Armenians go to the polls on February 18 for the fifth presidential election since gaining independence. What the campaign has lacked in suspense, it has more than made up for in strangeness.

In Baku, a crackdown continues against a writer whose latest novel has raised hackles for its sympathetic portrait of Armenian suffering at the hands of Azerbaijan. Beneath the uproar, however, a quieter dialogue is emerging.

An accomplished author in Azerbaijan has raised a storm of criticism with a new novel that casts the country's traditional rival, Armenia, in a sympathetic light.

In an exclusive interview with RFE/RL, Armenian President Serzh Sarkisian discusses his competition in the upcoming vote, the state of Armenian-Turkish relations, the situation in Nagorno-Karabakh, and the outflow of Armenian citizens to Russia and the West.

When Congress begins its new session this month, two new lawmakers will lead its key foreign-relations committees who might challenge some Obama administration foreign policies, especially toward Iran and the Caucasus.

Russian President Vladimir Putin's premier foreign-policy initiative, the Eurasian Customs Union, is showing unprecedented vitality. But the European Union says membership in the ECU is incompatible with closer economic ties with the EU. This confronts many former Soviet states -- especially Ukraine and Moldova -- with a stark choice.