The Caucasus Digest OC Media

June’s deadly and coordinated attacks on synagogues, churches, and police posts in Daghestan’s Makhachkala and Derbent have led to the deaths of 22 people, as well as five attackers. The authorities in the Russian republic and in Moscow have since scrambled to find someone or something to blame, including Ukraine, niqab, and MMA.
This week, we speak to North Caucasus analyst and PhD student at Indiana university, Harold Chambers, about the Daghestan attacks and those that preceded them in neighbouring North Caucasian republics, and to Zemfira Gogui, a human rights consultant from Karachay-Cherkessia, about about people’s relation with the Federal Russian Government and what could be driving people towards radicalism in the region.
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Niqab and MMA under fire in North Caucasus following Daghestan terror attack Support independent journalism in the Caucasus and become an OC Media Member: Join today.
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Azerbaijan appears to be trying to position itself as a champion of the anti-colonial movement by criticising France’s colonial past and supporting independence movements in its overseas territories.
This week, we speak to political analyst and PhD candidate at Charles University in Prague Bahruz Samadov about the Baku Initiative Group, a group linked to the Azerbaijani government, and its anti-colonial conference, and how Azerbaijan appears to be appropriating anti-colonial movements for their own geopolitical and authoritarian ends.
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Baku-linked group hosts conference on European colonialism at UN HQ Opinion | How Azerbaijan uses ‘anti-colonialism’ to authoritarian ends Support independent journalism in the Caucasus and become an OC Media Member: Join today.
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The ruling Georgian Dream party has introduced a legislative package that would ban ‘LGBT propaganda’, potentially setting back decades of progress on queer rights in the country.
This week, we speak to OC Media staff writer Shota Kincha about the contents of the law, to Tbilisi Pride’s director Tamar Jakeli about the future of the queer rights movement in light of the law, and to filmmaker Eka Tsotsoria about how the law could censor the arts.
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Georgian Dream to introduce queerphobic legislation Support independent journalism in the Caucasus and become an OC Media Member: Join today.
…or donate to the collective Georgian media security fund.

Azerbaijan, a country whose economy depends heavily on fossil fuels, is set to host the United Nations' annual climate change conference, COP29, in November this year, amidst rampant human rights abuses and terrible environmental practices.
This week, we speak to journalist Arzu Geybulla talks about human rights abuses in Azerbaijan and her expectations for COP29, while environmental activist Javid Gara talks environmental activism in the country and what Baku’s plans to phase down its reliance on fossil fuels.
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Controversy as COP29 to be held in Azerbaijan Support independent journalism in the Caucasus and become an OC Media Member: Join today.
…or donate to the collective Georgian media security fund.

OC Media’s Robin Fabbro, Mariam Nikuradze, and Shota Kincha sit down to discuss whether Georgia’s democracy could survive with the passing of the draconic foreign agent law, and October’s critical parliamentary elections.
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Georgia’s parliament passes controversial electoral code amendments Support independent journalism in the Caucasus and become an OC Media Member: Join today.
…or donate to the collective Georgian media security fund.

Tavush for the Motherland, a movement fronted by Archbishop Bagrat Galstanyan, has made headlines protesting in Armenia’s north and in the capital Yerevan against the delimitation process with Azerbaijan.
This week, we speak to OC Media’s Armenian staff writer Arshaluys Barseghyan about how the protest movement shifted from protesting border delimitation to calling for the government’s resignation, and to analyst Narek Sukiasyan about the border delimitation process and the popular discontent towards it.
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Police block entry to Armenian village amidst protests against border delimitation Become a supporter at oc-media.org/support_us, or on Patreon.