Joshua Kucera is a journalist living in Tbilisi. He also contributes to Eurasianet, The Economist, and other publications.
Azerbaijan has arrested six journalists in the last two weeks. At the same time, it's been railing against the U.S. and its funding of journalism in Azerbaijan. Even as it's riding high on military victory in Karabakh, analysts say that the government remains sensitive to corruption allegations.
Twenty years ago, Georgia's Rose Revolution applied a radical jolt to the country's politics, economy, and foreign policy. For many in Georgia and abroad, the revolution and the man it brought to the presidency, Mikheil Saakashvili, represented a new hope for the Caucasus country. But as the anniversary of the momentous events approaches, many in Georgia won't be celebrating. Especially the current leadership.
For decades, Azerbaijan sought popular legitimacy through its conflict with Armenia. Now that is resolved, will it be able to find a new issue to mobilize the public?
Concerns are growing that Armenia's Syunik region may now be vulnerable to an Azerbaijani attack. In an attempt to calm -- and also influence -- the situation, Europe, Russia, and Iran are all stepping in and boosting their regional footprints.
Over the past three years, Armenia has suffered a series of traumatic, near-existential defeats. And yet the leader who has presided over all these defeats, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian, remains firmly in power, with no serious challenge to his rule.
As a critical decision on Georgia's EU candidacy looms, the country's No. 1 European ally visited Tbilisi in a show of last-minute support. What's unclear is whether that ally, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, is going to help bolster Georgia's EU chances or sabotage them.
At least eight senior Karabakh Armenian leaders have been arrested since the de facto leadership's surrender and now face serious charges in Azerbaijani courts. To many Azerbaijanis, it is long-awaited justice. But to Armenians, it amounts to revenge in a politicized court system.
Talks are continuing between Baku and Yerevan in preparation for a presidential meeting next week in Spain. The most sensitive outstanding issue: a controversial transportation route that Armenians fear is a scheme to seize more of their territory.
After an Azerbaijani flash offensive against forces in Nagorno-Karabakh shifted the political landscape in the region, Baku says it plans to reintegrate Karabakh and its ethnic Armenian population into Azerbaijan. But the details remain far from clear.
A cease-fire has been agreed in Nagorno-Karabakh after Azerbaijan launched a new offensive on September 19. But why attack now? Analysts say Baku is frustrated with the slow pace of peace talks and calculated that it won't face any significant consequences from Russia or the West.
A series of demonstrative anti-Russian statements, and the hosting of an unprecedented military exercise with U.S. troops, has raised speculation that Armenia's slow drift away from Russia may be reaching a breaking point.
When the EU cracked open its door to Georgia, it made its invitation to formal candidate status conditional on the country reducing the polarization that has long vexed its domestic politics. But ahead of a decision on its EU candidacy, Georgia is embroiled in a bitter internal power struggle.
The deployment of even unarmed civilian observers to Armenia's border region with Azerbaijan marks an unprecedented Western intervention in a country where Russia has traditionally been the dominant security provider and, despite setbacks, still sees itself as the primary power broker.
Georgians in the Black Sea resort of Batumi complain their native tongue is being silenced as the Russian language grows louder with the opening of new businesses, most owned by Russians who fled here following the Kremlin's full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
In the 15 years since Georgia's short war with Russia, the memory of the conflict -- in particular, when it started and who started it -- has become deeply politicized.
As Azerbaijan has further restricted crossings on the only road connecting Nagorno-Karabakh to Armenia, the humanitarian situation in the territory is getting more dire. Azerbaijan has offered to send much-needed food and fuel from its side, but, so far, the Armenians are refusing.
Georgia has become a darling on the international film circuit, with its films taking honors at festivals around the world. But now, the government is taking aim at the country's state film institution, and leading filmmakers are saying that politicians are trying to sanitize the content of films.
An international investigation into the health of Georgian ex-President Mikheil Saakashvili has taken a strange turn as a doctor is accused of sneaking out biological samples in his shoes.
The Azerbaijani government and media have found a new punching bag in France, and in particular its president, Emmanuel Macron.
With the transatlantic alliance prepping for its annual summit in Vilnius, all the talk is about bringing Ukraine more closely into the fold. Georgia, it seems, has become an afterthought.
Load more
