This week’s featured graphic maps the states of the Western Balkans. To find out about the rearmament in the Western Balkans, read Andrej Marković and Jeronim Perović’s CSS Analysis in Security Policy here.
This week’s featured graphic shows the number of armed conflicts worldwide by type from 1975 to 2015. To find out more about the interlinkages of religion and conflict and how conflict resolution approaches should respond, see Jonas Baumann, Daniel Finnbogason, and Isak Svensson’s CSS Policy Perspectives here.
This week’s featured graphic maps key maritime oil chokepoints and daily volumes. For more on the Geostrategic Storm in the Indian Ocean read Boas Lieberherr’s CSS Analysis in Security Policy here.
This graphic maps the countries located in the Arctic Circle, as well as its passages and sea routes. In the Arctic, Russia and China have their own ambitions, but their objectives currently overlap. Complementary economic interests are the main driver of their cooperation.
For more on the Sino-Russian dynamics in the Arctic, read Maria Shagina and Benno Zogg’s CSS Analysis in Security Policy here.
This graphic shows the intended usage of government benefits to address the impacts of the pandemic in Armenia. It can be observed that most assistance is directed towards consumption of primary goods and covering bills. Furthermore, it can be seen that in rural areas, as well as in the capital city Yerevan, social assistance programs covering utility bills substantially increased the consumption of primary products, an observation that may be attributed to the fungibility of money. Still, over 1.5% of the population claimed (at least as an intention) to save the funds. Meanwhile, a disproportionately high share of the announced usage of the funds is directed toward servicing debts, especially in urban areas outside Yerevan, where poverty levels are high.
For more on the mitigation of the social consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic in the three South Caucasus states of Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia, read this issue of the Caucasus Analytical Digest.