https://eurasianet.org/trump-brokers-potentially-game-changing-deal-with-armenia-azerbaijan
https://www.politico.com/news/2025/08/07/us-deal-armenia-azerbaijan-00499285
I must say if this deal holds and comes to fruition, it will be quite the feather in Donald Trump's cap. Or if it goes wrong, it may be viewed by historians in terms of folly and provocation.
https://eurasianet.org/us-strikes-mineral-deals-with-uzbekistan-tashkent-report
https://eurasianet.org/kyrgyz-pm-gets-polite-brush-off-by-us-business-executives
https://www.eurasiantimes.com/china-intrudes-in-russias-backyard-as-moscow/
https://www.asianews.it/news-en/Central-Asia-and-Beijing-after-the-Astana-summit-63374.html
https://eurasianet.org/united-states-and-russia-angling-for-influence-in-turkmenistan
https://eurasianet.org/rumors-of-chinese-land-deals-spark-public-unease-in-uzbekistan
As Ankara seeks to work with Azerbaijan in the creation of a new energy and trade corridor connected to Central Asia, the other big players are also quite active and the region is astir.
This story broke in December 2024 in connection with the fall of the Assad regime. CNN was caught red-handed in a lie. The whole thing was a set-up. One has to wonder how many other such episodes take place? It is certain though that it's getting harder to pull off. Amid all the negatives, it's certainly one of the positives of the Internet Age.
This linked article comes from a Turkish news source. As expected this Wikileaks revelation isn't getting a lot of coverage in the West.
Some are happy to see USAID collapse because of it ties to US intelligence operations. The article (in the AKP-aligned news outlet) mentions Soros and yet a closer read of the historical record reveals that far from being some agent of Internationalist Globalism or Socialism, George Soros was one of the American Empire's 'point' men in the 1980's and 1990's in Eastern Europe. As soon as the Berlin Wall came down, the US sought to consolidate power in Eastern Europe and worked with Soros and many others to subvert politics, create political parties, and spread money around to quickly shift the former Warsaw Pact nations into the EU and NATO. It was highly successful and played no small role in today's tensions with Moscow.
https://www.euractiv.com/section/politics/opinion/the-brief-europes-guantanamo/
Syria has been out of everyone's mind for a number of years and as such the public has forgotten about these prisoners - tens of thousands of ISIS members and affiliates still held in prison camps. The article is absolutely correct in pointing out that the Turkish backed militias could lead the Kurds to abandon these camps and thousands of these Salafist fighters could be once more on the loose.
I caught this story the other day on PRX's The World. It more or less typifies what's wrong with shows like this. Twenty-five years ago I was excited to have access to this show as international news was hard to get. The show frequently carries interesting stories but there's a terrible pro-Western bias in all its coverage and this story was no exception.
https://www.dailysabah.com/opinion/op-ed/turkiye-and-brics-step-toward-more-multipolar-future
https://www.trtworld.com/turkiye/turkiyes-brics-bid-is-response-to-eu-membership-delay-18210122
Erdogan announced that Türkiye would be joining the ever expanding BRICS bloc in 2022, but just last month (September 2024) he made it official and Ankara has now officially applied for membership.
https://theworld.org/stories/2024/09/06/the-rise-of-an-armenian-church-opposition-leader
Yerevan continues to signal its shift to the West. There's little doubt that Moscow is alarmed as now Armenia seeks to re-orient its nuclear energy programme to the West and to cut out the Russians.
Ankara fears these Western-connected congregations are a Fifth Column, a means of cycling subversion into Turkish society, laundering money, and the like. While mostly exaggeration or simply untrue, I don't doubt there are some instances where this is the case. It may even be that some church leaders don't quite understand who they're affiliating with and where their money is coming from.
https://www.asianews.it/news-en/The-Turanian-World-advance-in-Central-Asia-60912.html
Neo-Ottomanism is not exactly the same as Pan-Turkism but the concepts can and often do overlap. Neo-Ottomanism is about leveraging Ankara's placement, the fact that Türkiye straddles Europe, the Caucasus, the Middle East, and the Mediterranean. Via the Black Sea and the Caucasus it is able to access the Turkish populations of Central Asia - and this is where the Pan-Turkism comes in. Ankara is able to exert itself culturally into the region and it's natural that economic and other diplomatic relations would ensue.
