Hovhannes Nikoghosyan - Mediamax.am

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January 13, 2026
Hovhannes Nikoghosyan
Hovhannes Nikoghosyan
is an Adjunct Lecturer, Political Science and International Affairs program at American University of Armenia.
Armenia in a World of Distracted Powers As the global security system and liberal norms-based order buckle under the strain of wars in Ukraine and Gaza, peripheral regions of the post-Soviet area find themselves caught in a dangerous zone. While their faith may be resolved, or at least Russia desires so, as part of a bigger deal on Ukraine (like non-membership in NATO), before that happens there is hope shared among big players the status quo in Moldova, Central Asia and South Caucasus will at least deteriorate slowly — while attention and resources are consumed elsewhere.
How to best utilise Diaspora potential for economic development? Last week the NASDAQ/Reuters released a positive assessment of investment prospects in Armenia, fanning some more pride among local population and interest among potential foreign players. A week before that Barclays — the British multinational investment bank — prepared for internal use another positive outlook for the Armenian economy promising heaven to foreign investors, if the government walks its talk on reforms.
Armenia: back on duty after elections So, now the incumbent President SerzhSargsyan of Armenia will be sworn in for a second term, not renewable under Constitution. Most probably, he will also be the last leader of the national liberation movement to become a President, as all others, himself including, will be of late retiring age by 2018. On the record, nation’s first President LevonTer-Petrosyan cited his age of 68 as a reason not to campaign in past February’s elections. As the first generation of political leaders retires, the nation faces the need to score the heritage of those most fiercely fighting both for independence in 1988-91 and NagornoKarabakh in the 1992-1994 war.
The ECHR’s test for Karabakh Coming back from the New Year’s vacations on January 9, the Grand Chamber of the European Court of Human Rights vigorously set to full discussion of two interesting cases - "Chiragov and Others against Armenia” and "Sargsyan against Azerbaijan”. These suits submitted in 2005 and 2006 respectively are interesting as it’s the first time that an international judicial instance is going to examine issues related to the outcomes of Nagorno Karabakh conflict on the legal level.
Territorial integrity - from South Sudan to Nagorno Karabakh "Molecular cells develop by partitioning” – this is an extract from Biology class for schoolchildren. In a very similar way, if we take the microcosm of international affairs, state partition is one of the patterns how new states emerge, as there are left no terra incognita to be discovered. There is no other issue in international relations since the Treaty of Westphalia, or even earlier, to occupy the minds of statesmen and policymakers more than this. Despite all previous hotspot discussions, both in politics and the law, this issue remains controversial.
The situation in Libya is not delinked from Karabakh of early 1990s The situation in revolutionary Libya has many things in common with other vulnerable regions of the world. First, the utmost relevant issue is worsening situation with human rights, when the government is accused of losing legitimacy in the eyes of its own population and international community.
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