By empty (11/11/2004 issue of the CACI Analyst)

Kazakh security agencies have uncovered and put an end to the activities of the group Central Asia Mujahedeen Jamaat, which is believed to be a cell of the international terrorist network al Qaeda, First Deputy Chairman of the Kazakh National Security Committee Vladimir Bozhko said. \"The National Security Committee has put an end to the activities of a deeply clandestine terrorist group, Central Asia Mujahedeen Jamaat, which was acting in Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, and Russia and had links with the organization al Qaeda,\" Bozhko announced at a news conference in Astana on Thursday. The special services earlier detained the leaders and members of the Central Asia Mujahedeen Jamaat and also their accomplices.

By empty (11/10/2004 issue of the CACI Analyst)

Arkadii Ghukasian, president of the unrecognized Nagorno-Karabakh Republic, told the Armenian television program Haylur on 8 November that the Karabakh authorities \"are ready to negotiate with Azerbaijan in any format, with or without Armenia,\" according to Armenian Public Television as cited by Groong. \"We are ready to discuss with Azerbaijan any issues, starting with the status of refugees [from Nagorno-Karabakh] and the territories [surrounding Nagorno-Karabakh that are currently controlled by the Karabakh armed forces],\" Ghukasian continued. But he pointed out that \"Azerbaijan is not ready today to negotiate with Karabakh, and in fact Azerbaijan\'s current position is an ultimatum.

By empty (11/10/2004 issue of the CACI Analyst)

Iran is planning to move its largest platform, the Iran-Alborz oil platform, into the Caspian by June 2005 to allow drilling in the area, the Tehran Times reported. The 25,000-tonne platform is also the region\'s largest platform, with capacity to drill up to 400 metres with direct anchorage and even deeper with pre-anchorage. South and south-west Caspian depths are estimated at 700 to 1,000 metres, the report added.