HUMAN TRAFFICKING WON’T GO AWAY IN GEORGIA
By Tamar Mikadze (6/15/2005 issue of the CACI Analyst)
BACKGROUND: According to various estimates the scale of human trafficking in Georgia is on the rise, and the government’s negligence to crack down on criminal networks puts more people at risk of being trafficked. Various sources indicate that hundreds of Georgians are trafficked annually to Turkey, Russia, France and Spain, Greece, the United States, the United Arab Emirates, Germany, the Netherlands, with smaller numbers trafficked to Israel and Portugal, and even as far as Philippines. Because of the proximity of and cheaper travel Turkey seems a chief destination country.IRAN LAUNCHES TWO CASPIAN INITIATIVES
By Hooman Peimani (6/15/2005 issue of the CACI Analyst)
BACKGROUND: Iranian-Russian relations have been growing since 1987 when then the Soviet Union changed its policy of supporting Iraq in its war against Iran. By removing obstacles and creating common political and security grounds, certain factors, apart from economic incentives, have made Tehran and Moscow closer to each other since 1991, including the Soviet Union’s fall, Washington’s efforts to create a unipolar international system and the growing presence of the Western countries, particularly the United States, in the Caucasus and Central Asia. However, their cooperation on energy-related issues has been limited.NEW TURNS IN CHINESE POLICY TOWARDS CENTRAL ASIA
By Stephen Blank (6/15/2005 issue of the CACI Analyst)
BACKGROUND: In the wake of the Andijon massacre and Kyrgyz revolution, we may discern the following new and significant trends in Chinese policy, possibly due to these events. China has abandoned its earlier reticence about former Russian Prime Minister Evgeny Primakov’s strategic triangle with Russia and India and agreed to a meeting of Foreign Ministers of the three states in Vladivostok on June 2. At this meeting the war on terror, access to Central Asian energy (including Iran), and the issue of uprisings in Central Asia were discussed among the participants although we do not know what practical conclusions, if any, they reached.NEW MILITARY TRENDS IN THE CASPIAN
By Stephen Blank (6/1/2005 issue of the CACI Analyst)
BACKGROUND: On May 16, Iran signed a non-aggression pact with Azerbaijan stipulating that the two countries are not allowed to provide a third country with bases to attack either of them, clearly an effort to forestall American bases there from which Iran can be attacked. Iran’s role in these developments needs some clarification. Several developments seem to have come together recently to move Iranian diplomacy to take a more active role in the defense agenda of the Caspian.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.