We walked along an autumn Baku street - high arches of entrances, stalls with feijoa and pomegranates, smoking men on stools in front of backgammon, clotheslines with linen between houses, evening yellow circles of lanterns. I knew that this was the wrong side, a rare Baku street in the center, where the houses had not yet been repaired, not tiled, not demolished. The side that came out ...

Being a passenger in a Georgian taxi is an adventure, akin to a roller coaster: scary, dramatic, exciting and, ultimately, for some unknown reason, everyone will survive. The Georgian taxi driver considers it a matter of honor and a sign of professionalism to do the following things at the same time: smoke with his left elbow out the window; ...

“Half-tsar, half-commissar, he is a convinced autocrat, not a budding democrat. His dream is to restore Russia to the status of a great power, no matter what means it takes. This resonates with many of his fellow citizens, and he knows it well,” writes...