AZERBAIJAN AND GEORGIA: PLAYING RUSSIAN ROULETTE WITH MOSCOW
By Alexandros Petersen and Taleh Ziyadov (1/10/2007 issue of the CACI Analyst)
BACKGROUND: Since the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, Russia’s relations with both Azerbaijan and Georgia have been complicated. During the first and second Yeltsin administrations (1992-1999), Moscow\'s ambiguous and chaotic foreign policy led to repeated diplomatic and political crises with Baku and Tbilisi. Hoping to keep the two states under Russia\'s control, the Yeltsin administration applied political pressure and adopted harsh policies towards them.WALKING A TIGHTROPE: AZERBAIJAN AND THE POLITICS OF IRANIAN NUCLEAR WEAPONS
By Stephen Blank (1/10/2007 issue of the CACI Analyst)
BACKGROUND: It is unlikely that the Azerbaijani regime has any illusions about the threat that a nuclear Iran could pose to it and the region. Nonetheless its decision reflects the current geopolitical balance in and around the Caspian with regard to Iranian nuclearization. For some time now there have been signs that Azerbaijan was concerned that any aggravation of the crisis around Iran, e.ENERGY SECURITY IMPLICATIONS OF POST-NIYAZOV TURKMENISTAN
By Christopher Boucek (1/10/2007 issue of the CACI Analyst)
BACKGROUND: On December 21, it was announced that President-for-life Niyazov had died during the night. Many observers nevertheless believe the announcement was delayed for some time until succession issues were worked out. The creation of the State Security Council to oversee the transition; the immediate appointment of Deputy Prime Minister Gurbanguly Berdymukhammedov to be acting president; the abrupt investigation and subsequent arrest of the constitutionally mandated successor Khalk Mazhles Speaker Ovezgeldy Atayev; and the sudden organization of large scale commemoration events all suggest prior coordination and that Niyazov may actually have died some time earlier.TURKMENISTAN\'S SUCCESSION: WELCOME TO BERDYMUHAMMEDOV\'S WORLD
By Slavomir Horak (1/10/2007 issue of the CACI Analyst)
BACKGROUND: On December 21, 2006, Turkmenistan woke up to a very strange morning. The first and life president, who had been able to decide about the fate of any Turkmenistani, was no more. His nation was as abandoned as an orphan after the earthquake that devastated Ashgabat in 1948 “much like Niyazov himself, in other words.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.