By Benyamin Poghosyan, PhD, Executive Director, Political Science Association of Armenia
It is time for Armenia to deepen its relations with Iran and China, out of necessity rather than choice.

Armenia continues to face a hard geopolitical reality. The 2018 Velvet revolution has brought hope of the possibility of significant and systemic changes in domestic policy - including in the fight against corruption, furthering the rule of law, and reducing monopolies over key imports and exports from and to Armenia. However, the revolution did not change the geopolitical juncture around Armenia. Yerevan continues to face joint Azerbaijani-Turkish pressure to make concessions in the Karabakh conflict settlement process. READ MORE

• April 1, 2019

By Nika Chitadze, PhD, Director, Center for International Studies, International Black Sea University, Tbilisi

Georgia is a small country on the crossroads of Europe and Asia. At the same time, together with the economic benefits for the country, which had and has its important geopolitical place between different civilizations, there were frequent confrontations for the gaining control over Georgia and Caucasus Region due to the fact, that modern territory of Georgia was located on one of the branch of the Great Silk Road. Historic Silk Road was functioning since 8-7-th Centuries B.C. till the middle of 15-th Century. After the collapse of Constantinople in 1453, the interregional Silk Road lost its function, and Georgia was in a very difficult situation, that spanned centuries. READ MORE

• April 1, 2019

Two Russian air force planes landed at Venezuela’s main airport on Saturday carrying a Russian defense official and nearly 100 troops, according to media reports, amid strengthening ties between Caracas and Moscow.

• March 25, 2019

Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s conclusion that U.S. President Donald Trump’s campaign did not collude with Russia in the 2016 election is a serious blow to Democrats who had hoped Mueller’s report would boost their own wide-ranging probes into Trump’s business dealings.

• March 25, 2019

Oil prices held steady on Monday as investors weighed concerns of a slowdown in global economic growth against the prospect of tighter crude supply and lower U.S. inventories.

• March 25, 2019

By Ahmad Alili, Head of Research, Caucasus Policy Analysis Center, Baku

Baku softened its rhetoric on Karabakh following the Velvet Revolution in Armenia. Nikol Pashinyan's statements however have disappointed Baku at a time when its room for manoeuvre is limited.
For some time over the last months, it was noticeable that the Azerbaijani authorities were being careful in their speeches when commenting on developments with regard to the peaceful resolution of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, choosing accommodating rhetoric toward the new government in Armenia. At their first informal meeting in Dushanbe, during the CIS summit in late September, Armenian prime minister Nikol Pashinyan and Azerbaijani president Ilham Aliyev verbally agreed to reduce tensions on the line of contact, including by re-establishing the military-to-military hotline, something which the Azerbaijani side had previously rejected as a measure that strengthened the status quo. READ MORE

• March 21, 2019

By Armine Arzumanyan, Student, Renmin University, PR of China

Aiming to create a future where all roads lead to Beijing, China now plans to obtain a global role in politics by putting itself at the centre of global economic affairs through the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), which is the most ambitious geo-economic vision in recent history. The BRI and its goals, that have been given many different evaluations, has suggested cooperation in Central Asia, West Asia and Eastern Europe. To maintain a balanced security environment at the conjunction of Europe and Asia and to ensure a successful realization of the BRI, China will need a reliable strategic partner in the South Caucasus. This essay points out why Armenia is most likely to be the strategic ally China will need, drawing out the main perspectives and paradigms for more advanced Sino-Armenian relations. READ MORE

• March 20, 2019

By Benyamin Poghosyan, PhD, Executive Director, Political Science Association of Armenia

Since the victory of the "Velvet Revolution" in Armenia, the key foreign policy issue facing the new Armenian authorities is the Karabakh conflict. The negotiation process has been stalled since the failed Kazan summit in June 2011, and the April 2016 four day war made any possible movement forward even less likely. The negotiations after April 2016 were focused on the launch of confidence building measures including the establishment of the ceasefire violations investigation mechanisms and the increase of the OSCE monitoring mission personnel. However, even these modest goals were difficult to achieve as Azerbaijan was urging for a start of "substantial" negotiations on issues of territories and status, otherwise perceiving the confidence building measures as a way to cement the current status quo. READ MORE

• March 19, 2019