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Resolving the conflict over Moldova’s breakaway region of Transdnestr would have wide-reaching positive implications for Russia, the EU, and the United States, but this opportunity will be lost if the issue is not addressed in the near future.
The Russian government’s poor response to the wildfires will further widen the chasm separating the nation’s authorities from society.
In spite of widespread criticism of Moscow’s handling of the crisis, the forest fires burning across Russia have provided Prime Minister Putin with another chance to boost his personal popularity by presenting himself as a strong, tough leader.
Two years since fighting broke out between Georgia and Russia, the situation in the separatist territories of Abkhazia and South Ossetia remains deadlocked and the current western policy of strong rhetorical support for the Georgian position substitutes easy words for hard diplomatic work.
The international community cannot afford to let the unresolved dispute over Nagorno-Karabakh remain a low priority; a renewal of violence would impact not only Armenia and Azerbaijan, but also Georgia, Russia, Turkey, and Iran.
While Russia’s short-term economy will largely depend on oil prices and the country’s demographic challenges, its medium-to-long-term outlook will be influenced by the lessons that leaders take from the crisis, which will affect Russia’s economic structure and policies for many years to come.
The international community can help bring much-needed stability to Kyrgyzstan, which has experienced violent ethnic clashes as its leaders lay the groundwork for Central Asia’s first genuine parliamentary democracy.
The bloodshed on the ceasefire line should focus minds and be a reminder that a new conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh would be catastrophic for everyone, not just Armenians and Azeris.
While Nagorno-Karabakh engages in the process of building a de facto state, hardening attitudes in Karabakh and Azerbaijan could lead to a war which would affect the entire South Caucasus, including Georgia, Iran, Russia, and Turkey.
When he met with President Obama in Washington, Russian President Medvedev’s chief goals were to continue the trend of the reset in U.S.-Russian relations and to further his domestic modernization and economic development initiative.