Dr. Avinoam Idan is a geostrategist, focused on the strategic role of geography in shaping international relation and landlocked states. His area of interest includes the Euro-Asian subcontinent, particularly Russia, the post-Soviet space and the Chinese Belt Road Initiative. (BRI) Dr. Idan is a Non-Resident Senior Fellow with the Central Asia-Caucasus Institute & Silk Road Studies Program, based in Washington DC. In addition, he teaches at the Interdisciplinary Center Herzliya, Israel (IDC). Prior to his academic work, Dr. Idan served for over thirty years in a government security agency under the Prime Minister’s Office. In this framework he spent seven years in Moscow – first in the Israeli delegation of Interests, during the break-up of the Soviet Union, and later, following the reestablishment of diplomatic ties with Russia, at the Israeli Embassy. He was also involved in the establishment of ties between Israel and the newly independent states in the Caucasus and Central Asia.