In this episode of Hold Your Fire!, Richard Atwood speaks with Joshua Kucera, Crisis Group’s senior South Caucasus analyst, about progress in Armenia-Azerbaijan peace talks, U.S. involvement and shifting regional politics. They discuss U.S. Vice President J.D. Vance’s recent visit to Yerevan and Baku, why Washington got involved and U.S. efforts to broker agreement on the Trump Route for International Peace and Prosperity (TRIPP) – a proposed transit corridor linking mainland Azerbaijan to its exclave of Nakhchivan through southern Armenia. They talk about whether the corridor could move forward even without a fully ratified peace deal and examine the remaining sticking points. They also assess Türkiye’s expanding role in the region, Iran’s concerns about the corridor, Russia’s waning influence and European policy. They examine why the Trump administration’s peacemaking appears to have been more successful in the South Caucasus than elsewhere.

Click here to listen on Apple Podcasts or Spotify.

For more, check out Joshua’s recent Analyst’s Notebook, “Vance Visit Reaffirms U.S. Push to End Armenia-Azerbaijan Conflict” and our Armenian-Azerbaijani Conflict page.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode of Hold Your Fire!, Richard speaks with Crisis Group experts Amjad Iraqi, Mairav Zonszein and Max Rodenbeck about President Donald Trump’s Board of Peace and its implications for Gaza. They unpack the structure of the board’s different layers, how Palestinians are reacting to the new Palestinian technocratic Gaza committee and what that committee will do. They look at conditions on the ground in Gaza amid frequent ceasefire violations and Hamas’s continued hold of parts of the strip. They also assess the obstacles to moving the peace plan forward, including working out agreement on the sequencing of Hamas decommissioning weapons, on one hand, and Israeli withdrawing troops and letting in reconstruction aid on the other, as well as the still-uncertain prospects for an international stabilisation force in the strip.

For more, check out our recent episodes “Norway’s FM Espen Barth Eide on Greenland, Iran, Trump’s Board of Peace and other crises”, “The Greenland Showdown and Board of Peace at Davos” and our Israel/Palestine page.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode of Hold Your Fire!, Richard is joined by Norway’s Foreign Minister, Espen Barth Eide. They discuss the latest U.S.-Europe tensions over Greenland, Arctic security and Europe’s approach to Washington. They then turn to prospects for a peace deal in Ukraine and what security guarantees might look like. They examine President Trump’s newly announced “Board of Peace” and its implications for Gaza, the danger of another round of U.S. strikes on Iran, the U.S. raid that seized Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro and the outlook for political change in Venezuela. Finally, they reflect on the role of middle powers in a fragmenting world.

Click here to listen on Apple Podcasts or Spotify.

For more, check out our last episode, The Greenland Showdown and Board of Peace at Davos and our Multilateral Diplomacy page.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.