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 …

The foreign ministers of Iran, Russia, and Turkey convened a tripartite summit in the Astana format during the 78th session of the United Nations General Assembly in New York, aiming to promote peace and stability in Syria. In attendance at the meeting were Iran’s Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian, Russian Foreign …

Senior U.S. officials are upbeat about the prospects for improved relations with Central Asia’s five republics following a first-of-its-kind summit between the region’s leaders and President Joe Biden in New York this week. “I think we’ve heard an openness from all our Central Asian colleagues and really a desire for …

US President Joe Biden’s administration came into office with a pledge of normalcy, and its Middle East policy has largely hewed to a “normal” US administration. It is pro-Israeli, it is concerned about Iran and it is generally accommodating to the Arab Gulf states. And yet, the Biden administration’s policy …

Russia’s Foreign Minister told the UN General Assembly on Saturday that a new world order is being born through a struggle between a neocolonial minority and a “global majority” seeking to end decades of Western domination. Sergey Lavrov said power was slipping through the hands of the old order, dominated …

Kosovo’s Prime Minister Albin Kurti is still wallowing in his obsession with Serbia and seems to never understand that Kosovo’s independence, security, and well-being do not depend on what Serbia’s President Vucic says or does but only on the commitments of the EU and the US to safeguard Kosovo’s security …

After besieging and starving 120,000 Armenians of the South Caucasus Republic of Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh) since December 2022, Azerbaijan launched a large-scale military offensive against Artsakh on September 19, subjecting the capital Stepanakert and other cities and villages to intensive fire using heavy artillery and drones. “My Facebook feed is full …

Arrested former senior agent of the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Charles McGonigal, pleaded guilty to concealing the $225,000 he received in cash while working for the FBI from a former intelligence officer of Albania. McGonigal was the head of the FBI’s Counterintelligence Division in New York from 2016 …

Here’s the full text of the written interview that I gave to Dutch journalist Laura Oorschot, who incorporated some of the insight during her appearance on blckbx’s livestream on this subject on 22 September. How would you describe Pashinyan’s political position at present? Pashinyan is in a very difficult position …