Azerbaijan is getting ready... but she herself doesn’t know what for: either for a war against Iran, which will never be, or for the “return of territories”, which is not foreseen for the near future, either. And for distant future, as well. In Azeri implementation, this preparation shows itself in just another purchase of arms, this time American F-16 fighters.

After a disastrous round of foreign policy Turkey is now facing an internal political crisis. It's not even about the arrests of top military, especially former head of General Staff of Turkey Gen. Ilker Basbug and dozens of other generals and admirals. The crisis has affected the political parties. It’s worth noting that relations between the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) and the Republican People's Party (CHP) have never been particularly warm.

The year of 2012, as expected, marked the continuation of processes that had begun in 2011 and seem almost endless. The “Arab Spring” that excited the whole world is gaining momentum, now under the green banner of the Prophet: victory of Islamists in Tunisia and Egypt, intervention of terrorist groups in the Libyan civil strife cannot but worry the international community.

In 2011 no new developments were registered either in the Karabakh conflict settlement or in the Armenian-Turkish relations. The widely advertised meetings between the Armenian and Azerbaijani presidents in Sochi and, more importantly, in Kazan resulted in not a single document signed between the countries. The OSCE Minsk Group activity stopped at freezing point and hardly is it possible that replacement of the French co-chairman may change anything. Settlement of the Karabakh conflict is directly related to the participation of NKR in the process. If representatives of the elected government of the Republic of Artsakh headed by President Bako Sahakyan join the negotiating table, the negotiations will end much faster.

Having spent a year at the post of U.S. Ambassador to Azerbaijan, Matthew Bryza returns to Washington. Nothing else could be expected: the President has the right to appoint an ambassador during a Senate recess, but confirmation is necessary. And because the senators did not agree to Obama’s nomination, consequently, Bryza’s short-lived career in Baku came to an end.

Yet another inglorious war came to an end: U.S. troops withdrew from Iraq. The war in Iraq revealed another detail – the independent unified state of Iraq, established by the British in the years of the World War I, no longer exists. Quite like the once stable Tunisia, Egypt, Libya, and Syria, perhaps.

Islam, as we know, has two branches – Sunni and Shia – there having always been controversies between them, especially now. A recent statement by Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, who claimed that the split between Sunnis and Shiites is widening within the Islamic world, thus threatening to blow up the entire Islamic world, was just a restatement of the current reality in the Islamic world.

The situation in Iran takes a new turn. According to media reports, Iran has discovered in the Caspian Sea a natural gas field with the volume of 1.42 trillion cubic meters, lying in waters 700 meters deep. According to Minister of Petroleum Rostam Ghasemi, the field wholly lies within Iranian maritime boundaries and may 5 times exceed the volume of hitherto known gas reserves in the Iranian part of the Caspian Sea.

The OSCE Ministerial Council Meeting in Vilnius ended with the adoption of just another joint statement on Karabakh. However, it was to be expected, like the OSCE Minsk Group statements after each visit to the conflict zone. It’s worth noting that there was nothing new in the statement; simply to the expression “the parties agreed on the need to continue the negotiation process in the format of OSCE Minsk Group and to improve the atmosphere for progressing towards a peaceful settlement”, along with Deauville, Helsinki, Astana, Athens and Sochi, there also came Vilnius.

Elections in Egypt may seriously complicate the lives of Christians in the country, including Armenians. The success of the Salafist party Al-Nur has raised fears of Copts, who fear that with Islamists coming to power, their lives would be worse than under overthrown Hosni Mubarak. And though many call the former leader of Egypt a dictator, he, at least, did not persecute Christians. If Islamists win a majority in Egyptian parliament, the Christian population of the country, namely Copts and Armenians, will have to engage in mass emigration.