Location: The Heritage Foundation's Allison Auditorium

The current Russian-Ukrainian gas war highlights Europe’s strategic dependence on Russian energy, and by implication, it further increases the importance of the Caspian hydrocarbon reserves.  After the Georgian War, the Southern Caucasus is in a precarious situation, coming under increasing Russian pressure.  Following presidential elections in October, Azerbaijan finds itself between competing interests of the West, Russia, Iran, and Turkey.  The recent confirmation of Turkmenistan's vast natural gas reserves has brought a new momentum to planning for energy corridors, such as Nabucco and the Trans-Caspian gas pipeline.  While Georgia's infrastructure and economy is being rebuilt, Azerbaijan and Armenia have an additional incentive to hammer out a settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, and Europe may finally get the Nabucco show on the road despite the global economic slump.  Geopolitical uncertainty that plagued the South Caucasus and its neighboring strategic Black Sea and Caspian regions is likely to increase.  As regional challenges are mounting, how should the new U.S. Administration approach the complex dynamics of the South Caucasus?  How should the U.S. continue expanding bilateral and multilateral relations in the Caucasus and the Caspian?  How may a resurgent Russia, a volatile Iran, or the energy-rich states of Central Asia contribute to geopolitical and geo-economic shifts at the crossroads of Eurasia?