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

US President Donald J. Trump recent decision to withdraw American forces from Syria caught everyone by surprise: the Washington establishment, foreign policy pundits and everyone else who follow the Middle East Geopolitics. Given the top priority which President Trump has attached to the containment of Iran and curbing its activities in the Middle East, many believed that US presence in Syria should have been either expanded or at least stayed the same. READ MORE

• December 28, 2018

President Vladimir Putin said on Tuesday that there was nothing to stop Russia and the United States holding talks with other countries about the possibility of them joining a landmark arms control treaty that is at risk of unraveling.

• December 21, 2018

The European Union is investigating a cyber hack of its diplomatic communications, allegedly by Chinese hackers, that revealed EU concern about U.S. Donald Trump, Russia and Iran, the bloc said on Wednesday.

• December 21, 2018

Russia’s top business people will discuss the threat of new U.S. sanctions with President Vladimir Putin next week, Alexander Shokhin, the head of the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs, told reporters on Wednesday.

• December 21, 2018

By Eduard Abrahamyan, Wider Black Sea & Central Asia regional security analyst

On October 24-26, a U.S. State Department delegation headed by National Security Adviser Ambassador John Bolton visited the South Caucasian republics after talks in Moscow. The delegation’s visit to Azerbaijan, Armenia and Georgia was immediately dubbed a reinvigoration of U.S. policy towards the Caucasus and a pragmatic reengagement with the conflicted region. Bolton appeared to refine the evolving U.S. priorities with each country, categorizing them in accordance with political capabilities, shared interests and the roles that Georgia, Azerbaijan and Armenia respectively seek in relations with the West. The visit, however, caused an angry reaction from Moscow, especially given the issues Bolton raised in Yerevan. READ MORE

• December 21, 2018

Russia is seeking to boost its power in Europe and grip over Ukraine with the proposed Nord Stream 2 natural gas pipeline, the top U.S. energy diplomat said on Monday, in a step-up of Washington’s rhetoric against the pipeline.

• December 12, 2018

Two Russian strategic bombers capable of carrying nuclear weapons have landed in ally Venezuela in a show of support for the government there that infuriated Washington.

• December 12, 2018

European efforts to keep Russia shipping gas through Ukraine after the opening the Nord Stream 2 pipeline across the Baltic Sea are futile, the top U.S. energy diplomat said on Tuesday, saying Russia could not be trusted.

• December 12, 2018