The territory’s outgoing leader says the vote will take place in July. But he’ll be out of office by then and neither his successor, nor Russia itself, appear as interested in it as he is.
As a new border commission prepares to start work, it will have to reckon with persistent disagreements over what to do with a handful of quirks of Soviet border-drawing.
Many outsiders have been calling on Georgia to take advantage of Russian weakness to reclaim its lost territories. But Georgians themselves aren’t having it.
While Anatoliy Bibilov tried to boost his electoral chances by tying himself more tightly to Russia, analysts say his defeat will still not likely result in any substantial change in relations with Moscow.
The incumbent has come under fire for a controversial military deployment to Ukraine, and it’s not clear that a proposal to annex the territory to Russia will help him.
Even as opposition mounts to the government’s negotiating strategy with Azerbaijan, it’s unclear whether the protest leaders can offer a credible alternative.
Armenia’s willingness to accept Azerbaijani control over Nagorno-Karabakh comes with an expectation that Baku will make reciprocal compromises. But there are little indications so far what those might be.
Turkmenistan's new president is continuing his father's traditions: Building white elephants, censoring the internet, and booting people out of their homes.
