KAZAKHSTAN’S EMERGING SECURITY TIES WITH CHINA
By Roger N. McDermott (9/5/2007 issue of the CACI Analyst)
Security Relations between Kazakhstan and China, though traditionally low-key and not widely publicized, have been growing steadily. Given the enhanced security cooperation within the SCO to combat terrorism, as witnessed in the highly publicized SCO ‘Peace Mission 2007’ antiterrorist exercises in China and Russia August 9-17, 2007, combined with China’s evolving energy interests in Kazakhstan, both countries appear set to enhance their military cooperation. This will bring China into the security dynamics at play around the Caspian Sea, and complicate yet more the complex web of security assistance provided to Kazakhstan by the U.
RUSSIA’S ATTACK ON GEORGIA: THE U.N. REPORT
By David J. Smith (7/11/2007 issue of the CACI Analyst)
Four months ago today, Georgia’s Upper Kodori (Upper Abkhazia) region was attacked by ground-to-ground rockets and an anti-tank guided missile (ATGM), apparently fired from a helicopter. The area is the only part of Abkhazia controlled by the Tbilisi government. UNOMIG has been investigating the incident and is about to publish its report, likely to be inconclusive.
SCO SEEKS TO EXPAND, CONSOLIDATE AFTER BISHKEK SUMMIT
By Erica Marat (7/11/2007 issue of the CACI Analyst)
On July 9 the Shanghai Cooperation Organization’s (SCO) Ministers of Foreign Affairs convened in Bishkek to discuss the agenda for the upcoming summit. The summit will collect the presidents of nine Eurasian countries in Bishkek and mark an unprecedented geopolitical development in the Central Asian region. Today, the SCO is quickly gaining international weight, aiming to eventually become an Asian alternative to NATO.
THE STAVROPOL RIOTS: TRENDS IN THE RUSSIAN EXTREME-RIGHT
By Dmitry Shlapentokh (7/11/2007 issue of the CACI Analyst)
Russia experienced ethnic riots in Kondopoga, Karelia, in 2006 and in Stavropol in the southern part of European Russia in May and early June 2007. Patterns were similar; both centered on clashes between Russians and Chechens. These events begin to form a trend of the type of nationalist movements developing in Russia, which are decidedly different from the Yeltsin era.
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