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The EaP region went through various troubled episodes in 2020. Here I Iook at 5 most serious challenges and 5 most memorable opportunities (THREAD):
Challenge: The crippling effect of the pandemic on democracies, populations & EaP economies. The governments from the region have applied restrictive regimes for being in public places, in the case of Belarus serving as a justification for the repression of the protests.
Challenge: The failure to stop the Second Karabakh War. In a changing regional context, the Azerbaijani strategy towards the Karabakh drew from the fact that Turkey is playing on its own in terms of its Euro-Atlantic partners and Russia. https://twitter.com/dioniscenusa/status/1326066703147610112
Challenge: Threatening of the reform efforts in Armenia. The ceasefire with Azerbaijan was an undesirable but necessary solution for Yerevan, avoiding losing all control in Karabakh. The old political elite's rehabilitation and renewed dependence on Russia have followed.
Challenge: Counterattack of the old system in Ukraine. The suspension of anti-corruption tools by judges of the Ukrainian Const. Court has jeopardized the complicated process of building a more integrated public-political sector, shaking again President Zelensky’s image.
Challenge: Resilience of the EaP oligarchies and autocracies. In Georgia, oligarch Ivanishvili used elections and EU-US tolerance to secure a new parliamentary majority. Belarus has stepped up integrationist dialogue with Russia to lessen the effects of the Western sanctions.
Opportunity: Obtaining EU support to mitigate the effects of the health crisis. The intention to become an active geopolitical actor & the interest in ensuring stability in the eastern neighborhood, led the EU to put on the table instruments of assistance against the pandemic.
Opportunity: The start of the Belarusian democratic revolution. The covert destabilization of the authoritarian regime began due to ignoring the pandemic crisis in the spring of 2020 but intensified after the falsification of August's presidential election. 
https://twitter.com/dioniscenusa/status/1298141203955884033
Opportunity: Election of a pro-reform president in Moldova. The victory in the second round of the opposition leader Maia Sandu, with almost one million votes, became a significant contribution to the renovation of power institutions. https://twitter.com/jondkatz/status/1329830583778873346
Opportunity: The EU-US tandem and effective mediation of the political crisis in Georgia. Such external mediation of political crises in the EaP occurred only in Georgia. In 2 episodes of mediation, EU & US ambassadors set up a bridge between the ruling party & the opposition
Opportunity: The emergence of the diaspora and the online tools as unique democratization factors in the EaP. The protests in Belarus & Moldova’s elections exemplified that two vital factors - social networks & diaspora - can influence the future of the region's politics.
Read the whole analysis about the Top 5 opportunities and challenges in this analysis (END) https://twitter.com/dioniscenusa/status/1343832098684211200
(END) https://twitter.com/dioniscenusa/status/1343832098684211200
