SHAMIL BASEYEV, CHECHEN FIELD COMMANDER: RUSSIA’S MOST WANTED MAN
By Dr. Brian Williams (8/2/2000 issue of the CACI Analyst)
BACKGROUND: Shamil Basayev began his career as a fighter in 1992 when he joined the secessionist Abkhaz fighting for independence against the majority Georgians. Basayev's "Abkhaz Battalion" was responsible for the subsequent Abkhaz defeat of the Georgians. When the Russians invaded Chechnya in 1994, Basayev played a key role in the Chechen fighters destruction of Russian forces in Grozny on New Years Eve 1994-5.
KYRGYZSTAN’S OPPOSITION LEADER FELIKS KULOV FINALLY RELEASED
By Gulsara Osorova (8/16/2000 issue of the CACI Analyst)
BACKGROUND: The March 2000 parliamentary elections shifted the image of Kyrgyzstan from an "island of democracy" that was supposed to guarantee the freedom of speech and basic norms of human rights, to a powerful image of a strengthening authoritarian regime. Feliks Kulov, the politically disgraced vice-president and former mayor of Bishkek, resigned his office in 1998 to join the political opposition. Kulov resigned his office and quit his political party over conflicts he had with President Askar Akaev and his politics.
CHINA’S "GO WEST" PIPELINE PROJECTS: A "GREAT LEAP WESTWARD"?
By Dr. Robert M. Cutler (8/16/2000 issue of the CACI Analyst)
BACKGROUND: The Chinese National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC) asserts that Xinjiang has 17.4 trillion cubic feet of proven gas reserves. However, it is not clear that they are all recoverable.
THE NEW RUSSO-CHINESE "PARTNERSHIP" AND CENTRAL ASIA
By Dr. Stephen Blank (8/16/2000 issue of the CACI Analyst)
BACKGROUND: Since 1992, there has been a steep rise in the incidence of Muslim insurgencies in both Russia and China. The escalating violence, originating but not confined to Xinjiang and Chechnya, added to fears of American/NATO support for other potential separatist movements have led China and Russia to display stronger expressions of partnership. Those expressions are intended to exclude the United States from the area, suppress local insurgency, cement ties with Central Asia's authoritarian rulers, suppress efforts by insurgents to link up with other insurgent movements across state lines, and expand the Shanghai-Five from a community of states sharing borders to a regional and collective security system explicitly designed against the United States and its positions on human rights, missile defense, and Asian security issues like Taiwan.
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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.