Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
The Arab Spring has more in common with events in Sub-Saharan Africa in the 1990s than Central and Eastern Europe in 1989. The impact of events in the Middle East for states outside the region will depend on the legitimacy and adaptability of their regimes.
While Azerbaijan is unlikely to ever recognize the independence of Nagorno-Karabakh or sign a treaty with Armenia concerning the contested territory, it is also unlikely that a war will break out over the territory’s status.
The United States must engage in a careful balancing act to maintain both its expressed commitment to Arab democracy and its commitment to its relationship with Israel.
The Arab Spring has initiated a wave of change that will affect every aspect of society in the Middle East, including the Israel-Palestinian conflict and Egypt's influence in the Middle East and North Africa.
The current protests in Tunisia and Egypt and the subsequent unrest in the region provide an incentive for Arab states to address political reform and the Arab-Israeli peace process in tandem.
While the nations of the Caucasus are heavily influenced by historical narratives of intractable ethnic conflicts, a more critical look at the region’s history reveals a number of surprising alliances and pragmatic resolutions.
A regional approach to the conflict between Israel and Palestine would ensure that all parties involved have the ability to make painful compromises and still achieve a viable agreement.
The attack at the Baksan hydropower station may be a sign that the militants in the Russian republic of Kabardino-Balkaria are switching to guerilla warfare and that the authorities must rethink their strategy for how to deal with the North Caucasus.
Turkey is one of the most economically and politically powerful states in the Middle East and it has recently been taking steps to fill the leadership vacuum that exists in the region.
Turkey is strongly condemning Israel for the attack Monday on a six-ship flotilla taking humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip. The attack has dealt a very public setback to Israeli-Turkish relations, which have been slowly deteriorating for several years.