The Caucasus Today and in the Coming Years

Located between Europe and Asia and replete with energy and mineral resources, the Caucasus has long held the attention of regional and global powers. The countries of the Caucasus were in disarray after the fall of the Soviet Union: Armenia and Azerbaijan fought over Nagorno-Karabakh, while Georgia struggled with the secessionist regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia. But over the past decade the Caucasus states have achieved relative domestic political stability and have developed their own distinct foreign policies.

In the future, Russia, Turkey and Iran will remain active in the Caucasus, but a deeply fragmented Europe will not even be able to interact with the world as a unified force, let alone have a major impact on the region. Washington's involvement will not be as obvious, but the region is of too great a strategic interest to the United States to be ignored.