By Marat Iskakov and Anara Tabyshalieva (1/30/2002 issue of the CACI Analyst)
BACKGROUND: A new heated discussion is taking place between Aral Sea Basin countries. Downstream Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, and Turkmenistan demand more water for irrigation from Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan, which are located upstream in the region's river system. Upstream countries possess significant hydro-energy resources: after Russia, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan hold the second and third places in hydropower resources among CIS countries.
By Stephen Blank (1/30/2002 issue of the CACI Analyst)
BACKGROUND: Since September 11th, Russian President Vladimir Putin has proclaimed Russia's desire to forge an equal partnership with NATO and the United States. For that partnership to endure, violence in the CIS will have to be curtailed. Yet both Georgia and Russia are provoking each other in ways that lead to violence.
By Michael A. Reynolds (1/30/2002 issue of the CACI Analyst)
BACKGROUND: On January 9, the office of the Russian Presidential Spokesman Sergei Yastrzhembsky announced that Turkey had requested the extradition file for Movladi Udugov. Udugov is closely tied to the radical wing that includes Shamil Basaev and the Saudi-born Khattab, has played a prominent role as a propagandist in the Chechen conflict, and has for periods of time resided in Istanbul. News agencies throughout the world picked up the announcement, and the next day the Russian press was abuzz with speculation about how the request dealt a blow to the Chechen resistance and how it signified a watershed in Russian-Turkish relations.
By R. Grant Smith (1/30/2002 issue of the CACI Analyst)
BACKGROUND: The term "warlord" recalls China in the 1920's and 1930's. More recent examples come from Africa, from the Balkans and, in the immediate region of Afghanistan, from Tajikistan. A less pejorative term might be "regional strongman," implicitly in a situation where central power is weak.
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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