Last week's meeting between Barack Obama and Benjamin Netanyahu showed a fundamental disagreement between the U.S. and Israel. Obama made it clear that he is committed to a two-state solution, yet Netanyahu vacillated. Israel and its most important ally may face a deep ideological and strategic rift.

Turkey’s engagement of Armenia represents only one element of a more ambitious Turkish agenda. Turkey is now pursuing a new policy of deepening its ties to not only the countries of the Caucasus, but also of including the countries of Central Asia.

Etyen Mahçupyan, is a Turkish-Armenian journalist and writer. Since 2007 he has been the editor-in-chief of Agos, the Armenian community's weekly newspaper. In this interview he discusses the perspectives for Turkish-Armenian relations, the implications for the Caucasus, and his work for the Hrant Dink Foundation.

Right now, the only regional market accessible to Armenian exporters is Georgia. Two other neighbours, Azerbaijan and Iran, are well-nigh inaccessible to Armenian exports. Thus, opening the Turkish market to Armenia would greatly improve the country’s investment rating which is presently stymied by the narrow limits imposed on its foreign trade.

Opening the Armenian-Turkish border and establishing diplomatic relations between Armenia and Turkey will fundamentally change the relationship between all countries in the Black Sea and Caspian regions, as well as between the great powers for which the region is an area of vital importance.

Within Armenian political elites there is little to no opposition to rapprochement with Turkey. Many windows in Yerevan offer a good view of Turkey, and most Armenians realise that it is neither normal nor desirable to have two out of four land borders sealed.

Turkey and Armenia may be on the verge of a major breakthrough in bilateral relations. The border between the two countries, closed for a decade and a half, may soon re-open. What would an opening mean for the two countries? What has made the rapprochement possible? This dossier combines expert analyses and interviews with political leaders to give a deeper insight into a complex region.

The bulk of the media and parts of the intelligentsia, after first coming to terms with the Congress Party system, now prefer the two multiparty coalition systems: the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) or the National Democratic Alliance (NDA), even when the UPA is only going in for post-poll alliances with its erstwhile colleagues. The one thing that worries the media is a Third Front.

Despite the hopes of a bi-nodal party system since 1998, a secular alternative, reduced from being the second option in 1977 to the Third Front within a decade, has not ceased to linger in the background. It remains a parking space for satraps in search of greater role in national politics than their regional space would afford them.

After the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks many expected the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to benefit in the general elections. This was based on both the party’s emphasis on security and on the assumption that the attack would stir up anti-Muslim sentiments.