GEORGIA’S SCAPEGOAT: THE OSCE IN SOUTH OSSETIA
By Markus Bernath (11/2/2005 issue of the CACI Analyst)
BACKGROUND: Georgia’s French-born former Foreign minister Salome Zourabishvili, who was forced out recently, put it bluntly: “We cannot believe that this is the organization that can solve our problems”, she said after a series of incidents on South Ossetia’s “independence day” on September 20, referring to her year-long history of growing frustration with the OSCE. Zourabishvili several times traveled to the OSCE Permanent Council in order to plead for an increase in military observers in South Ossetia, and for the prolongation of the OSCE border observation mission on Georgia’s border with Chechnya, Ingushetia and Daghestan. But Russia only conceded to some three more observers and blocked the mission.PRESIDENT ALIYEV’S SHAKEUP: A CHANGING PORTRAIT
By Alman Mir Ismail (11/2/2005 issue of the CACI Analyst)
BACKGROUND: When President Ilham Aliyev was elected to the presidency in October 2003, many expected sweeping political and economic reforms and significant cadre changes. After all, President Aliyev was young and had extensive experience working with Western companies as well as democracy building organizations, such as the Council of Europe and OSCE. Yet the slow pace of cadre changes made many both inside and outside Azerbaijan believe that Ilham Aliyev lacked the charisma, power and determination to deal with the “old guard”, implying members of the administration that had served under his father and since then grew into corrupt, powerful and well-networked power centers in the country.KYRGYZSTAN’S REVOLUTION: WHAT WENT WRONG?
By Rafis Abazov (11/2/2005 issue of the CACI Analyst)
BACKGROUND: It is not the first time that Kyrgyzstan experiences a period of serious political turmoil. Back in 1990-1991, the country was on a brink of political collapse and uncertainty. There were even fears that the inter-ethnic and political conflicts that started in the southern Osh region in the Summer of 1990 would escalate into civil war.COUNTER-NARCOTICS COMPETITION AND COOPERATION IN TAJIKISTAN AND KYRGYZSTAN
By Jacob Townsend (10/19/2005 issue of the CACI Analyst)
BACKGROUND: Both Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan give their counter-narcotics efforts a high public profile, partly in response to international pressure that has also furnished them with a national DCA each. This has added to the number of agencies responsible for drug control in each country, all of which are represented every ‘reporting season’ when they detail their recent successes in terms of such things as traffickers arrested and volumes of drugs seized. Overall, each of these agencies has significantly different functions but in the field of counter-narcotics their responsibilities overlap.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.