Field Reports
KYRGYZSTAN PRESIDENT-ELECT RAISED ISSUE OF U.S. BASE WITHDRAWAL
By Aida Baltabaeva (7/13/2005 issue of the CACI Analyst)
International watchdogs noted tangible improvements toward free and fair elections, but pointed to new ways of rigging election results. Bakiyev himself, in a July 11 press conference, promised as his first geopolitical action to raise the issue of withdrawal of the U.S.CHINESE CONUNDRUM OF KAZAKHSTAN’S MULTI-VECTOR POLICY
By Marat Yermukanov (7/13/2005 issue of the CACI Analyst)
The Chinese leader placed oil and gas on the top of his shopping list in his talks with Nursultan Nazarbayev. Statistically, 70 joint enterprises operate in Kazakhstan, but what really attracts China’s interest is the energy resources, uranium mines and mineral deposits of its neighbor. In an interview to the Kazinform news agency prior to his trip to Kazakhstan, Hu Jintao termed energy cooperation as the cornerstone of the partnership.AZERBAIJAN\'S ELECTION CODE IS CHANGED – WITHOUT REAL CHANGE
By Alman Mir-Ismail (7/13/2005 issue of the CACI Analyst)
The change to the election code came under pressure from the Council of Europe and the OSCE, which advised the Azerbaijani authorities to revise the document in order to improve the conditions for the upcoming parliamentary elections, scheduled for November 6. Specifically, the domestic opposition and the international community has lobbied for changes to the provision that described the formation of the Central Election Commission and the local election commissions. Opposition parties claimed that the current election commissions were under the monopoly of the authorities with 2/3 of votes also going in favor of the ruling regime.TBILISI MAYOR TO BE INDIRECTLY ELECTED
By Kakha Jibladze (6/29/2005 issue of the CACI Analyst)
Just weeks after the parliament passed a law allowing the president to nominate both the leadership and all the members of the Central Election Commission (CEC), the government passed the first reading for amendments concerning mayoral elections in Tbilisi and elections to the City Hall. The new legislation calls for indirect elections of the Tbilisi mayor through the City Hall, and makes changes in the manner the members of City Hall are elected, thus making it easier for the ruling party, the National Movement, to obtain complete control of the Sakrabulo, or City Hall, the CEC, and the capital’s mayor. These changes indicate a shift toward further consolidating power in the hands of the ruling party and stifling opposition to their policies.Visit also
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.