Nerves Fray as South Caucasus Siege Worsens
Geopolitical crises are sometimes very complicated indeed. The 19th-century British Prime Minister, Viscount Palmerston, wryly acknowledged this when asked about the cause of a labyrinthine dispute that almost triggered a major war in the 1860s. “Only three men in Europe have ever understood it. One was Prince Albert, who is dead. The second was a German professor who became mad. I am the third and I have forgotten,” he said. The South Caucasus can feel a little like this at times, with overlapping claims and trans-generational arguments about land and ownership. While the dispute between Armenia...