17
December 2020
Past Event
Video Event | The War in the Caucasus: What Does it Mean for America?

Video Event | The War in the Caucasus: What Does it Mean for America?

Past Event
Hudson Institute, Washington, D.C. Headquarters
December 17, 2020
17
December 2020
Past Event

1201 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W., Suite 400
Washington, DC 20004

Speakers:
Matthew Bryza

Former US Ambassador to Azerbaijan

Ahmad Obali

Founder and Managing Director, Gunaz TV

Brenda Shaffer

Senior Advisor for Energy, Foundation for Defense of Democracies, and an expert on the Caucasus

michael_doran
Michael Doran

Senior Fellow and Director, Center for Peace and Security in the Middle East

**__Please be advised: This event will premiere LIVE on this page at 9:00 a.m. EDT, Thursday, December 17.__**

Azerbaijan’s victory in the recent war with Armenia has created a new balance of power in the Caspian region. The military capabilities Azerbaijan revealed announced the arrival of a new, dynamic force in the region. The other big winner in the war is Turkey, which, for the first time in 100 years, compelled Russia to share power with it in the South Caucasus. Although Russia had no choice in the matter, it is not an unambiguous loser. It still remains the most influential actor in region, and it even gained a new military foothold inside Azerbaijan.

The biggest loser was, of course, Armenia. Its military suffered a humiliating route on the battlefield, forcing it to retreat from Azerbaijani territories it had occupied for the last twenty-seven years. But Armenia’s collapse also severely diminished the influence of Iran, which lost direct access to Karabakh—a position it had exploited, in alignment with Moscow and Yerevan, to keep Azerbaijan on its back heels.

What are the strategic implications of these complex changes for the United States?

To answer this question, Hudson Institute Senior Fellow Michael Doran will host a conversation with three distinguished experts: Matthew Bryza, the former US Ambassador to Azerbaijan and former US mediator of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict; Ahmad Obali, the CEO of GunazTV; and Brenda Shaffer, a Senior Advisor for Energy at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies and an expert on the South Caucasus.

+Full participant bios:+

Ambassador (ret.) Matthew Bryza currently resides in Istanbul, where he runs a Turkish-Finnish environmental solutions joint venture, serves on the Boards of energy companies based in Turkey and the UK, and is a Senior Fellow at the Atlantic Council and Board Member of the Jamestown Foundation. He is a former U.S. Co-chair of the OSCE Minsk Group, Director for Europe and Eurasia on the National Security Council Staff at the White House, Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Europe and Eurasia, and Ambassador to Azerbaijan.

Ahmad Obali is the founder and Managing Director of Gunaz TV, a broadcasting company based in Chicago that reaches millions of people in Iran, promoting human rights, ethnic rights, and freedom of information. The TV station operates in the Azerbaijani and Persian languages. Ahmad escaped from Iran in 1982 and immigrated to the United States in 1985. He has worked with various human rights organizations

Prof. Brenda Shaffer is an international energy and foreign policy specialist, focusing on Caspian and Eastern Mediterranean regions. A faculty member of the U.S. Naval Postgraduate School, she is also Senior Advisor for Energy at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies and a Senior Fellow at the Atlantic Council. The author of several books, including Energy Politics (University of Pennsylvania Press, 2009) and Borders and Brethren: Iran and the Challenge of Azerbaijani Identity (MIT Press, 2002), Shaffer has advised international institutions, governments, and financial and energy companies, including SOCAR, the national oil company of Azerbaijan. She is a regular commentator on Bloomberg TV and a contributor to major news and opinion outlets worldwide.

Related Events
22
May 2025
Virtual Event | Invitation Only
US-China Rivalry in the Middle East Conference
Featured Speakers:
Senator Ted Cruz
Congressman Kevin Hern
Elliott Abrams
Michael Doran
Mary Kissel
Bernard Haykel
Joshua Meservey
John Lee
Aaron MacLean
Ray Takeyh
Thomas J. Duesterberg
Jonathan Hessen
Joel Scanlon
Jason Hsu
Dan Blumenthal
Michael Sobolik
Garrett Exner
Ilan Berman
Mike Watson
Moderators:
Liel Leibovitz
Zineb Riboua
Ethan Gutman
Adhwaa Alsaleh
Daniel Samet
(US-China Rivalry in the Middle East logo)
22
May 2025
Virtual Event | Invitation Only
US-China Rivalry in the Middle East Conference

Former policymakers and leading national security experts will join Hudson to assess how China’s growing influence is reshaping the regional order—and how the US should respond.

(US-China Rivalry in the Middle East logo)
Featured Speakers:
Senator Ted Cruz
Congressman Kevin Hern
Elliott Abrams
Michael Doran
Mary Kissel
Bernard Haykel
Joshua Meservey
John Lee
Aaron MacLean
Ray Takeyh
Thomas J. Duesterberg
Jonathan Hessen
Joel Scanlon
Jason Hsu
Dan Blumenthal
Michael Sobolik
Garrett Exner
Ilan Berman
Mike Watson
Moderators:
Liel Leibovitz
Zineb Riboua
Ethan Gutman
Adhwaa Alsaleh
Daniel Samet
23
May 2025
In-Person Event | Hudson Institute
Trump and the Gulf
Featured Speakers:
Michael Doran
Bernard Haykel
Moderator:
Zineb Riboua
Saudi and United States flags fly as Air Force One arrives at King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, on May 13, 2025. (Getty Images)
23
May 2025
In-Person Event | Hudson Institute
Trump and the Gulf
Saudi and United States flags fly as Air Force One arrives at King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, on May 13, 2025. (Getty Images)
Featured Speakers:
Michael Doran
Bernard Haykel
Moderator:
Zineb Riboua
03
June 2025
In-Person Event | Hudson Institute
Unbroken: One Uyghur’s Fight for Freedom with Rushan Abbas
Featured Speakers:
Rushan Abbas
Dean Baxendale
Damon Wilson
Moderator:
Olivia Enos
Getty Images
03
June 2025
In-Person Event | Hudson Institute
Unbroken: One Uyghur’s Fight for Freedom with Rushan Abbas

Join Hudson for a discussion of the book and the ways the United States and other countries can support the Uyghur people in their time of need.

Getty Images
Featured Speakers:
Rushan Abbas
Dean Baxendale
Damon Wilson
Moderator:
Olivia Enos
15
May 2025
Past Event
Motwani Jadeja US-India Dialogue Series | Strategic Technology and the US-India Relationship
Featured Speakers:
Lisa Curtis
Lindsey Ford
Jeffrey Bean
Daniel Markey
Moderator:
Aparna Pande
Getty Images
15
May 2025
Past Event
Motwani Jadeja US-India Dialogue Series | Strategic Technology and the US-India Relationship

Hudson will host an expert panel to discuss how increased technology collaboration will benefit the US and India and why these agreements could help both nations expand their partnerships in the Indo-Pacific. 

Getty Images
Featured Speakers:
Lisa Curtis
Lindsey Ford
Jeffrey Bean
Daniel Markey
Moderator:
Aparna Pande