Another year has been and gone in the COVID-19 pandemic. Though 2020 was largely defined by the absence of any live gigs in Tbilisi I was at least fortunate enough to be able to attend band rehearsals and in September that year a special live-streamed event by Jam! Events in cooperation with the city’s municipality. This September, a repeat event for live-streaming was again held and I was also able to be part of a physical audience made up of band members, technicians, and a few friends.
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LACHIN: LIFE IN NO MAN'S LANDAnyone taking the road from Goris to...
New Site Getting There, Though With Archive Materials
My first web site went online in late 1994. Working at The Independent newspaper on Old Street in London at the time, I would meet up with researcher friends at the University College of London (UCL) a few tube stops away for a beer after work most nights and one night they didn’t want to go to the pub just yet. Instead, they wanted to show me the World Wide Web, something we take for granted today, but at that time was only available to a select few.
The Karabakh Podcast
This interview with Rusif Huseynov, Co-founder and Director of the Topchubashov Centre in Baku, Azerbaijan, was held on 10 February 2023. In it, Huseynov shares his opinion and commentary on the view from Baku on apparently dashed hopes for a peace...
Armenia-Azerbaijan Opening Remarks
I’ve been covering the Karabakh problem since first visiting in 1994 and I remember being told by one academic back then that it would take 20 years to find a lasting solution to the conflict. Sadly, as way of a reality check, it’s now been 27 years since that 1994 ceasefire.
Post-Soviet Suicidal Black Metal album review
I’ll be quite honest. Five years ago, in 2015, when I was told that Psychonaut 4 would be performing in Tbilisi, I really wasn’t interested in going to see them live. I hadn’t heard of the band until then and I really had no idea where they were coming from musically.
Gaming and Extremism – Why Pop Culture needs to be embraced by the P/CVE and conflict resolution community
As Trump and others blame computer games for the gun violence in society, while ignoring their own contribution to the hatred and xenophobia in play, it’s worth remembering that this narrative has been used by successive governments and conservative groups against gamers for decades and has been persistently debunked.
Moreover, games can arguably be a useful tool in preventing and countering violent extremism and other sensitive issues. Discussing mental health issues, for example, was encouraged by the recent independent AAA game, Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice, which consulted mental health professionals at all stages of its development.
Les Gardiens du Silence
One of the standout bands at this year’s One Caucasus Festival in Georgia was undoubtedly the Baku-based Les Gardiens du Silence, a collective playing improvised world and spiritual music. They had also performed in Tbilisi a week earlier, and did so again soon after the festival, but it was their performances around a campfire at One Caucasus that was the most enjoyable.
Unlikely Neighbours: Ethnic Armenian-Azerbaijani Coexistence in Georgia
Ethnic Armenians in Tsopi, Georgia, one of a few villages co-inhabited with ethnic Azerbaijanis @ Onnik James Krikorian First published by Stratfor. as part of my work on ethnic Armenian-Azerbaijani coexistence in Georgia also published by the BBC and Radio Free...
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Clash Over Armenian Constitution Hinders Peace Process
Since the exodus last fall of over 100,000 ethnic Armenians from the once disputed but now dissolved territory of Nagorno-Karabakh, many have believed a resolution to the three-decade-long conflict to be within reach. Up until Azerbaijan’s operation to disarm the remnants of the breakaway region’s military last September, the region was internationally recognized as part of Azerbaijan but was governed and populated by ethnic Armenians.
Armenia Looks West to Reduce Nuclear Energy Dependency on Russia
At the beginning of July, Armenian National Security Secretary Armen Grigoryan announced that talks with the United States to replace Armenia’s aging Metsamor nuclear power plant were now at a “substantive phase.” The first of two reactors at the power plant started operating in 1976, and the plant has largely met Armenia’s energy needs since. Metsamor produces 30–40 percent of Armenia’s electricity, depending on fluctuations in demand.