WASHINGTON —The Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe (U.S. Helsinki Commission) announced today the following briefing:
“Conflicts in the Caucasus: Prospects for Resolution”
Wednesday, December 7, 2011
2:30 pm to 4:30 pm
Room B-318 Rayburn House Office Building
Twenty years after the disappearance of the Soviet Union, the unresolved conflicts in the Caucasus remain one of its most problematic legacies. Despite the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe’s (OSCE) long mediation in the dispute over Nagorno-Karabakh, the results have been disappointing. After the 2008 Russia-Georgia war and Moscow’s subsequent recognition of the independence of Abkhazia and South Ossetia, the prospects for settling those conflicts seem more remote than ever.
This Helsinki Commission briefing will examine where these conflicts stand today; what factors impede a settlement; whether the resumption of armed hostilities is a serious threat; whether changes in the negotiating format might yield a better outcome; and what, if anything, could the United States do to facilitate a resolution.
Panelists scheduled to speak:
Tom de Waal, Senior Associate, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
Fiona Hill, Senior Fellow, Brookings Institution
Wayne Merry, Senior Fellow, American Foreign Policy Council
