Secretary of State John Kerry made news recently by referring to the venue of the latest nuclear talks with Iran as the fictional country of "Kyrzakhstan." That off-the-cuff comment was a telling indicator of the general lack of concern for Central Asia that prevails in official Washington.
Iran training pro-Assad militias;
While the U.S. and Jordan train the FSA...;
...Israel raises questions about UNFIL
DPRK border guards fleeing to China in larger numbers;
Critical eye on Sino-Russian trade
No change to Chinese family planning policy;
Chinese youth recruited into “
Red Army of the Internet&rdquo
With international pressure over its nuclear program mounting, and the recent collapse of its latest round of negotiations with the West, this might seem like a strange time for Iran to pick a fight with its neighbors. Yet on at least one front, that is exactly what it appears to be doing. Recent days have seen a marked downturn in the already-troubled relationship between the Islamic Republic and Azerbaijan, its neighbor to the northwest.