U.S.' Leadership Amiss in Resolving the Armenia-Azerbaijan Clash over Nagorno-Karabakh

The fighting in Nagorno-Karabakh is like a chronic affliction that simmers down but never really stops. Escalations in the level of hostilities regularly arrive with melt-offs of the mountain snow. However, the eruption that began on April 2nd has flared up to levels unseen since the 1990s.

A fragile cease-fire is holding, but this unstable equilibrium can blow up with consequences for the South Caucasus and beyond. Turkish-Russian tensions are at their highest since the end of the Cold War. With Washington AWOL and the U.S. busy with its most polarizing electoral campaign since 1964, Russia is likely to take this opportunity to consolidate its sphere of influence and boost its power in its southern flank.

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