CENTRAL ASIA READJUSTING TO LIFE IN PUTIN’S ORBIT
By Birgit Brauer (3/29/2000 issue of the CACI Analyst)
BACKGROUND: The breakup of the Soviet Union in 1991 was a windfall for the five Central Asian republics, that had previously shown little desire to strive for full independence. Unaccustomed to being on their own or making their own decisions, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan went through a period of euphoria, where anything seemed possible. But the subsequent economic collapse of the countries and open discrimination against ethnic Russians by the titular nationalities in the early 1990s quickly led to disillusionment and triggered a wave of migration.
RUSSIA SLOUCHES TOWARDS CENTRAL ASIA
By Dr. Robert M. Cutler (4/12/2000 issue of the CACI Analyst)
BACKGROUND: Questions about the strategic political realignments of the Central Asian nations are being whispered around the region. This should not come as a surprise. Even before Vladimir Putin was elected Russian president, he showed signs of undertaking a more dynamic and active foreign policy towards Central Asia.
SHEVARDNADZE WALTZES WITH A SCARECROW IN PRESIDENTIAL ELECTIONS
By Zurab Tchiabirashvili (4/12/2000 issue of the CACI Analyst)
BACKGROUND: It is highly symbolic that the Georgian presidential elections took place on April 9. The date April 9 has come to symbolize the Georgian nationalist movement. On April 9, 1989, right in front of the Supreme Soviet of the Georgian Soviet Socialist Republic, a special task force of the Red Army brutally suppressed a peaceful hunger strike using poisonous gas and spades.
RISING RUSSIAN INTELLIGENCE AND SECURITY OBJECTIVES IN CENTRAL ASIA
By Dr. Theodore Karasik (4/12/2000 issue of the CACI Analyst)
BACKGROUND: Russia under Putin wants the Central Asian states to adhere to Russian foreign policy goals on terrorist threats as demonstrated by the war in Chechnya. Russia has defined its attitude to the matter-we are fighting terrorists, not Muslims. On 24-25 October 1999, Kyrgyz Prime Minister A.
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