10
October 2013
Past Event
Rise of Radical Islamism in the South Caucasus: The Threat and the Response

Rise of Radical Islamism in the South Caucasus: The Threat and the Response

Past Event
Hudson Institute, Washington, D.C. Headquarters
October 10, 2013
Default Event Image
10
October 2013
Past Event

1015 15th Street, N.W., 6th Floor
Washington, DC 20005

Speakers:
Gal Luft

Director, Institute for the Analysis of Global Security

Richard Weitz

Senior Fellow and Director, Center for Political-Military Analysis

Joshua Walker

Director of Global Programs, APCO Worldwide

Brenda Shaffer

Visiting Researcher, Center for Eurasia, Russian and Eastern European Studies (CERES), Georgetown University

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Alex Vatanka
Alexandros Petersen

Advisor to the European Energy Security Initiative (EESI), Woodrow Wilson Center for Scholars

Svante Cornell

Research Director, Central Asia-Caucasus Institute and Silk Road Study Program

Ariel Cohen

Senior Research Fellow for Russian and Eurasian Studies and International Energy Policy, Heritage Foundation

Michael Rubin

Resident Fellow, American Enterprise Institute

Temuri Yakobashvili

Senior Transatlantic Fellow, GMF

Ilan Berman

Vice President, American Foreign Policy Council

Dan Burton

Former chair, House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Europe and Eurasia

While Iran is using home-grown Shia Islamists to undermine the secular nature of Azerbaijan, the growing influence of Salafi groups in the North Caucasus is now spilling into neighboring countries. At the same time, poorly designed and inadequately executed responses by various governments have contributed to this increase in extremism.

Given this situation, how can South Caucasian governments and the international community prevent the spread of radicalism and promote traditions of tolerant Islam that allow co-existence and cooperation among Christians, Jews, and Sunni and Shia Muslims? What is the U.S. security strategy and vision for the Caucasus region? What is Iran's strategy in the South Caucasus and to what extent should the region shape U.S.-Iran relations?

These questions are especially timely as the U.S. continues its withdrawal from Afghanistan, instability mounts in North Africa and the Middle East, and Tehran continues to reject international calls for a halt to its enrichment activities. Such turmoil also underscores the importance of strong and stable American allies in a region, the South Caucasus, of increasing importance to U.S. interests.

Hudson's October 10, 2013 conference on The Rise of Radical Islamism in the South Caucuses featured two panels of distinguished experts, the first moderated by Richard Weitz, Hudson Senior Fellow and Director of the Center for Political-Military Analysis, and the second moderated by Ariel Cohen, Senior Research Fellow for Russian and Eurasian Studies and International Energy Policy at the Heritage Foundation.

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