PAKISTAN'S RELIGOUS PARTIES: A THREAT TO MUSHARRAF'S POLICIES?
By Andrew Holden (11/6/2002 issue of the CACI Analyst)
BACKGROUND: The MMA captured 19% of the seats in the National Assembly and a controlling majority of the Provincial Assembly of the Northwest Frontier Province, and became the largest party in Baluchistan. This is a major electoral progress for religious parties that traditionally remained on the fringes of politics. A first reason for this success is that the various religious parties of the country for the first time consolidated into an electoral alliance.
THE CHECHEN THEATER OF WAR
By Stephen Blank (11/6/2002 issue of the CACI Analyst)
BACKGROUND: The Chechen terrorist seizure of a Moscow theater on October 23-24 clearly represented their despair over the course of the war. But more importantly, it was strategically misconceived for many reasons. First, it seemingly confirmed the constant Russian charges that the war is just another operation in the global campaign against international terrorism.
RUSSIAN ARMY CEASES CONSCRIPTION IN DAGESTAN
Russian Army Ceases Conscription in Dagestan
by Emil Souleimanov (11/28/2012 issue of the CACI Analyst)
In recent years, Moscow has considerably been reducing the share of conscripts to the Russian Army from the republics of the North Caucasus, particularly from Dagestan. Military service remains popular in Dagestan, in stark contrast to much of the Russian Federation. Yet, the changing draft policy appear to be motivated by the perceived difficulty of North Caucasians to conform with the hierarchic traditions of the Russian army, and by the dangers of providing young Dagestanis with military training in the context of the North Caucasus insurgency, which is increasingly centered on Dagestan.
ARRESTS IN GEORGIA DISTURB TRANSFER OF POWER
Following the parliamentary elections and Bidzina Ivanishvili's installation as Prime Minister, Georgia has undergone a series of arrests of former high government officials and members of the security establishment. While the now ruling coalition Georgian Dream (GD) promised during the election campaign that it would prosecute alleged misdeeds of the former government, the actions also carry the signs of a politically motivated campaign to weaken the former ruling party. While the case can be made that certain practices of the previous government should be investigated and prosecuted, the pattern of arrests risks damaging Georgia's relations with international partners as well as its domestic development process.
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Staff Publications
Silk Road Paper S. Frederick Starr, Greater Central Asia as A Component of U.S. Global Strategy, October 2024.
Analysis Laura Linderman, "Rising Stakes in Tbilisi as Elections Approach," Civil Georgia, September 7, 2024.
Analysis Mamuka Tsereteli, "U.S. Black Sea Strategy: The Georgian Connection", CEPA, February 9, 2024.
Silk Road Paper Svante E. Cornell, ed., Türkiye's Return to Central Asia and the Caucasus, July 2024.
Book Svante E. Cornell, ed., "The Changing Geopolitics of Central Asia and the Caucasus" AFPC Press/Armin LEar, 2023.
Silk Road Paper Svante E. Cornell and S. Frederick Starr, Stepping up to the “Agency Challenge”: Central Asian Diplomacy in a Time of Troubles, July 2023.
Silk Road Paper S. Frederick Starr, U.S. Policy in Central Asia through Central Asian Eyes, May 2023.