SAID MAGOMED KAKIEV: CHECHNYA’S STRONGMAN IN WAITING?
By Kevin Daniel Leahy (9/6/2006 issue of the CACI Analyst)
BACKGROUND: The first overt indication of tension within the pro-Moscow ranks came at the end of April, when troops loyal to Kadyrov and those of his nominal superior, President Alu Alkhanov, exchanged gun-fire in downtown Grozny. Then, in late May, reports surfaced about a confrontation that had taken place between Kadyrov’s forces and those of another pro-Moscow stalwart, Movladi Baisarov, when the latter’s guard deigned to detain a young relative of Ramzan’s as he was leaving Grozny. The sour state of relations between these respective parties had previously been remarked upon.JAPAN’S CENTRAL ASIAN DIPLOMACY AND ITS IMPLICATIONS
By Timur Dadabaev (9/6/2006 issue of the CACI Analyst)
BACKGROUND: The first visit by Japanese Prime Minister Koizumi to the Central Asian republics of Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan during the last week of August 2006 is part of Japan’s efforts to shape its foreign policy towards this resource-rich and strategically important region. This visit is not a single diplomatic effort as pictured by some analysts, but a continuation of the efforts by Japanese policymakers to find the most suitable and effective track for Japanese diplomacy in Central Asia. Japan was late in asserting its influence in Central Asia.COUNTER-INSURGENCY AND COUNTER HOSTAGE-TAKING IN THE NORTH CAUCASUS
By Cerwyn Moore (8/23/2006 issue of the CACI Analyst)
BACKGROUND: News of the surrender of Imam Shamil, the Dagestani leader of Islamic resistance to Russian imperial policies in the North Caucasus, was greeted with celebrations across Russia. His capture, on August 25, 1859, was welcomed with firework displays in a number of provincial towns outside of Moscow and St. Petersburg.THE LONDON TERROR PLAN’S PAKISTANI-AFGHAN CONNECTION
By Naveed Ahmad (8/23/2006 issue of the CACI Analyst)
BACKGROUND: The alleged involvement of British youth of Pakistani origin echoes once again. It was only a year ago that British officials traced the alleged Pakistani connection in the July 7 bombing, claiming that at least one of the suspects was radicalized and trained in a local madrasa. This time the connection seems deeper and far more elaborate.Visit also
Staff Publications
Silk Road Paper S. Frederick Starr, Greater Central Asia as A Component of U.S. Global Strategy, October 2024.
Analysis Laura Linderman, "Rising Stakes in Tbilisi as Elections Approach," Civil Georgia, September 7, 2024.
Analysis Mamuka Tsereteli, "U.S. Black Sea Strategy: The Georgian Connection", CEPA, February 9, 2024.
Silk Road Paper Svante E. Cornell, ed., Türkiye's Return to Central Asia and the Caucasus, July 2024.
Book Svante E. Cornell, ed., "The Changing Geopolitics of Central Asia and the Caucasus" AFPC Press/Armin LEar, 2023.
Silk Road Paper Svante E. Cornell and S. Frederick Starr, Stepping up to the “Agency Challenge”: Central Asian Diplomacy in a Time of Troubles, July 2023.
Silk Road Paper S. Frederick Starr, U.S. Policy in Central Asia through Central Asian Eyes, May 2023.