News Digest
TAJIK DRUG TSAR ARRESTED TO PREVENT COUP ATTEMPT?
By empty (8/11/2004 issue of the CACI Analyst)
The Institute for War and Peace Reporting (IWPR) quoted several sources on 10 August as saying that Ghaffor Mirzoev, the former head of Tajikistan\'s Drug Control Agency, was arrested on 6 August to prevent a possible coup attempt. Noting that 3,000 heavy weapons were allegedly discovered in the basement of the Drug Control Agency, IWPR quoted Prosecutor-General Bobojon Bobokhonov as saying: \"Most possibly [Mirzoev] wanted to stage a coup d\'etat.\" An Interior Ministry source told IWPR that \"Mirzoev had enormous supplies of modern weaponry and he could have accomplished a coup.ALL POLITICAL FORCES CAN VOTE IN CHECHEN ELECTION – ARSAKHANOV
By empty (8/10/2004 issue of the CACI Analyst)
The followers of all political forces will be able to vote in the Chechen presidential elections on August 29, Chechen Election Commission Chairman Abdul-Kerim Arsakhanov told Interfax. \"I suggest that all political forces, including the supporters of the separatists, take part in the voting. Let them come to the elections and vote for one of the candidates.DEFENSE MINISTER SAYS GEORGIA READY TO INCREASE DEPLOYMENT OF TROOPS IN IRAQ
By empty (8/10/2004 issue of the CACI Analyst)
In comments to reporters during his visit to Moscow on 10 August, Defense Minister Baramidze stated that Georgia is prepared to increase its deployment of troops to Iraq. The Georgian military presence in Iraq is limited to a U.S.GEORGIAN OFFICIAL SAYS SAAKASHVILI\'S STATEMENT WAS MISTRANSLATED
By empty (8/10/2004 issue of the CACI Analyst)
Georgian Minister for Conflict Resolution Giorgi Khaindrava, currently in Moscow for talks with senior Russian officials, told \"Izvestiya\" on 10 August that a recent statement by Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili that caused considerable controversy in Russia was incorrectly translated. Saakashvili last week made a comment that was widely interpreted in Russia as threatening that Tbilisi would fire on civilian vessels attempting to reach Abkhazia via the Black Sea. Khaindrava said that Saakashvili was really warning Russians planning to vacation in Abkhazia that the region is \"a conflict zone\" and that \"shooting could break out at any moment.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.