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caucasus: regional fractures

From the 2008 Georgia/Russian war to the "rose revolution" of 2003, with contested elections in Azerbaijan and the continued trauma of Chechnya, openDemocracy writers trace the roots of turmoil.

Tbilisi's leader-fixated politics highlights doubts over the idea of "transition to democracy"
Five years to the day after violent raids in Ingushetia ending with 79 deaths, there has been an attempt on the life of its current president, Yunus-Bek Yevkurov.  His bodyguard and driver died.  He is in intensive care.  Alexander Cherkasov, board member of the human rights organisation "Memorial", comments on recent events in the republic.
The leading Georgian politician explains her break with Mikheil Saakashvili as a search for democracy
As human rights violations escalate in the North Caucasus, Tanya Lokshina of Human Rights Watch visits Dagestan, supposedly riven by the struggle between ‘Wahhabis' and the authorities. She visits the so-called ‘Wahhabi' village of Gudben. 
Civil society is playing an impressive role in Georgia's present crisis, argues Tbilisi's last ambassador to Russia. Saakashvili's government has reached an impasse. There is a way forward, but Georgia will need the help of its friends abroad
Reviewing the roots of the roots of the conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan over Nagorno-Karabakh, Alexander Goryanin concludes that Armenia's victory has cost it too much. A more lasting solution will take time
The very survival of a troubled country depends on political leadership in the national interest
Russia is not happy with events on its southern Caucasus borders
Tbilisi's endemic political impasse provokes an appeal to the west from Georgia's former foreign minister   
There can be no Russia-Georgia rapprochement
A man who served now-embittered neighbours still offers wise counsel
It is time for a larger vision for the Caucasus that can provide hope of inclusive progress in the face of many obstacles
A neglected dispute seems to resemble the Caucasus-Balkans - but close-up looks different
  In defiance of the Medvedev-Sarkozy plan, Russian troops are not allowing international observers into the mountainous region of Akhalgori/ Leningori, east of Tskhinvali. But Varvara Pakhomenko of the human rights organisation Demos managed to reach this place which, though 80% Georgian, technically belongs in South Ossetia.  
The ripples of the vicious south Caucasus war continue
The currents of solidarity and fissure in the Caucasus mosaic elude Russia's control
A post-war buffer-zone remains tense, a Russian rights activist reports
The aftershocks of war with Russia are stirring Tbilisi's opposition into life
A tense region and authoritarian domestic politics limit the space for progress in Yerevan
The Caucasus war is Europe's opportunity for coherence vis-a-vis Moscow. Here's how to take it
The inclusion of Georgia and Ukraine in Nato is a flawed aim that guarantees conflict with Russia
The Caucasus war exposes a failure of global leadership. It's time for a new citizens' movement
The Georgia-Russia war provokes European governments into surprising initiatives
"The house has only just burnt down." The aged Georgian villagers of South Ossetia need help 
The Russia-Georgia conflict is global as well as regional. How to avoid a new era of confrontation?
Georgia must turn to the past to find the future
Russia 19th-century thinking could yet snatch defeat from its 21st-century victory in Georgia
Russia's Caucasus policy means domestic trouble, says Ivan Sukhov  
A focus on human safety and return of displaced persons ought to guide attitudes to Abkhaz and South Ossetian independence
Georgia's polity has survived the test of war. Now its president faces an acute domestic challenge
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