Armenia's election, like it or not, is being fought by outside actors as well. Russia and parts of the US diaspora have a new candidate to unseat Nikol Pashinyan. Pashinyan needs help to demonstrate progress in his Real Armenia agenda. My latest for @carnegieeurope.bsky.social

A great line-up of experts, ahead of @cop30brazil.bsky.social, to consider if Europe still has a leadership role on climate change. Yes, it does, some say, it never had one, others contend!

❔| #TTP: Has Europe Given Up its Leadership on Climate Change? ➡️ COP30 takes place amidst increased pessimism about the world’s commitment to climate action. Beset by a host of other challenges, can Europe still maintain a leading role? carnegieendowment.org/europe/strat...

Europe is still struggling to cope with the second Trump presidency, writes Stefan Lehne for @carnegieeurope.bsky.social Echoing St Augustine, the message is “Lord, make us autonomous, but not just yet!” But the time to act is now. A great read. carnegieendowment.org/europe/strat...

How did the White House end up brokering a peace deal between Armenia and Azerbaijan? In a new article for @foreignaffairs.com, Senior Fellow Thomas de Waal unravels how a shared rejection of Russian dominance in the South Caucasus drove both parties down "an unlikely road to peace."

Just published, my piece on the U.S. Armenia-Azerbaijan deal and its prospects. There is a lot of hard work still to be done, I argue, but the shared coincidence of interests that neither country wants Russia as a guarantor has been transformative. www.foreignaffairs.com/armenia/unli...

I was very glad of the opportunity to have a substantial conversation with @neweasterneurope.eu on the Trump deal with Armenia and Azerbaijan talkeasterneurope.eu/episodes/epi...

Ivanishvili has created "an illiberal and anti-European system which leaves no political space for either party opponents or civil society activists. Currently, almost all of Georgia’s major opposition party leaders are in prison. We call it a quasi-dictatorship."

Check out the latest episode of Talk Eastern Europe! Listen on Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts. talkeasterneurope.eu/episodes/epi...

On #Georgia, its rapid descent into authoritarian rule and the EU's struggle to respond. My piece today for Carnegie, with advice for Brussels: don't punish ordinary people by cancelling visa liberalization @carnegieeurope.bsky.social carnegieendowment.org/europe/strat...

Since last year's election, Georgia's ruling party has rolled back democracy & derailed its EU accession process. To avoid penalizing pro-European citizens, the EU should focus punitive measures on a small group in the elite, writes @tomdewaal.bsky.social. carnegieendowment.org/europe/strat...

My article on how the Philharmonic Orchestra in #Odesa/#Odessa has played on through all the travails of wartime, and the story of its amazing American conductor, Hobart Earle, who has been with them since 1991. In today’s FT magazine (sorry, behind a paywall). www.ft.com/content/9dc6...

oc-media.org/azerbaijani-... Outrageous news from Baku as young scholar and peace activist Bahruz Samadov is given a 15-year jail sentence for "treason." I'm afraid I hear that the news is even worse: Bahruz tried to take his own life by hanging in his cell over the weekend. He must be freed.

Here's an essay I wrote for my college magazine about how it took me 35 years to translate Mandelstam's Tristia, the joys and tribulations of poetry translation and Osip M's amazing mysterious verse, which resonates anew with every generation. heyzine.com/flip-book/fl...

Since 2022 Central and Eastern Europe has undergone a fundamental shift away from reliance on Russian gas. Will it last? Join @maxhess.bsky.social‬, Sergey Vakulenko and me tomorrow for a Carnegie Europe webinar to discuss these issues. It will be insightful! carnegieendowment.org/events/2025/...

www.foreignaffairs.com/azerbaijan/p... Zaur's piece on Azerbaijan is excellent, authoritative, comprehensive and asks the hard questions about the country's future @zaurshiriyev.bsky.social

Please read, share and repost this brave piece of journalism by Will Neal @willneal.bsky.social‬ about Georgia and the dealings and Russia connections of London-based Hunnewell Partners which owns Imedi TV amongst other assets, is a close partner of Georgian Dream. bylinetimes.com/2025/03/31/m...

As the South Caucasus undergoes a strategic realignment, the EU & Turkey have an opportunity to recalibrate their engagement. Converging interests might foster cooperation if long-standing assumptions are set aside, writes @zaurshiriyev.bsky.social. carnegieendowment.org/europe/strat...

💡Registration is open for the 2025 Carnegie Endowment James C. Gaither Junior Fellows Conference, The Next Generation of Foreign Policy. 📅June 11, 11am-5pm EDT, in-person. Open exclusively to students and young professionals. Learn more and register here: carnegieendowment.org/events/2025/...

"Can Turkey and Armenia Normalize Relations?" with @tomdewaal.bsky.social ‬ and Garo Paylan via @carnegieeurope.bsky.social. [3/5]

Another biographical gem from Cavid

🎧 | Turkey & Armenia are divided by decades of unresolved tensions & a closed border. In a new episode of #EuropeInsideOut, @rmomtaz.bsky.social, @tomdewaal.bsky.social, & Garo Paylan discuss whether the countries can normalize relations. To listen: europe-inside-out.simplecast.com/episodes/can...

It's the move that benefits (almost) everyone but still does not happen... Who better to discuss the search for Armenia-Turkey normalization with than Garo Paylan? I enjoyed our discussion with @rmomtaz.bsky.social for the Carnegie Europe podcast europe-inside-out.simplecast.com/episodes/can...

