nations General Assembly, in New York City; but he nevertheless kept up the pretense of the wise statesman among bickering politicians. Every opening to present Russia as a responsible stakeholder in global affairs was... MORE

The attendance of Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko at this year’s United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) session (September 12–25, 2017) highlighted the importance Kyiv places on the draft resolution it submitted to the UN calling for an international peacekeeping mission in Donbas. Indirectly reacting to Poroshenko’s... MORE

As North Korea’s accelerating missile and nuclear tests continue to intensify tensions on the Korean Peninsula, South Korea is seeking to broaden the country’s diplomatic and defense contacts beyond its traditional reliance on the United States. Increasingly, that search for new partners is focusing on... MORE

From July 21 to July 28, 2017, the Chinese and Russian navies conducted a week of joint drills in the Baltic Sea, the first of their planned two-phase bilateral maritime exercises for 2017. This was the latest iteration of what the Chinese call “Joint Sea”... MORE

Last month’s (August 24) visit of the United States Secretary of Defense James Mattis to Ukraine was the first such trip by a Pentagon head in the last ten years. Before arriving in Kyiv, Mattis told reporters he planned to commemorate Ukraine’s Independence Day, underscore... MORE