THE OSCE AND POLITICAL DISPUTES IN CENTRAL ASIA
By Richard Weitz (4/19/2006 issue of the CACI Analyst)
BACKGROUND: In an interview published in the local Aki-press agency on February 19, 2006, the head of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) mission in Kyrgyzstan, Markus Mueller, once more expressed concern over persistent instability in the country. He called for a dialogue between the president, prime minister, parliament, and other major Kyrgyz political actors engaged in the country’s protracted and sometimes violent political struggle since the March 2005 “Tulip Revolution.” Mueller said that the OSCE headquarters in Vienna also is “worried about the situation” in Kyrgyzstan.FOREIGN WEAPONS, IRANIAN THREATS: THE CASPIAN BASIN IN IRAN’S GUNSIGHTS
By Stephen Blank (4/19/2006 issue of the CACI Analyst)
BACKGROUND: Although its policies in the Caspian basin have generally been circumspect, Iran is not necessarily a status quo power in this region. It attacked Azerbaijani oil platforms in 2001 and subsequently threatened Kazakh explorations in the Caspian in disputes over who owns that sea’s waters. Since then, in 2002 the U.THE KARS-AKHALKALAKI RAILROAD: A MISSING LINK BETWEEN EUROPE AND ASIA
By Taleh Ziyadov (4/19/2006 issue of the CACI Analyst)
BACKGROUND: The idea of connecting the rail networks of Azerbaijan, Georgia and Turkey was first discussed during the Joint Transport Commission meeting in July 1993. The initiative was later integrated into the Master Plan on the Trans-European Railway (TER) networks sponsored by the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE). In July 2002, the Ministers of Transport of Azerbaijan, Georgia and Turkey signed a protocol confirming the route and at a February 28, 2005 meeting the parties agreed to conduct a feasibility study.BANNED IN RUSSIA: THE POLITICS OF GEORGIAN WINE
By Mamuka Tsereteli (4/19/2006 issue of the CACI Analyst)
BACKGROUND: In late March-early April, Russian authorities banned imports of Georgian and Moldovan wines under the pretext that they do not meet Russian consumer standards. This decision follows a similar demarche in December 2005, when Russia’s Ministry of Agriculture imposed temporary restrictions on imports of agricultural products from Georgia to Russia. At that time, Russia banned Georgia’s citrus products, which indeed caused serous harm to Georgian producers.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.