Tag: Azerbaijan

Not One CIS Leader Spoke Out in Favor of Putin’s Bombing Campaign in Syria

October 19, 2015

Staunton, October 19 – In an indication of Vladimir Putin’s isolation even in the former Soviet space and of the weakness of the CIS as an institution, not a single president of a member state publicly supported the Kremlin leader’s bombing campaign in Syria at the CIS summit in Kazakhstan, Arkady Dubnov notes. The Russian […]

No ‘Frozen Conflicts Will Be Resolved While Russia Has Veto In UN Security Council

May 23, 2015

Staunton, May 21 — Vaira Vike-Freiberga, the former president of Latvia, points to an inconvenient truth that few want to recognize: no frozen conflicts in the former Soviet space will be resolved as long as Russia retains its veto in the UN Security Council and thus is in a position to block moves toward a […]

Putin has Destroyed Any Possible Basis for Unity on ‘Post-Soviet Space’

February 17, 2015

Staunton, February 16 – By his bombast and aggression, Vladimir Putin has destroyed “what was even a year ago called the post-Soviet space, an area which even then existed largely by inertia as an appendage of Russian ambitions” rather than as an expression of the desires of the countries included within that designation, according to […]

Gorbachev’s ‘Greatest Mistake’ – Black January In Baku 25 Years Ago Today

January 19, 2015

Staunton, January 19 – Twenty-five years ago today, on Mikhail Gorbachev’s order, Soviet troops invaded the Azerbaijani capital of Baku by land, sea and air, killing hundreds and enflaming ethnic hatreds, in an action the Soviet president five years after the events acknowledged was “the greatest mistake” of his political career. That event, known to […]

Why Tatars Are Called Tatars

December 3, 2014

Staunton, November 30 – The ethnonym “Tatar” has a long a complicated history, one that reflects both the understanding and confusions of investigators and officials and that highlights both real links and imaginary ones, according to Pavel Gusterin, a specialist on Central Asia and the Middle East at the Russian Institute for Strategic Research. In […]

Putin May ‘Freeze’ Ukrainian Conflict But ‘Save Face’ By Attacking In the South Caucasus

November 19, 2014

Staunton, November 19 – Faced with a united front in the West, Andrey Piontkovsky says, Putin may seek “to freeze the Ukrainian conflict and then to save face as a patriot of ‘the Russian world’ decide to take certain steps in the Caucasus as he is doing now,” something that threatens all three of the […]

Crimea Shows Russia Can Absorb South Ossetia Now Without Worrying About West, Amelina Says

September 17, 2014

Staunton, September 17 – Russia can annex South Ossetia without worrying about the reaction of the West, Yana Amelina says, but it must do so in the near future or both Russia and South Ossetia will face “quite dangerous geopolitical explosions” in the Caucasus given the reordering of power relations in that region. Amelina, a […]

Water Dispute Between Azerbaijan and Dagestan Taking On Ethnic Dimension

August 14, 2014

Staunton, August 14 – Hot weather in the Caucasus has reduced the flows of river water and increased demands for its use, hereby triggering a dispute between Azerbaijanis and Dagestanis. This local conflict appears set to involve Moscow and Baku because it is rapidly taking on an ethnic dimension. For most of its route, the […]

Putin Seeking to Downgrade or Even Displace Minsk Group

August 13, 2014

Staunton, August 13 – Vladimir Putin’s Sochi meeting with the presidents of Armenia and Azerbaijan did not bring about any breakthrough toward a resolution of the Karabakh conflict between the two south Caucasus countries, but it nonetheless had an important consequence: it is part of a Moscow effort to downgrade or even eliminate the Minsk […]

To Weaken Crimean Tatars, Moscow Pushing New Multi-Ethnic Group in the Russian Occupied Peninsula

August 3, 2014

Staunton, August 1 – In order to weaken the Crimean Tatars by muddying the water about them, the Russian occupation authorities are backing a new group that would combine Azov Greeks, Don Armenians and Crimean Tatars into a single group representing what its organizers call the “older resident” communities on the peninsula. These disparate groups, […]