Geopolitics is a favorite pastime of many people in this part of the world, journalists, academics, diplomats and voters alike.  That is largely because the Caucasus and the Black Sea region in general are at the intersect point between “the European Neighborhood” and the Russian “Near Abroad” aspirations.  The countries in this region—Georgia, Ukraine, Moldova, and Azerbaijan—have dealt with secessionist threats, with Moscow either at the forefront or backstage; Tbilisi and Kyiv also have experienced so called “color” revolutions, which testified to their willi...

Recent parliamentary elections in Georgia marked an important point in the country’s history, as they marked the first-ever peaceful transfer of power in the country.  Even as results of this most competitive elections Georgia ever had were still coming in, and in a gesture rare in the post-Soviet world, President Mikheil Saakashvili accepted his party's loss and announced his intention to appoint a government formed by the new parliamentary majority.  The Georgian leader stated that though the ideas and goals of the Georgian Dream, the oppositional coalition that won the ele...

Azerbaijani experts taking part in an international telebridge on October 31 argued that the chief threat to the ecology of the Black Sea comes not from the impact of oil and gas production, but rather from rivers flowing into it whose waters have become contaminated by agricultural and industrial chemicals.  That view was disputed by participants from two other littoral states—the Russian Federation and Kazakhstan—and it is thus one that may complicate long-running talks on the territorial demarcation of the sea even as it promotes greater environmental awareness across the reg...