As the U.S. election campaign enters its decisive home stretch, with the candidates now nominated, there will be much focus on how the outcome will impact the wars in Gaza and Ukraine. We’d like to point out that the volatile South Caucasus may be affected no less by a return to a transactional approach that views Vladimir Putin favorably.

In this interview, exclusive for CounterPunch, professor of Political Science at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, Nerses Kopalyan, breaks down the Nagorno-Karabakh Conflict. After providing a historical context for the conflict from a political science point of view, he analyzes the ways in which the media unpacks the region and presents historical and contemporary analogs.

Russia’s war against Georgia in 2008, its current and previous invasions of Ukraine, and its collaboration with Azerbaijan to attack Armenia are all part of a pattern: Each nation experienced democratic revolutions that overthrew pro-Russian autocrats.

Azerbaijan has been accused of war crimes and human rights abuses – it displays great hostility to one of Israel's biggest allies.

The war in Ukraine has rattled global energy markets, fueled inflation and prompted the European Union to seek alternatives to Russian natural gas. The EU has found nothing better than to beg from Azerbaijan. However, she would have to look elsewhere, and quickly.

Nerses Kopalyan, Professor of Political Science at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, talks to CivilNet about his recent article entitled The False Promise of Security: Why the Opposition Protests in Armenia Are Struggling to Gain Traction. Professor Kopaylan discusses police brutality in Armenia, the “democracy versus security” narrative, and where the protests may be heading towards.

The consequences of the 2020 Artsakh War produced two expansive modes of crises in Armenia, one specific to the country’s security architecture, and the other specific to domestic political stability.

Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan’s Civil Contract Party won the election by a landslide. What happened and what does this say about polling in Armenia?