CHINA-KYRGYZSTAN-UZBEKISTAN RAILWAY PROJECT BRINGS POLITICAL RISKS
By Myles G. Smith (3/7/2012 issue of the CACI Analyst)
The signature infrastructure project of Kyrgyzstan’s new leadership is a 268 kilometer railroad line that would link China with Kyrgyzstan’s southern provinces and Uzbekistan. President Atambayev insists that Kyrgyzstan would profit greatly from inter-regional transit trade if the US$ 2 billion-plus line were built. Restrictions on Kyrgyzstan’s once lucrative practice of re-exporting Chinese goods to Russia and Kazakhstan have been increasingly curtailed by new Customs Union rules, leaving Bishkek searching for new sources of national income and employment.
THE FSB STRENGTHENS ITS PRESENCE IN ABKHAZIA AND SOUTH OSSETIA
By Konstantin Preobrazhensky (3/7/2012 issue of the CACI Analyst)
Abkhazia and South Ossetia are both highly dependent on Russian economic, political, and military support, and it would be natural for Russia to introduce its own system of governance by “siloviki,” the officers of power ministries, in these regions. However, most high officials in Abkhazia and South Ossetia represent only one power ministry: the FSB. Officers from other power ministries, such as the Army or police, are very rare on high governmental positions.
KYRGYZSTAN IN 2015: ONE STEP FORWARD, TWO STEPS BACKWARD
By J. Edward Conway (3/7/2012 issue of the CACI Analyst)
As Kyrgyzstan approaches the two-year mark of the April 2010 revolution, its future socio-economic prospects have gone from bad to worse. Anti-foreign investment rhetoric since the parliamentary and presidential elections has encouraged an unprecedented level of instability in the business environment for multinational companies. Foreign development assistance will decline significantly following the 2014 NATO withdrawal from Afghanistan and the 2015 Millennium Development Goals target date, especially given the financial austerity measures demanded by the domestic politics of leading donor countries.
PAKISTAN’S ENERGY FUTURE: INTERNATIONAL PRESSURES AND REGIONAL COMPLUSIONS
By Rizwan Zeb (3/7/2012 issue of the CACI Analyst)
Pakistan’s energy resources are increasingly receding and consumption rising. The only solution to this problem is to import gas. The Iran-Pakistan (IP) gas pipeline provides the most viable option but international compulsions, especially pressure from Washington and sanctions on Iran, makes it problematic.
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.