Eurasianet

South Ossetia has opened up a bit. Residents on the de facto boundary with Georgia hope it lasts.

Echoes of war drowned out talk of peace.

The 21-year-old Napoli breakout has become a rare source of national unity. The inevitable result: political attempts to ruin Georgians’ good vibes.

Closing an exit route. Plus: solicitous Russians and electricity exports. Our weekly Turkmenistan briefing.

The Ukraine war has upended the Russian-language dubbing of Western blockbusters. Kazakh cinemas are turning to domestic features.

Javakheti, a region once notorious for neglect and separatist tendencies, is steadily building ties with the rest of Georgia.

The shortages have been fueled by a Russian export ban.

The 20-year-old informant for Russia’s security services was sent to Tbilisi to report on the many exiles here. Now, he says, he’s come clean.

The announcement seems to be tied to a deranged post on the former Russian president’s social media.

The country’s pro-Europe elite sees a millennia-old history of belonging to Europe. Will it matter for Georgia’s EU aspirations?

The annual focus on Pride parades makes queerness a geopolitical issue. And that does not help Georgia’s LGBTQ community, which faces violence and economic marginalization.

Political movements based on Shia Islam have faced an uphill battle, as both the government and mainstream opposition are devoted to a secular, pro-Turkic national narrative.

One explanation for the continued dominance of Russian lies in Kazakhstan’s rural-urban divide.

The mass slaughter of animals in the syncretic pagan-Christian Lomisoba festival is out of step with 21st-century mores, some Georgians argue.

Armenia’s small Jewish community has been bolstered by about 200 recent arrivals fleeing Russia because of the war in Ukraine.