By Fariz Ismailzade (9/8/2004 issue of the CACI Analyst)
BACKGROUND: When appointed prime minister of Azerbaijan in August 2003, Ilham Aliyev pledged to work with his father’s team. In the short run, at least, he has kept his word. The unification of the ruling elite around Ilham Aliyev prevented the fragmentation of the ruling New Azerbaijan party (YAP) and made a relatively smooth transition from former President Heydar Aliyev’s era into his son’s possible.By Stephen Blank (9/8/2004 issue of the CACI Analyst)
BACKGROUND: U.S. interests in the South Caucasus include thanking both Georgia and Azerbaijan, the only Muslim country with forces in Iraq, for their support of the U.By Murad Batal al-Shishani (9/8/2004 issue of the CACI Analyst)
BACKGROUND: 47-year old Alu Alkhanov was Minister of Interior in Kadyrov’s government. A bureaucrat and former transport police chief, Alkhanov was, unlike Kadyrov, never an advocate of Chechnya’s independence. After Chechen fighters defeated the Russian forces in 1996, Alkhanov left Chechnya to work in the local police department of a small Russian village close to Ukraine.By Mamuka Tsereteli (8/25/2004 issue of the CACI Analyst)
BACKGROUND: Europe’s natural gas demand is projected to increase substantially in the future. Even under conservative scenarios the demand for importing natural gas to the EU will double from 200 billion cubic meters (bcm) a year in 2002 to 400 bcm per annum by 2030, with total demand raising from 400 bcm to up to 600 bcm in the same period. Russia will try to fill this gap with its own gas, as well as with the gas from Turkmenistan, with the worlds third largest gas reserves, and potentially from Kazakhstan, if those countries do not have alternative delivery options by that time.The Central Asia-Caucasus Analyst is a biweekly publication of the Central Asia-Caucasus Institute & Silk Road Studies Program, a Joint Transatlantic Research and Policy Center affiliated with the American Foreign Policy Council, Washington DC., and the Institute for Security and Development Policy, Stockholm. For 15 years, the Analyst has brought cutting edge analysis of the region geared toward a practitioner audience.
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