By Alexandros Petersen (9/17/2009 issue of the CACI Analyst)

This summer’s dispute over undersea Caspian energy resources between Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan, as well as Ashgabat’s recently stated intention to bolster its maritime military capabilities, have seemingly thrown Trans-Caspian relations into a tailspin, jeopardizing plans for energy cooperation to supply the strategic Nabucco natural gas pipeline. Given the Caspian’s delicate geopolitical balance, an international arbitration process on the Azerbaijani-Turkmen dispute may not in fact result in final resolution.

By Haroutiun Khachatrian (9/17/2009 issue of the CACI Analyst)

Turkey and Armenia have declared their intention to sign two Protocols next month, aimed at normalizing their relations and opening their common border, which has been closed by Turkey since 1993. To that end, Turkey has seemingly eased some of its previous preconditions, including on the genocide question and demands for progress on the Nagorno-Karabakh issue in Azerbaijan’s favor.

By Kevin Daniel Leahy (9/17/2009 issue of the CACI Analyst)

The sudden reappearance of the suicide attack as a tactic of choice for insurgents in the North Caucasus has caused panic among security forces in the region. In attempting to account for this unwelcome trend, Chechnya’s president, Ramzan Kadyrov, has blamed the machinations of Western security agencies, as well as the advent of mind-altering psychotropic drugs for misleading young men into carrying out such attacks.