It will take Iran a long time to make up the ground it has lost in the South Caucasus since the end of the Soviet Union.

The two political groups’ no-holds-barred partisan wars in Georgia may be emotionally satisfying for the principals, but it is also creating the political space for the return of conservative, Moscow-leaning parties and organizations to thrive.

Russia’s problems with Crimea and Crimea’s problems with Russia will only continue to grow.

The story with the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, which ended to the benefit of Russian national interests, nevertheless exposes the weakness of the Russian decisionmaking process in relation to the Asia-Pacific.

The real question looming over Uzbekistan's upcoming election is not who wins, but what will happen to the country after President Islam Karimov eventually leaves power.

Putin and his policy attract sympathizers in Europe from both far left and far right. However, Russian ideologists have such a poor idea of who supports them overseas that they failed to assemble and present a convincing contingent of supporters, only embarrassing themselves in the end.

The post-Soviet elites use the system that Lee Kuan Yew constructed in Singapore to justify political crackdown. However, Lee himself believed that resource-based dictatorships will fail to replicate Singapore’s success, since restricting freedoms is not the cornerstone of his model.

Prospects for Ukraine’s long-term success and cohesion will be determined by its ability to pursue far-reaching reforms to modernize the state and to check the power of the oligarchs.

The Chechen connection to the Nemtsov’s murder has split the ruling elite. Putin’s problem is that Kadyrov has completely cleared Chechnya of all rivals, either Chechen or Russian—having fed and groomed his “dragon,” he has no Plan B in Chechnya.

The Minsk agreements are fragile.How effectively they are implemented will depend primarily on the Europeans’ ability to convince Moscow to pressure separatists into observing the ceasefire, and on Kyiv’s ability to keep nationalist militias in line. If either side fails to do so, the fighting is likely to resume.

Although it began with state-owned assets, the nationalization project in Crimea quickly consumed Ukrainian and Russian private property. One year on, every significant Crimean enterprise is in the hands of local authorities, and there is little hope for privatization.

What happens to an authoritarian country that’s left without its leader and the founder of the regime?

Putin and Kadyrov resemble Siamese twins, whose separation will result in complication for both of them, and thus for the country at large. Neither one of them stood to benefit from Boris Nemtsov’s death.

The Russian government’s decision to end cooperation with Ukraine on two space launch programs is likely due to political motivations alone and goes against the economic and technological interests of Russia, Ukraine, and many other countries. This decision is worth reconsidering.

The perpetrators of violence have staked their claim to power, or at least a more active role in formulating the regime’s identity and methods. If we are to assume that the president is not directly linked to Nemtsov’s murder, it seems that someone else wants to push Putin in a more decisive and punitive direction.

It is impossible to imagine Ramzan Kadyrov calling his subordinates and directly instructing them to commit the murder of Boris Nemtsov. However, the xenophobia and fear of the West characteristic of some segments of Russia’s Muslim community, including Muslims in the North Caucasus, creates a favorable climate for such acts.

If Russia does not develop and produce technological innovation, it will not be able to keep pace with the outside world.

The Turkish government’s decision to hold a ceremony to commemorate the Gallipoli battles on April 24, in competition with the Armenian commemorations in Yerevan, looks like a political mistake.

About seven years after abolishing compulsory military service and amidst the tense situation in Ukraine, Lithuania has restored conscription. Eurasia Outlook asked its experts to weigh in on the deeper meaning of this maneuver and what its consequences might be.

In the short term, Ukraine is on the verge of economic and, perhaps, political collapse. Yet in the longer term, the real question is whether the emergence of a coherent Ukrainian national identity creates a solid consensus for reform of the state and a sustained Western trajectory.