The Connectivity Debate in the South Caucasus Reconsidered

This article considers the connectivity debate in the South Caucasus, which was catalysed by the prospective opening of borders and transit routes after Azerbaijan's victory in 2020's Second Karabakh War and further foregrounded by Russia's invasion of Ukraine in 2022. The article discusses how this debate has to date been flawed by simplistic, securitised and conservative thinking about connectivity. Rather than generating new interdependencies conducive to peace, securitised connectivity risks the exclusion of actors and spaces beyond the state, the weaponisation of trade corridors and continuing regional fracture to the benefit of external actors and detriment of regional resilience

Containing the nation, building the state : coping with nationalism, minorities and conflict in post-Soviet Georgia

EThOS - Electronic Theses Online ServiceGBUnited Kingdo

Russia’s War against Ukraine: Connectivity and Disruption in the South Caucasus

Connectivity and disruption are key elements in analysing the impact of the Russian large-scale war against Ukraine on the South Caucasus. Laurence Broers analyses the simplified, securitised and conservative thinking about connectivity in the South Caucasus. For Katja Kalkschmied, China’s interest in the Trans-Caspian International Transport Route has increased. Vali Kaleji argues that the security balance in the South Caucasus has shifted away from Iran. With a focus on Armenia and Azerbaijan, Stefan Meister argues that there is an ongoing reshuffle of the regional security balance and geopolitical interests in the South Caucasus.Konnektivität und Disruption sind Schlüsselelemente bei der Analyse der Auswirkungen des groß angelegten russischen Krieges gegen die Ukraine auf den Südkaukasus. Laurence Broers analysiert das vereinfachte, sicherheitsorientierte und konservative Denken über Konnektivität im Südkaukasus. Für Katja Kalkschmied hat Chinas Interesse an der transkaspischen internationalen Transportroute zugenommen. Vali Kaleji argumentiert, dass sich das Sicherheitsgleichgewicht im Südkaukasus weg vom Iran verschoben hat. Stefan Meister vertritt mit Blick auf Armenien und Aserbaidschan die Auffassung, dass sich das regionale Sicherheitsgleichgewicht und die geopolitischen Interessen im Südkaukasus derzeit neu ordnen.ISSN:1867-932

Panel I: Governance and Institutions in Unrecognized Polities

Two decades after the collapse of the Soviet Union the conflicts in Abkhazia, Nagorno Karabakh, South Ossetia and Transnistria remain unresolved and their dynamics continue to impact political stability, state-building and great power competition in the former Soviet Union. Over the last years, the international community‘s strategy for addressing them has varied significantly. By bringing together leading scholars, policy analysts, and NGO representatives from Europe, the United States and Eurasia to discuss these issues we hope to provide an opportunity to reflect on the last twenty years and to think about possible steps forward

Clinico-pathological features and somatic gene alterations in refractory ceramic fibre-induced murine mesothelioma reveal mineral fibre-induced mesothelioma identities.: Genetic alterations in ceramic fibres-induced murine mesothelioma

International audienceAlthough human malignant mesothelioma (HMM) is mainly caused by asbestos exposure, refractory ceramic fibres (RCFs) have been classified as possibly carcinogenic to humans on the basis of their biological effects in rodents' lung and pleura and in cultured cells. Hence, further investigations are needed to clarify the mechanism of fibre-induced carcinogenicity and to prevent use of harmful particles. In a previous study, mesotheliomas were found in hemizygous Nf2 (Nf2(+/-)) mice exposed to asbestos fibres, and showed similar alterations in genes at the Ink4 locus and in Trp53 as described in HMM. Here we found that Nf2(+/-) mice developed mesotheliomas after intra-peritoneal inoculation of a RCF sample (RCF1). Clinical features in exposed mice were similar to those observed in HMM, showing association between ascite and mesothelioma. Early passages of 12 mesothelioma cell cultures from ascites developed in RCF1-exposed Nf2(+/-) mice demonstrated frequent inactivation by deletion of genes at the Ink4 locus, and low rate of Trp53 point and insertion mutations. Nf2 gene was inactivated in all cultures. In most cases, co-inactivation of genes at the Ink4 locus and Nf2 was found and, at a lower rate, of Trp53 and Nf2. These results are the first to identify mutations in RCF-induced mesothelioma. They suggest that nf2 mutation is complementary of p15(Ink4b), p16(Ink4a) and p19(Arf) or p53 mutations and show similar profile of gene alterations resulting from exposure to ceramic or asbestos fibres in Nf2(+/-) mice, also consistent with the one found in HMM. These somatic genetic changes define different pathways of mesothelial cell transformation