DENNIS BLAIR: FIGHTING ALSO COULD FLARE BETWEEN ARMENIA AND AZERBAIJAN Director of US National Intelligence Dennis Blair said in written testimony to lawmakers that animosities among the Balkan nation's Croat, Muslim and Serb factions are on the rise, and a hardening of their divergent agendas could threaten the stability of the fragile state, Associated Press reported, according to Taiwan News. Blair further named Russia's continued efforts to exercise influence over its former Soviet neighbors, particularly Georgia, as another cause for concern, saying it could pose a threat to relations with Washington. He noted that "sporadic low-level violence" continues in the region, which could spark a return to fighting. Russia and Georgia fought a brief war in August 2008 over two breakaway Georgia regions. According to the source, fighting also could flare between Armenia and Azerbaijan over the disputed region of Nagorno-Karabakh, Blair said. The enclave in Azerbaijan has been under the control of ethnic Armenian forces since a six-year conflict that killed about 30,000 people and displaced 1 million before a truce was reached in 1994. | 
