By empty (1/28/2005 issue of the CACI Analyst)

An Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) delegation tasked with analyzing the situation in the seven districts of Azerbaijan bordering on Nagorno-Karabakh that are currently under Armenian control met in Baku on 28 January with President Ilham Aliyev and with Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry officials. Deputy Foreign Minister Araz Azimov told journalists after the meeting that the mission members were given maps, documentation, and audio and video materials showing that the Armenian government has settled some 23,000 ethnic Armenians on those territories, and proving that those areas are used for the illegal cultivation of drugs. (Turan).

By empty (1/28/2005 issue of the CACI Analyst)

The leader of ex-Soviet Uzbekistan on Friday bluntly told the West not to try to foment Ukraine-style revolution in his country and declared he had the \"necessary force\" to stamp out any upheaval. Referring to successive revolutions in two other ex-Soviet States, Georgia and Ukraine, that have brought pro-Western leaders to power, President Islam Karimov said: \"We will rein in those who move outside the framework of the law. We have the necessary force for that.

By empty (1/28/2005 issue of the CACI Analyst)

Kazakhstan said on Friday it had agreed with an Eni-led consortium to pay more than $600 million for half of British BG\'s stake in the giant Kashagan oilfield in the Caspian Sea. The sprawling ex-Soviet state in Central Asia could become one of the world\'s top 10 producers in the next decade and the Kashagan move reflects its desire to bring back under direct state influence strategic parts of the industry driving growth. The deal to buy half of the 16.