Tensions continue to rise along the Lebanese border, centered around the town of Ghajar, a disputed area that straddles Lebanon and Syrian territory captured and occupied by Israel in 1967. What seems to be unfolding as a controlled escalation, deterring all sides from a more intense conflagration, could give way …

Fighting recently erupted between Armenia and Azerbaijan, centered around the historically disputed territory of Nagorno-Karabakh. Nagorno-Karabakh is de jure part of Azerbaijan, but is administered by the majority Armenian population, leading to lingering ethnic conflict. Conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan has the potential to drag in regional powers, including Turkey, …

Russians have become increasingly accustomed to, if not comfortable with, the expansion of Chinese influence in the Russian Far East, along the Northern Sea Route, and in some of the former Soviet republics of Central Asia and the South Caucasus (see EDM, March 9, May 24, August 10). Now, the …