Angela Stent and Fiona Hill examined how successful Putin has been in driving forward his agenda and what his priorities will be going forward.

The advent of decolonization, particularly after the Second World War, shares more than a chronological partnership with the Cold War. While the general economic, political, social, and ideological connections between decolonization and the Cold War have been acknowledged, a more detailed interrogation of the confluence of these two phenomena is now beginning to emerge.

The race to build the Southern Energy Corridor to bring Caspian natural gas to Europe is in its final stages. The Shah Deniz consortium in Azerbaijan is set to once and for all decide the long-pending "Nabucco question". How will this improve European energy security? Experts from Baku's Center for Strategic Studies and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Azerbaijan gather to discuss this, as well as other pertinent questions at a roundtable discussion co-hosted by the Global Europe Program and the Kennan Institute.

Bayram Balci, Visiting Scholar, Middle East Program, Carnegie Endowment, analyzed the various aspects of Shia and Sunni revival, including the roles played by Turkey and Iran, and how Azerbaijan is reacting to these “new” religious cleavages. In his talk he contended that the Islamic influences from Iran (Shia) and from Turkey (Sunni) are recreating new dividing lines between Azerbaijani Shia and Sunni Muslims.