News Digest
COURT ORDER SUSPENDS KAZAKH OPPOSITION PAPER
By empty (2/17/2005 issue of the CACI Analyst)
Sharip Kurakbaev, editor in chief of the Kazakh opposition newspaper \"Soz,\" told a news conference in Almaty on 17 February that a court order has suspended publication of the newspaper. Kurakbaev said that the newspaper\'s accounts and property have been frozen. Lawyer Sergei Utkin, who is representing \"Soz,\" told journalists that that order, which comes after the National Security Committee won a 5-million-tenge ($38,500) libel judgment against \"Soz,\" proves that the purpose of the suit was to shut down the newspaper.BAGAPSH WANTS RUSSIAN PEACEKEEPERS TO STAY
By empty (2/16/2005 issue of the CACI Analyst)
Sergei Bagapsh, president of the breakaway province of Abkhazia, said he wants Russian servicemen to continue their peacekeeping mission in the Georgian-Abkhaz conflict zone. \"Statements about the need to replace Russia\'s peacekeeping forces in the conflict zone can be heard today. But our opinion is that the Russian peacekeepers bore a heavy burden in sustaining peace during the most difficult period.GEORGIAN MONITORING GROUP ISSUES REPORT CRITICIZING DEFENSE POLICIES
By empty (2/16/2005 issue of the CACI Analyst)
A report released on 16 February by a Georgian nongovernmental organization sharply criticized the Georgian government for serious shortcomings in its defense policy. The report was compiled by the Justice and Liberty group and stems from a one-year assessment of the state of military reform and defense policies. The report specifically cited the government\'s failure to implement an effective plan to reorganize the Georgian armed forces, noted a widespread misuse of defense funds, and criticized the frequent staff changes in the Defense Ministry and in the General Staff of the armed forces, which, it said, impeded military reform.EU OFFICIAL SAYS WORLD COMMUNITY TO GIVE $20 MILLION TO SHORE UP TAJIK-AFGHAN BORDER
By empty (2/16/2005 issue of the CACI Analyst)
Alan Waddams, European Union ambassador to Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Tajikistan, told a news conference in Dushanbe on 16 February that the international community will provide $20 million over the next two years to strengthen the border between Tajikistan and Afghanistan as Russian forces complete their handover of the frontier to Tajik control. \"Total aid from the European Union will amount to 6.5 million euros [$8.Visit also
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.