Carnegie’s Jessica Matthews and Thomas de Waal and Anthony Richter from the Open Society Foundation opened the conference. De Waal stressed that the conference would aim to leave discussions of geopolitics aside and take a closer look at states, societies, and state building in the South Caucasus. Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Georgia are no longer countries “in transition” or “geopolitical pawns” under the influence of great powers, he argued, but functioning, sovereign states. “It’s time to treat these countries as grown-ups,” he concluded.
Hans Gutbrod from the Tbilisi-based Caucasus Research Resource Center presented the results of surveys taken across the South Caucasus in 2010. These “Caucasus Barometer” surveys gauged public opinion in each country on issues such as state and society relationships, economic developments, and engagement with the outside world.
No one is fully knowledgeable about the state of the Syrian economy, how exactly it has been affected by the events taking place in the country, or how to interpret the choice economic indicators issued by Syrian officials.
The U.S. pivot to the Asia-Pacific has created both tension and opportunity in its relations with China.
The gap between the efforts to deepen integration in order to save the euro and what most people really think should happen is wider than it has ever been before.
The Russian political system is likely to undergo some changes this year, perhaps even serious ones — not because Putin wants them, but because elements of Putin's inner circle are convinced that the government must take some of the protesters' demands seriously.
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