RUSSIA’S MOVE IN CENTRAL ASIA
By Stephen Blank (5/7/2003 issue of the CACI Analyst)
BACKGROUND: Russia’s elite remains unreconciled to America’s economic-military presence in the CIS, which it regards as a threat to the reconstitution of Moscow’s hegemony there. The war against Iraq reintensified fears of Moscow’s losing ground in Central Asia and precipitated coordinated moves against Central Asian states and America. Moscow’s recent moves follow Washington’s refusal to make concessions to Russia to win its support over the war with Iraq, implying that Russia gains nothing from partnership with America.BUS ATTACK HIGHLIGHTS PROBLEMS IN CHINA-KYRGYZSTAN RELATIONS
By Michael Dillon (4/23/2003 issue of the CACI Analyst)
BACKGROUND: On Thursday, March 27, a long distance passenger bus owned by a travel company from Xinjiang was attacked 60 km outside the town of Kochkorka in the Naryn region of eastern Kyrgyzstan on the road from Bishkek to Torugart. The bus, which was carrying 17 passengers and at least two drivers, was travelling to Kashgar to collect goods for resale in Kyrgyzstan and the passengers were carrying large amounts of cash. The vehicle was discovered by a passing hunter 500 metres off the road in a meadow by the side of a river, and the authorities initially reported the incident as a traffic accident, serious but hardly unusual in a border region where large numbers of often unroadworthy vehicles are driven for long distances across difficult terrain.GEORGIA SETS ITS SIGHTS ON NATO
By Eric A. Miller (4/23/2003 issue of the CACI Analyst)
BACKGROUND: Through its strong backing of U.S. efforts to oust Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein, Georgia has solidified its image as Washington’s chief strategic partner in the Caucasus.THE RUSSIAN AIR FORCE IN KYRGYZSTAN: THE MILITARY IMPLICATIONS
By William D. O’Malley & Roger N. McDermott (4/23/2003 issue of the CACI Analyst)
BACKGROUND: Since the U.S. deployment into Kyrgyzstan’s only international airport at Manas in 2001 in support of Operation Enduring Freedom, the choice of location for the CRDF airbase was limited to a series of less capable regional or military airfields.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.