KAZAKHSTAN’S URANIUM INDUSTRY AND NUCLEAR NONPROLIFERATION
By Gregory Gleason (1/19/2011 issue of the CACI Analyst)
The opening of the International Uranium Enrichment Center in Angarsk, Russia in early December 2010 was a milestone in Kazakhstan’s efforts to pursue a parallel policy of promoting peaceful nuclear energy while opposing nuclear arms proliferation. Kazakhstan’s state-controlled nuclear complex, Kazatomprom, was a co-founder of the fuel bank concept along with Russia. Kazatomprom is likely to be a major beneficiary of the IAEA and western sponsored nuclear fuel bank idea, given that Kazatomprom has grown in just over a decade from its beginnings as a disorganized collection of inefficient and unprofitable Soviet-era mines and factories to become the world’s largest producer of uranium ore for nuclear power reactors.
THE STATE-CRIME DYNAMIC IN KYRGYZSTAN AFTER THE REGIME CHANGE
By Erica Marat (1/19/2011 issue of the CACI Analyst)
Over the past six years, Kyrgyzstan has lived through two forceful regime changes – one in March 2005 and another April 2010. Both times, the reconfiguration of political power required Kyrgyz citizens to adapt to a new reality and try to cope with the dual feelings of optimism after unpopular dictators were ousted and uncertainty about the new leaders. Kyrgyzstan’s complex and volatile criminal underworld needed to adapt to the new political conditions as well, in order to ensure continuity of the vast shadow economy and maintain their influence over government officials.
UMID FIELD PROVIDES AZERBAIJAN WITH NEW EXPORT PERSPECTIVES
By Gulmira Rzayeva (12/22/2010 issue of the CACI Analyst)
On November 24, 2010, the Azerbaijani state oil company SOCAR announced the discovery of the largest gas field in Azerbaijan after the Caspian giant Shah Deniz deposit. This offshore field is named Umid, meaning “Hope”. President Ilham Aliyev met with the management of the company on that day and expressed his hope that the gas field would ultimately prove to contain more gas than the initial estimates had suggested.
MERGER OF STAVROPOL AND NORTH CAUCASUS BREEDS ETHNIC NATIONALISM AMONG LOCAL RUSSIANS
By Dmitry Shlapentokh (12/22/2010 issue of the CACI Analyst)
In early January 2010, the Kremlin decided to unify the North Caucasian autonomous republics of the Russian Federation with that of the Stavropol region, still mostly populated by ethnic Russians. The plan was a bureaucratic design by the Kremlin that supposedly would increase the ethnic/social cohesiveness of the region and the country and promote economic development in the region. This merger has received a strong response among locals who demanded that the Stavropol region remain a separate entity.
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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.