KYRGYZSTAN’S POWER INTRIGUES INTENSIFY AHEAD OF PARLIAMENTARY AND PRESIDENTIAL ELECTIONS
By Ainura Cholponkulova (7/28/2004 issue of the CACI Analyst)
BACKGROUND: The interim Constitutional Council – consisting of state officials, parliamentary deputies, political parties and non-governmental organizations – suggested amendments to the Constitution in 2002. One of the recommendations was the introduction of a party list electoral system. However, in February 2003, the party list electoral system provision was removed from the agenda by a presidential task force.IS AFGHANISTAN’S OPIUM BOOM REVERSIBLE?
By Niklas Swanström and Svante Cornell (7/14/2004 issue of the CACI Analyst)
BACKGROUND: Following the fall of the Taliban regime, Afghanistan’s opium production rapidly rebound, recording the second-largest harvest of 3,422 tons already in 2002. That was still lower than the 4,565 ton bumper crop of 1999, but production kept growing in 2003 to 3,600 tons, according to the UN Office on Drugs and Crime. However, production figures are becoming more difficult to assess, mainly due to the security situation in the country.THE CALM BEFORE THE STORM? GEORGIANS READY FOR WAR BUT CALLING FOR PEACE
By Theresa Freese (7/14/2004 issue of the CACI Analyst)
BACKGROUND: In the early hours of 7 July, Georgian peacekeepers, police, and local authorities detained nine Russian vehicles carrying military equipment to Russian peacekeepers based in Tskhinvali. Once vehicles were inspected, Georgian authorities confiscated two trucks carrying 300 unguided helicopter missiles. The Ossetian response was rapid.EUROPE REMAINS AMBIGUOUS IN ITS SOUTH CAUCASUS NEIGHBORHOOD
By Jaba Devdariani (7/14/2004 issue of the CACI Analyst)
BACKGROUND: The European Parliament recommended the inclusion of the South Caucasus in the ENP in December 2003, while the European Commission (EC) endorsed this view in its May 2004 strategy paper on ENP. The inclusion was formally approved in June 2004. The decisions were recommended by the EU Special Representative in South Caucasus, a position established by the EU to boost its foreign policy role in the region.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.