TRANS-CASPIAN TREPIDATIONS: HOW SERIOUS?
By Alexandros Petersen (9/17/2009 issue of the CACI Analyst)
This summer’s dispute over undersea Caspian energy resources between Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan, as well as Ashgabat’s recently stated intention to bolster its maritime military capabilities, have seemingly thrown Trans-Caspian relations into a tailspin, jeopardizing plans for energy cooperation to supply the strategic Nabucco natural gas pipeline. Given the Caspian’s delicate geopolitical balance, an international arbitration process on the Azerbaijani-Turkmen dispute may not in fact result in final resolution.
TURKEY AND ARMENIA SEEK TO NORMALIZE RELATIONS
By Haroutiun Khachatrian (9/17/2009 issue of the CACI Analyst)
Turkey and Armenia have declared their intention to sign two Protocols next month, aimed at normalizing their relations and opening their common border, which has been closed by Turkey since 1993. To that end, Turkey has seemingly eased some of its previous preconditions, including on the genocide question and demands for progress on the Nagorno-Karabakh issue in Azerbaijan’s favor.
SHEIKH SAID BURYATSKY AND THE FRESH CULT OF THE SUICIDE BOMBER IN THE NORTH CAUCASUS
By Kevin Daniel Leahy (9/17/2009 issue of the CACI Analyst)
The sudden reappearance of the suicide attack as a tactic of choice for insurgents in the North Caucasus has caused panic among security forces in the region. In attempting to account for this unwelcome trend, Chechnya’s president, Ramzan Kadyrov, has blamed the machinations of Western security agencies, as well as the advent of mind-altering psychotropic drugs for misleading young men into carrying out such attacks.
THE METAMORPHOSIS OF COLLECTIVE SECURITY IN CENTRAL ASIA: RUSSIA’S NEW BASE IN SOUTHERN KYRGYZSTAN
By Farkhod Tolipov (9/17/2009 issue of the CACI Analyst)
Since mid-July, rumors and official pronouncements have multiplied regarding the possible deployment of a second Russian military base in Kyrgyzstan. The base would be deployed in the town of Osh in the southern parts of the country, to house forces of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO).
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