A STRONG JAPANESE INITIATIVE IN CENTRAL ASIA
By S. Frederick Starr (10/20/2004 issue of the CACI Analyst)
BACKGROUND:In late August Japan unveiled a major new initiative with respect to the five countries of Central Asia formed after the collapse of the USSR. Since 1992 Japan has pursued an active if low-keyed policy of supporting economic and social development in the new states of Central Asia. Down to 2002 it had allocated a total of $2.THE SURPRISE OF ABKHAZ ELECTIONS
By John Mackedon (10/20/2004 issue of the CACI Analyst)
BACKGROUND:The ensuing struggle has resulted in a number of resignations and appointments, including the appointment of Nodar Khabasha, who openly stated that he was sent directly by Russian President Vladimir Putin to help “stabilize” the situation in Abkhazia as well as the resignation of the Chairman of the CEC as well as the filing for resignation by the Chairman of the regional Supreme Court; it has not, however, resulted in a final President-elect. Abkhazia has practiced de-facto independence since it split from Georgia after a civil war in 1992-93, a war that was clearly won through Russian intervention. Since that time the breakaway republic has had only one president, Vladislav Ardzinba, who assumed power before the war had even played itself out and was ultimately elected president in the first two presidential elections held in the region, in 1994 and 1999.WHAT COMES AFTER BESLAN?
By Stephen Blank (10/6/2004 issue of the CACI Analyst)
BACKGROUND: Since September 11 Putin has frequently acknowledged the legitimacy of the foreign (not only American) military presence in the former Soviet Union. At the same time he and his government, most of which is more clearly against that presence as is the Russian elite, has insisted on a time limit to it as soon as hostilities in Afghanistan are over. Yet it is also clear that Russia’s security sector (police, intelligence, and military formations) cannot defend Russia or project power to the CIS effectively in order to defeat the scourge of terrorism or help those regimes do so.COULD THE ‘DEAL OF THE CENTURY’ STILL LIVE UP TO ITS NAME?
By Pavel K. Baev (10/6/2004 issue of the CACI Analyst)
BACKGROUND: Ten years ago, on 20 September 1994, the newly-forged consortium of several international oil companies, called the Azerbaijan International Operating Company (AIOC), signed the agreement with the government of Azerbaijan on the development of three oilfields: Azeri, Chirag, and Guneshli. It was BP that had worked hardest and lobbied the smartest in preparation for this agreement, but it had to cut in Amoco, Pennzoil, and Unocal from the U.S.Visit also
Staff Publications
Silk Road Paper S. Frederick Starr, U.S. Policy in Central Asia through Central Asian Eyes, May 2023.
Analysis Svante E. Cornell, "Promise and Peril in the Caucasus," AFPC Insights, March 30, 2023.
Oped S. Frederick Starr, Putin's War In Ukraine and the Crimean War), 19fourtyfive, January 2, 2023
Oped S. Frederick Starr, Russia Needs Its Own Charles de Gaulle, Foreign Policy, July 21, 2022.
Silk Road Paper S. Frederick Starr, Rethinking Greater Central Asia: American and Western Stakes in the Region and How to Advance Them, June 2022
Oped Svante E. Cornell & Albert Barro, With referendum, Kazakh President pushes for reforms, Euractiv, June 3, 2022.
Oped Svante E. Cornell Russia's Southern Neighbors Take a Stand, The Hill, May 6, 2022.
Silk Road Paper Johan Engvall, Between Bandits and Bureaucrats: 30 Years of Parliamentary Development in Kyrgyzstan, January 2022.
Oped Svante E. Cornell, No, The War in Ukraine is not about NATO, The Hill, March 9, 2022.
Analysis Svante E. Cornell, Kazakhstan’s Crisis Calls for a Central Asia Policy Reboot, The National Interest, January 34, 2022.
Book S. Frederick Starr and Svante E. Cornell, Strong and Unique: Three Decades of U.S.-Kazakhstan Partnership, Central Asia-Caucasus Institute, December 2021.
Silk Road Paper Svante E. Cornell, S. Frederick Starr & Albert Barro, Political and Economic Reforms in Kazakhstan Under President Tokayev, November 2021.