Yesterday we published our investigation into torture & death of Ukrainian journalist Viktoriia Roshchyna. Now, what I & several Guardian colleagues have been working on for past few months: inside one of Russia's worst torture prisons for Ukrainians www.theguardian.com/world/2025/a...

Today, researcher & @charlesuni.cuni.cz PhD candidate Bahruz Samadov is spending 30th birthday behind bars in Azerbaijan, where critical scholarly work is criminalized, labeled as treason. There shld be more academic voices demanding Bahruz's freedom. #FreeBahruz www.psapopulism.org/blog/news/fr...

President Trump’s apparent belief that Ukraine will inevitably lose its war against Russia if it doesn’t accept a peace deal may not be in line with the battlefield reality. @alexgabuev.bsky.social and @michaelkofman.bsky.social explain for the @ceip-politika.bsky.social podcast:

Central and Eastern Europe have made a fundamental transition from reliance on Russian gas. Even if there is a halt to the war in Ukraine, there is no going back. Our latest analysis from Carnegie by ‪@maxhess.bsky.social‬ carnegieendowment.org/research/202...

So much going on in the world that this commentary didn't get enough attention @zaurshiriyev.bsky.social on the importance of seizing the moment for an Armenia-Azerbaijan peace deal "Without peace, Baku risks mistaking short-term leverage for lasting influence." carnegieendowment.org/emissary/202...

Exclusive: Trump Administration Denies Parole to Harvard Scientist From Russia, Citing Threat to US National Security www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

carnegieendowment.org/emissary/202... For sure protesters in Georgia, Hungary and Serbia are watching and deriving inspiration from each other

European shipping, the Red Sea, the Houthis, Trump and tariffs all linked here--spotted by someone I spoke to recently. The head of CMA, France’s biggest shipping farm, Rodolphe Saadé, got a WH meeting with Trump on March 6, pledged $20bln for shipbuilding in the US. www.ft.com/content/0a9a...

Great story anyway who follows Georgia 🇬🇪 should read, on the power and assets accumulated by one UK company - and their ties to Abramovich.

Podcast on Armenia and Azerbaijan. Good questions from Wilberforce Society in Cambridge! open.spotify.com/episode/4rBf...

Russia is testing the US. It's already exporting agricultural goods – “far more important for Moscow to get restrictions lifted on access to Western financial infrastructure: insurance, logistics, and payment systems.” Great analysis by Alexandra Prokopenko. carnegieendowment.org/russia-euras...

Russia wading in again on the "Zangezur Corridor"/Syunik transit route across Armenia to Azerbaijan. Zakharova says the ARM-AZ-RUS working group has to be revived, talks of the "destructive influence of the West." A sign that Moscow is worried about losing leverage here to EU tass.ru/ekonomika/23...

www.rferl.org/a/rferl-usag... A very powerful personal message from Rikard Jozwiak on the importance of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty @rferl.org.web.brid.gy Its Armenian, Azeri and Georgian services have been beacons of free media in the region

Exactly. "Samadov’s appeal to brotherhood among the previously warring nations would appear to line up perfectly with the Armenian-Azerbaijani Zeitenwende. Why, then, has an outspoken peace advocate been arrested just as peace appears to be within reach?" Freedom for Bahruz!

U.S.-Russia talks are set for today, but Russia envoy Steve Witkoff spent the weekend making inflammatory comments about Ukraine. Do his remarks reflect the reality of the war? @michaelkofman.bsky.social set the record straight. See his work quoted in @forbes.com: www.forbes.com/sites/stuart...

Azerbaijan and Turkey, very close allies, are in a rare public dispute after Turkey and Armenia agreed to temporarily open their border for Armenian humanitarian aid shipments to Syria.

Lots of good food for thought in @zaurshiriyev.bsky.social 's deep essay here on the reasons for Azerbaijan's success in the conflict with Armenia in recent years--and the reasons why it is important for Baku to cut a deal. gfsis.org/wp-content/u...

An update on the war following a recent trip. The situation has improved compared with Fall 2024. Russian offensive momentum slowed significantly over the winter, though it is premature to claim that the front has stabilized, especially following AFU withdrawal in Kursk. /1

One more case in what's becoming an awful trend

This is the way Georgian Dream eventually fails, through incompetence, hubris and financial mismanagement.

My piece on the Armenia-Azerbaijan peace agreement -- a big step forward but a long way to go carnegieendowment.org/emissary/202...

1 A really positive step forward in Armenian-Azerbaijani peace talks… but we shouldn’t expect a signing ceremony and peace in our time soon. Some inaccurate reporting out there, this piece ooks to me objective and accurate oc-media.org/armenia-and-...

"Eurasia is Friends with Oceania!" www.nytimes.com/2025/03/05/w...

I was delighted to meet Fedir Serdiuk from Odesa in London this week. He's ones of those young Ukrainians who inspire you with their capacity for self-mobilization, grassroots organization and invention. His NGO has massively improved the the country's poor battlefield medical procedures.

My conversation yesterday at the MSC with Georgian president Salome Zourabishvili Continued repression, political deadlock, a worsening international environment- what is the strategy to deal with all this? www.youtube.com/live/7IWlrOj...

Well done, Hans

Just arrived in Munich. Looking forward very much to moderating this important conversation on 🇬🇪later with President @Zourabichvili_S securityconference.org/en/msc-2025/...