THE CENTRAL ASIAN NUCLEAR-WEAPON-FREE ZONE AFTER KOREA
By Richard Weitz (11/29/2006 issue of the CACI Analyst)
BACKGROUND:The attention given North Korea’s detonation of a nuclear weapon on October 9 has overshadowed the signing of the long-sought CANWFZ the previous month. On September 8, 2006, the foreign ministers of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan signed the CANWFZ at Semipalatinsk in eastern Kazakhstan. The signatories timed the ceremony to coincide with the fifteenth anniversary of the closure of the nuclear testing ground there.THE BOOMERANG EFFECT OF ANS TV’S CLOSURE
By Alman Mir Ismail (11/29/2006 issue of the CACI Analyst)
BACKGROUND:On November 24, Azerbaijan’s National Council on TV and Radio Broadcasting issued a decision to stop the licensing of ANS TV, the first, most professional and most respected independent TV channel in the country. The move came following year-long pressures on the media outlet both by the Council and the tax authorities. The head of the National Council, Nushiravan Maharramli, informed journalists that ANS TV has been issued nine warnings in the past for violating rules of broadcasting.KADYROV AS RUSSIA’S REGIONAL GENDARME: A BOON FOR CHECHNYA’S REBEL MOVEMENT?
By Kevin Daniel Leahy (11/29/2006 issue of the CACI Analyst)
BACKGROUND:This past April, the speaker of Chechnya’s pro-Moscow parliament, Dukvakha Abdurakhmanov, publicly suggested the formation of a new super-republic in the North Caucasus which would include Chechnya, Ingushetia, and possibly Dagestan. The same individual, known to be a close confidant of Prime Minister Ramzan Kadyrov, repeated this ambitious proposal in August. For his part, Kadyrov gave Abdurakhmanov’s initiative a tentative welcome, remarking that unification was possible “if the peoples of Ingushetia, Chechnya, and Dagestan want it, and when Chechnya becomes prosperous”.KAZAKHSTAN LEARNS TO LOVE BORAT
By Ryan Kennedy (11/29/2006 issue of the CACI Analyst)
BACKGROUND:Borat, the popular and controversial character developed by British comedian Sasha Baron Cohen, has given the Kazakhstan government plenty of reasons not to like him. While claiming to be Kazakhstan\'s second more popular news personality, Borat has said that Kazakhstan\'s national drink is fermented horse urine, that the national game involves throwing Uzbeks into a pit, and that, for 3/4 the price of a prostitute in Amsterdam, a person could purchase the same services from Kazakhstan\'s president. Not surprisingly, the reaction of Kazakhstan\'s government to Borat\'s appearance at the MTV Europe Music Awards in November 2005 was very negative.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.