As part of a new “web dossier” of essays focusing on Russia, the South Caucasus Regional Office of the Heinrich Boell Foundation published a set of articles by analysts and experts from Moscow, Sukhumi, Tbilisi and Yerevan. The compilation, entitled “The Games are over! Beware of the Peace? Russia and the South Caucasus after the Sochi Olympics,” featured contributions from Ivlian Haindrava, political analyst at the Republican Institute (RI, Tbilisi, Georgia), Sergey Markedonov, independent political analyst (Moscow, Russia), Akhra Smyr, freelance journalist (Sukhum/i, Abkhazia), and RSC Director Richard Giragosian.

Giragosian’s article, “The South Caucasus: The Limits of a Resurgent Russia,” assessed how Russia would use the post-Olympics period to promote its Eurasian Union project and strive to assert more control over the South Caucasus region by exerting pressure with the use of its energy resources.

http://ge.boell.org/web/52-1612.html

As the second in a new series of new RSC commentaries published on the Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty’s (RFE/RL) Armenian Service website blog, RSC Director Richard Giragosian addressed Armenia’s threat of isolation, noting that “for small, landlocked Armenia, history has not been very kind. Centuries as a prisoner of geography have meant that Armenia has had to survive as an arena for competition among much larger regional powers. And although Armenia has been both victim and victor, it has also faced a challenge of isolation.”

Երեկ ԱԺ-ի մեծամասնությանը, այսինքն` Հանրապետական կուսակցությանը նետվեց շատ հազվադեպ հանդիպող մի մարտահրավեր, որը սակայն իր առաջին հանրային պարտությունը կրեց: «Գազային» համաձայնագրերի վավերացմանը անդրադառնալով` նման համոզմունք հայտնեց Տարածաշրջանային հետազոտությունների կենտրոնի տնօրեն Ռիչարդ Կիրակոսյանը:

http://www.a1plus.am/am/politics/2013/12/24/richard-giragosian

As the first in a new series of bi-weekly RSC commentaries to be published on the Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty’s (RFE/RL) Armenian Service website blog, RSC Director Richard Giragosian criticized the recent attempt by the Republican Party to force through a vote on a controversial Armenian-Russian agreement on natural gas.  The Regional Studies Center (RSC) has entered into a new strategic partnership with RFE/RL’s Armenian Service, with the publication of unique RSC analysis and commentary (in English and Armenian) on a wide range of political, economic and security issues as a regular RFE/RL blog post. 

http://www.azatutyun.am/content/blog/25210092.html

On December 22, RSC Director Richard Giragosian participated in a talk show hosted by Hrayr Tamrazian of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty’s (RFE/RL) Armenian Service.  The discussion followed an exclusive RFE/RL interview with Ambassador James Warlick, the U.S. Co-Chairman of the OSCE Minsk Group, and included commentary by Giragosian and David Shahnazaryan, the former Armenian Minister of National Security.

http://www.armenialiberty.org/content/article/25209034.html