Global Voices Online

Security in the Caucasus, a new blog established by a PhD candidate at the London School of Economics currently undertaking field work in the region, says that the recent conflict between Russia and Georgia was largely the result of a major miscalculation by Tbilisi. The blog also says that the confrontation was one by proxy between the West and a re-assertive Russia.

Unzipped comments on news that the Russian parliament has voted to recognize the independence of the breakway regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia in Georgia. The Armenian blog says that the move sets an important precedent for resolving another frozen conflict in the region — Nagorno Karabakh.

Michael J. Totten draws a parallel between the Russian-Georgian conflict in South Ossetia and Abchazia with the potential for resumed Azeri-Armenian conflicts over Nagorno-Karabach or Nakchivan.

The Armenian Observer says that the latest military confrontation between Russia and Georgia was a miscalculation by the Georgian president, Mikhail Saakashvili. The blog also says that with a defacto state of war waging in Armenia's northern neighbor, there are concerns at home about the conflict with Azerbaijan over another disputed breakaway territory — Nagorno Karabakh.

Voices Without Votes takes a look at why many Armenians at home and abroad support U.S. Presidential Election Democratic Party Candidate Barack Obama and how Azerbaijanis and Turks are responding to his campaign promise to recognize the 1915 Armenian Genocide.

Thoughts on the Road says that it raised the issue of corruption with a group of Azerbaijani students who determined that both the government and citizens were responsible for fighting against the phenomenon. However, the blog notes, such a reality is first of all dependent on their being the political will to combat corruption from the authorities and in Azerbaijan that is sadly lacking.

Thoughts on the Road, the blog of an American journalist in Azerbaijan, recounts lunch with an economic and political figure in Sheki, but also reports that the blogging component of a local media training course went very well indeed.

The Armenian Observer reports that following the closure of a branch in the self-declared Republic of Nagorno Karabakh, some Armenian bloggers are urging a boycott of the Russian-owned VTB Bank. Central to the problem is that Nagorno Karabakh is recognized internationally as a part of Azerbaijan, and the bank is making a bid to acquire a bank in a country which is technically still at war with Armenia over the disputed territory.