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Joshua Kucera
@joshuakucera
Journalist covering the Caucasus and beyond. Грантоед. Iowan.
Tbilisijoshuakucera.comJoined January 2009

Joshua Kucera’s Tweets

Great piece, must read:
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This time last year, Oleg, director of a remote Siberian theatre, discovered most of his team cheered Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. It was the start of a bitter saga — one he would eventually lose. On the moral choices of life in wartime Russia — tales from the stage for @FTMag
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Armenia and Azerbaijan issue identical statements, say they "advanced mutual understanding on some articles of the draft bilateral Agreement on Peace and Establishment of Interstate Relations, meanwhile acknowledging that the positions on some key issues remain divergent."
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So the four-day talks in Washington end with "significant progress in addressing difficult issues," Blinken says. "Armenia and Azerbaijan agreed in principle to certain terms and have a better understanding of one another’s positions."
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Washington and Brussels: adopt "Western values." GD: sure thing!
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Our foundation is traditional, Christian family values, says #Garibashvili, we need moral principles and guidance to guide us in the age of innovations.
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U.S. State Department expressed "disappointment" over Turkey's decision to close its airspace to Armenian aircraft because of a new Yerevan monument: 1lurer.am/en/2023/05/03/
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Turkey restricts airspace to Armenia over genocide memorial eurasianet.org/turkey-restric The episode appears to be a setback for the rapprochment process between the two countries that had been advancing, if unevenly.
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Aliyev also claimed that Azerbaijan "becoming a military ally to Türkiye, indirectly becomes also, to a certain degree, a military ally to NATO." At the same time he criticized other regional countries that try too hard to jump through hoops get into the EU and NATO:
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A senior Armenian envoy responded, seems like the dispute is over something Azerbaijan wants to include aimed at preventing "separatism," Armenia is opposed:
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Today, the Azerbaijani president complained that Armenia deleted the wording "condemnation of separatism" in the document proposed by Azerbaijan. Meanwhile, he didn’t say that the word “separatism” is not an international legal term and does not have an established international… Show more
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Asked who is Armenia's most important security partner, more name Iran than any other country. Iran, which has only made vague statements threatening Azerbaijan, is now seen as more reliable as Russia, with several thousand troops in Armenia and Karabakh and a treaty guarantee.
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An aside, these consequential negotiations are being conducted not by seasoned diplomats, but by a Pashinyan loyalist and a nonentity who was appointed when AZ decided to move real diplomacy out of the foreign ministry and into the presidential apparatus:
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These talks are now reported to be planned for several days, seems like the most significant diplomatic push since 2020 to come to some kind of agreement, whether a "road map" or something more substantial.
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Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Jeyhun Bayramov and his Armenian counterpart, Ararat Mirzoyan, are meeting today for talks mediated by U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken in Washington D.C.
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Among diasporas, political infighting is nothing new. For Iranian Americans, accusations of collaboration are widespread. But the attacks go past occasional smears — many Iranian expats, particularly women, have been harassed and threatened by their peers.
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Also worth noting that Azerbaijan STILL has all of its land border closed because of Covid, but is managing to make an exception for Armenia.
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All land borders of Azerbaijan is closed, except the one with Armenia. What a time we live in! twitter.com/Caucasuswar/st…
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Azerbaijan state TV releases footage of its border control post in operation, with a handful Armenians using it. Impossible to know what is going on without more context, but Baku is trying to present a face of normalcy.
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One of the most significant developments in today's diplomatic talks, however, is Armenian FM Mirzoyan's statement that Yerevan will not involve itself in negotiations over Azerbaijan's establishment of a checkpoint on the Lachin Corridor. Full comments here:
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Happening now: France’s foreign minister, Catherine Colonna, is holding a press conference in Yerevan with her Armenian counterpart, Ararat Mirzoyan, following diplomatic talks and a visit to the tense border with Azerbaijan following fatal clashes.
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After "The End of History" turned out to be so prescient, Fukuyama hasn't lost a step with his latest piece, "Russia is Winning in Georgia." (foreignaffairs.com/georgia/russia) Now his new book has been translated into Georgian, just what the political/intellectual discourse here needs.
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We were thrilled to host Night Owl Session: Liberalism and Its Discontents at Stamba Amphitheatre yesterday. @FukuyamaFrancis was in conversation with @kath_stoner with a lot of questions (as expected) from the audience. In partnership with @StanfordCDDRL
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