oD support open standards:

About Thomas de Waal

Thomas de Waal is a senior associate for the Caucasus at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace (CEIP) in Washington. He is the author of The Caucasus: An Introduction (Oxford University Press, 2010). His earlier books include Chechnya: Calamity in the Caucasus (NYU Press, 1999) - with Carlotta Gall; and Black Garden: Armenia and Azerbaijan Through Peace and War (NYU Press, 2003)

Articles by Thomas de Waal

Saturday 22nd October

Abkhazia's archive: fire of war, ashes of history

Thomas de Waal, 22 October 2011

The documented history of the cosmopolitan Black Sea territory of Abkhazia was destroyed in war on 22 October 1992. Its Greek archivist Nikolai Ioannidi devoted the rest of his life to restoring and conserving what remains, reports Thomas de Waal.

(This article was first published on 20 October 2006)

Wednesday 24th August

Azerbaijani demolitions: an update

Thomas de Waal, 24 August 2011
The authorities’ destruction of a building and precious archive of human-rights workers in Baku is an act of mindless cruelty that damages Azerbaijan itself, says Thomas de Waal.
Friday 29th July

Azerbaijan: speed without system

Thomas de Waal, 29 July 2011
The authorities in Baku seem intent on building a new Dubai on the Caspian. But there is a dark side to the boom in Azerbaijan’s capital, finds Thomas de Waal.
Thursday 4th November

The lightness of history in the Caucasus

Thomas de Waal, 4 November 2010
The Caucasus is often depicted as a region of peoples locked in enduring and invariant nationalist enmity. The reality is more complex and therefore more hopeful, says Thomas de Waal.
Friday 21st May

Crimes in the Caucasus

Thomas de Waal, 21 May 2010
Documenting a great historical tragedy unknown to most, Oliver Bullough's new book is a fascinating and groundbreaking work. Thomas de Waal reviews "Let Our Fame Be Great"
Friday 30th January

Georgia and Russia, again

Thomas de Waal, 30 January 2009
A man who served now-embittered neighbours still offers wise counsel
Thursday 8th January

The Caucasus: a region in pieces

Thomas de Waal, 8 January 2009
It is time for a larger vision for the Caucasus that can provide hope of inclusive progress in the face of many obstacles
Thursday 27th November

Transdniestria: a family quarrel

Thomas de Waal, 27 November 2008
A neglected dispute seems to resemble the Caucasus-Balkans - but close-up looks different
Tuesday 12th August

South Ossetia: the avoidable tragedy

Thomas de Waal, 12 August 2008
The main cost of an unnecessary and callous war is being paid by civilians on both sides
Sunday 10th August

South Ossetia: war and politics

Thomas de Waal, 10 August 2008
Georgia's blitzkrieg against one of its breakaway territories is a political disaster for its president.
Friday 16th May

The Russia-Georgia tinderbox

Thomas de Waal, 16 May 2008
Russian bullying and Georgian crassness are heating the frozen conflict over Abkhazia
Sunday 2nd September

The north Caucasus: politics or war?

Thomas de Waal, 2 September 2007
Chechen's horrors reach a north Caucasus school (archive) 
Tuesday 1st August

Abkhazia-Georgia, Kosovo-Serbia: parallel worlds?

Zeyno Baran and Thomas de Waal, 1 August 2006
In the Caucasus and the Balkans, two territories whose people broke free through war from a larger state their peoples saw as oppressive are now in constitutional limbo. What future have Kosovo Albanians and Abkhazians earned – independence, autonomy, federation? What justice is owed to their Serb and Georgian neighbours and former neighbours? Thomas de Waal and Zeyno Baran debate these issues.
Tuesday 9th May

Abkhazia's dream of freedom

Thomas de Waal, 9 May 2006
Abkhazia's case for independence from Georgia has echoes of Kosovo's from Serbia, reports Thomas de Waal from the Black Sea territory.
Tuesday 11th October

Musa Shanib in the Caucasus: a political odyssey

Thomas de Waal, 11 October 2005
The meteoric career of an intellectual, nationalist dissident in the north Caucasus is emblematic of the region’s troubled post-Soviet condition, writes Thomas de Waal of the Institute for War & Peace Reporting.
Syndicate content