THE GABALA GAMBIT AND AZERBAIJAN’S GEOPOLITICS
By Richard Weitz (6/13/2007 issue of the CACI Analyst)
Russian President Vladimir Putin at the G-8 summit effectively encouraged the United States and its NATO allies to relocate the core of their missile defense architecture from East-Central Europe to the Caucasus region, specifically Azerbaijan’s Gabala radio station. The realization of Putin’s proposal would bring Russia considerable strategic benefits in the region and elsewhere. It is less clear, however, that Azerbaijan and it neighbors would derive equal advantages from its implementation.
BERDIMUKHAMMEDOV BASES TURKMEN-KAZAKH RELATIONS ON ‘PRAGMATISM’
By Chemen Durdiyeva (6/13/2007 issue of the CACI Analyst)
On May 28-29, 2007, Turkmenistan’s President Kurbangeldy Berdimukhammedov paid a two-day official visit to Astana, Kazakhstan. Having met with his counterpart Nursultan Nazarbayev and the head of the Kazakh Senate, he signed a number of long-term agreements in the sphere of trade, economics, military, culture and education. Within this context, Berdimukhammedov’s visit to Kazakhstan is his fourth official visit as head of state in six weeks.
THE AFGHANISTAN-RUSSIA RAPPROCHEMENT AND ITS GEOPOLITICAL IMPLICATIONS
By Dmitry Shlapentokh (5/30/2007 issue of the CACI Analyst)
In the last month or so, two striking events have taken place: the shooting down of a Russian helicopter in Chechnya, and the increasing signs of assertiveness of the Taliban in Afghanistan and the creation of a Taliban quasi-state in the tribal areas of Pakistan. While these events can be seen as disconnected, they actually identify the increasing force of radical Islamists; in this context, one should look at the recent improvement in military cooperation between Karzai’s government and Russia’s leaders. In a spring 2007 visit, the Afghan government expressed the desire to buy Russian weapons and see their personnel trained in Russia, implicitly seeing Russia’s direct involvement in the conflict in some way.
CHANGES IN ARMENIA’S POLITICAL LANDSCAPE SET SCENE FOR PRESIDENTIAL ELECTIONS
By Niklas Nilsson (5/30/2007 issue of the CACI Analyst)
Results of the parliamentary elections in Armenia strengthened the position of the Republican Party of Armenia, in all likelihood providing for Prime Minister Serzh Sarkisian replacing Robert Kocharyan as President in the 2008 presidential elections. The elections also introduced the newly formed Prosperous Armenia Party in parliament, a party widely seen as supported by President Kocharyan. Raffi Hovannisian’s Heritage Party represents a new opposition force and will, along with Artur Baghdasarian’s Country of Law Party, constitute the only opposition in parliament.
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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.