Momentum accelerated over the past month pointing towards the implementation, sooner rather than later, of the Trans-Caspian Gas Pipeline (TCGP). Already last summer the signature of the Convention on the Legal Status of the Caspian Sea established that neither Russia nor Iran would be able to block the construction of the pipeline. This even confirms Read More…
Diplomatic momentum is gaining on all fronts in favor of the Trans-Caspian Gas Pipeline (TCGP) between Turkmenistan and Azerbaijan. Both Russian and American diplomats tacitly agree that this is a positive development. Thus last week the new U.S. Ambassador to Georgia (and former Ambassador to Azerbaijan) Ross Wilson publicly stated that “transport projects implemented jointly Read More…
Whither the INF Treaty? The Trump administration has announced that America will withdraw from the treaty. NATO endorses Washington’s finding that Russia is non-compliant. Major dilemmas await Washington and Europe in a post-INF Treaty world.
This article is an end-of-year review looking at the EU’s and Turkey’s position in three potential maritime conflict situations: first, the Caspian Sea basin; and then the Black Sea and East Mediterranean basins together. The most significant development in Caspian Sea energy in 2018 was the signature of the Convention on the Status of the Read More…
NATO has always been a collective defence organization, aimed at repelling an external threat to Alliance members. However, ever since the Harmel Report of 1967, and certainly since the end of the Cold War, NATO’s purview has widened to include a much more prominent diplomatic role, related to a much broader understanding of what constitutes a security concern, without compromising its original mission. Changsung Lee considers whether this latter-day understanding of NATO’s purpose might serve as a template for a future multilateral security structure in Northeast Asia that could facilitate a rules-based order in that region, and perhaps help catalyze the reunification of the Korean Peninsula.
Is NATO doing enough? In this comprehensive piece, analyst and program editor Taylor Allen critically analyzes bilateral relations between NATO and Russia amidst growing tensions over the past decade.
The Arab Spring threw a wrench into Egypt’s promising liquified natural gas (LNG) industry. Now, with stability returned to that country and the discovery of new gas deposits in the Nile littoral, Egypt is poised to become a major source of energy to the E.U. market. As auspicious as this sounds, it raises the stakes in an already volatile region marked by militarization and beset by inter-state strife and transcontinental tension.
In this article, Isabelle Ava-Pointon examines the recent incident in the Sea of Azov. This timely and complex event will provide valuable insight into the ongoing Russian-Ukrainian conflict over the fate of Crimea.
In this article, Dakota Bewley investigates Russia’s interests in the Baltic States. Is Russia influencing decision making in the Baltics to advance Russia’s interests in the region?
On the Editor’s Forum, program editors at NAOC continue their case-by-case examination of different areas of the globe and identify their respective security contingencies. In this instalment, the Eastern Mediterranean is the region being reviewed.