This was inevitable and I was pleased to note that others are noticing it as well. Baku has been effectively wed to Ankara since the break-up of the Soviet Union in the 1990's. Their cultural ties are pervasive and there are significant numbers of Azeris in Türkiye proper, and they also share a common enemy in the Armenians.
https://eurasianet.org/armenia-azerbaijan-macron-stirring-things-up-in-the-caucasus
Baku is in a fairly cozy relationship with Washington and thus if the Americans don't want to see Macron make this move, you can be sure the Azeri government will speak out and condemn French overtures.
https://www.thedefensepost.com/2023/09/22/bulgaria-us-funded-cyber-hub/
https://www.euractiv.com/section/politics/news/russian-oil-imports-to-eu-via-bulgaria-surge/
America maneuvers and manipulates the politics in other countries and then if need be it will even finance the build-up of their militaries. The US has many tools in its banking toolbox and a lot of them flow through the State Department and Pentagon.
https://eurasianet.org/as-azerbaijan-takes-over-karabakh-armenian-russian-ties-reach-new-nadir
As I have related in the past, the Armenian lobby in the
United States has been faced with an impossible situation, a position divorced
from the realities of US foreign policy. Since the fall of the USSR, Armenia
has been allied with Russia and indirectly with Iran. America has, since the
formation of NATO been an ally of the Turks, and with the break-up of the
Soviet Union this relationship extended to the Turkish regime in Azerbaijan.
The latter country was particularly attractive given its oil resources and
geo-strategic position on the Caspian Sea which connects it to Central Asia.
https://eurasianet.org/rift-widens-between-armenian-church-government
This is a somewhat hopeless debate to wade into. There are
glaring assumptions being made that must be questioned. Armenia is viewed by
its Orthodox Church and the religious sections of its populace as a sacral
state. As such, Nagorno-Karabakh is in reality Artsakh – part of the ancient
conglomeration of Armenian kingdoms. As a people they have lost so much and
have been brought so low, that for some a line has been drawn. No further. They
will not brook any further humiliation at the hands of Turks and will not
tolerate any political party that even entertains capitulation. For some this
isn't just politics or nationalism – it's theological.
https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/turkey-elections-opposition-candidate-kilicdaroglu-refugees-expel
To the surprise of many, Erdogan not only did better than
expected in the first round of the election, he now stands all but poised to
win another term. This is despite the crushing economic troubles the country
faces and the scandal surrounding the response to the February 2023 earthquake
and subsequent questions surrounding corruption, building codes, and the like.
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/4/8/analysis-will-azerbaijan-iran-tensions-lead-to-war
This is a story that I've been following for years – the fact
that Azerbaijan has become a platform for Israeli military and espionage
operations directed against Iran. Azerbaijan itself is a divided land – the Turkic-speaking
region was carved out of Persia first by the Tsars in the nineteenth century
and then under Stalin the northern portion of the territory became part of the
USSR. Apart from a brief episode in the context of the Russian Revolution and
Civil War, Azerbaijan only became truly independent in 1991. And while the
population is mostly Shiite (orienting them toward Iran), being Turkic they
also retain close cultural ties to Ankara and share the general Turkish
hostility toward the Armenians – with whom they have fought two wars since the
break-up of the Soviet Union.
The US media and Washington's political mouthpieces can
downplay this question all they want but the discussions are happening and at a
greater pace than seen before.
https://eurasianet.org/blinken-strikes-reassuring-tone-in-dialogue-with-central-asian-partners
US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken made a recent trip to
Central Asia and despite attempts by Western media to spin the visit in a
positive light – it is being almost universally acknowledged as a failure. The
Central Asian states refuse to back US-sponsored resolutions in the UN that
would condemn Russia's invasion of Ukraine and they clearly rejected Blinken's
overtures – recognizing them for what they are, an attempt at warmongering.
These are stressful times for the AKP leadership in Ankara
and many wonder if its long tenure is nearing its end. Erdogan has been on the
West's blacklist for years but his recent moves to block Sweden from joining
NATO have earned him a new set of enemies and with elections in the spring, the
pressure is starting to mount. These moves by the US Treasury Department are
only going to pour fuel on an already intensely burning fire.
