By Kevin Daniel Leahy (11/16/2011 issue of the CACI Analyst)

Boris Yeltsin, president of Russia from 1991 to 1999, famously urged the various ethno-jurisdictions in the Russian Federation to “take all the sovereignty you can swallow.” At the time, the political leadership in Chechnya took this exhortation literally, an interpretation that contributed to the outbreak of war between the secessionist regime in Grozny and the Russian state in 1994. Since 1999, Vladimir Putin has replaced Yeltsin’s controversial sovereignty mantra with one that might be articulated as follows: “take all the subsidies you can swallow.

By Alexander Sodiqov (11/16/2011 issue of the CACI Analyst)

The introduction of additional legal restrictions on “family hire” in public service and the recent warnings by senior officials against nepotistic practices in government indicate that the Tajik authorities recognize the political risks stemming from nepotism. This recognition appears to be linked with the political upheavals in Kyrgyzstan and, more recently, the Arab world. However, a genuine anti-nepotism agenda of the Tajik government is unlikely because President Rahmon himself has virtually monopolized political and economic power in the hands of his family.

By Stephen Blank (11/2/2011 issue of the CACI Analyst)

The unresolved conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh has once again raised its head. This is not surprising because the failure of Moscow’s attempt to broker a solution earlier this year appears to have conformed to a dynamic common to such conflict. Failed efforts at mediation lead to renewed tensions as each side blames the other and the spiral of recriminations continues until wiser heads or some other crisis prevails.