Iran

Putin’s Quest for Relevance: Why Russia is Offering to Mediate between the U.S. and Iran

Image credit/license In early March 2025, reports from Bloomberg and Reuters, among other outlets, claimed that, during their February 12 phone conversation, Russian President Vladimir Putin offered President Donald Trump…

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Russia’s Syrian Predicament Grows Unmanageable

(PONARS Eurasia Policy Memo) Syria has been an ongoing major focus in Russian security policy since its astounding military intervention in September 2015. Yet, now, it is barely present in political…

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Russian Intrigues in the Middle East

(EDM) Russian diplomacy is well known for its apparent readiness to engage with all parties to the multiple conflicts in the Middle East, and this characteristic has recently produced another awkward…

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U.S. Disengagement from the South Caucasus: The Throne Is Never Vacant

(PONARS Policy Memo) Over the last ten years, the United States has been gradually disengaging from the South Caucasus. This has tremendously affected the countries of the region, especially Georgia and…

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Kakachia: Georgia remains a steadfast supporter of U.S. initiatives but is unlikely to want to get drawn into a US-Iran conflict

(Eurasianet) A senior adviser to U.S. President Donald Trump is visiting the Caucasus, where he is expected to try to enlist the region’s three governments in Washington’s campaign of isolating Iran.…

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Levitsky and Way show that regimes spawned by popular revolutions usually share four attributes that enhance their durability

(The Atlantic) “When your enemy is making a mistake,” Napoleon purportedly cautioned, “never interrupt him.” In recent months the Islamic Republic of Iran has been battered by accumulating crises—including a collapsing currency,…

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Kakachia: It won’t help Armenia’s plans for a transit corridor without concessions from Moscow on Georgia’s breakaway regions

(Eurasianet) Armenia and Azerbaijan compete to attract Iranian cargo – Iran has been a fairly marginal player in the South Caucasus, but both Armenia and Azerbaijan are competing to draw it into the…

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Cooley: The whole aesthetic of Trump goes very well with Central Asia

(McClatchy) Weeks before his inauguration, Donald Trump was allied with a company in the former Soviet republic of Georgia that planned to build a 47-story luxury tower in the Black…

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Markedonov: Nagorno-Karabakh is the only conflict in the post-Soviet area where mutual cooperation between Russia and the West has not stopped

(APA) A forceful solution to conflicts in the South Caucasus remains, Sergey Markedonov, a Russian political analyst and associate professor at State University for the Humanities based in Moscow (Russia),…

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Interview with Troitskiy: Russian-backed Syria peace talks suffer a setback

(ABC Australia) The latest effort to bring peace to Syria has suffered a major setback with the main opposition group walking out of Russian-backed talks, despite Vladmir Putin holding 24…

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PONARS Eurasia Podcast

Putin’s Quest for Relevance: Why Russia is Offering to Mediate between the U.S. and Iran

Russia’s Syrian Predicament Grows Unmanageable

Russian Intrigues in the Middle East

U.S. Disengagement from the South Caucasus: The Throne Is Never Vacant

Kakachia: Georgia remains a steadfast supporter of U.S. initiatives but is unlikely to want to get drawn into a US-Iran conflict

Levitsky and Way show that regimes spawned by popular revolutions usually share four attributes that enhance their durability

Kakachia: It won’t help Armenia’s plans for a transit corridor without concessions from Moscow on Georgia’s breakaway regions

Cooley: The whole aesthetic of Trump goes very well with Central Asia

Markedonov: Nagorno-Karabakh is the only conflict in the post-Soviet area where mutual cooperation between Russia and the West has not stopped

Interview with Troitskiy: Russian-backed Syria peace talks suffer a setback