News Digest
SOROS PROTESTS AFTER UZBEKISTAN CLOSES DOWN HIS FOUNDATION
By empty (4/19/2004 issue of the CACI Analyst)
Philanthropist George Soros accused the Uzbek government Sunday of forcing his pro-democracy foundation to shut down, blasting human rights abuses in the Central Asian nation and urging the United States to reconsider ties with its closest regional ally. The Uzbek branch of the Open Society Institute, which aims to build free and open societies around the world, closed this week after the government refused to renew its registration, claiming the organization was trying to discredit its policies. Soros said the foundation planned to appeal.GEORGIAN PARLIAMENT DEPUTY SUSPECTED OF TAX EVASION
By empty (4/19/2004 issue of the CACI Analyst)
Georgian Sugar General Director Tengiz Gogichashvili, who was elected to the Georgian parliament on 28 March on the list of the opposition Industrialists-New Rightists bloc, was stripped of his parliamentary immunity on 17 April at the request of the Prosecutor-General\'s Office, which suspected him of failing to pay 89,000 laris ($43,790) in value-added taxes. Leaders of the bloc denounced that ruling at a press conference the same day, accusing the authorities of staging \"a cheap show\" to distract public attention from their own failures. On 19 April, Gogichashvili agreed to pay some 233,500 laris to the state budget in order to avoid being remanded in custody; he continues to deny the charges against him.TBILISI MAYOR DISMISSED
By empty (4/19/2004 issue of the CACI Analyst)
Vano Zodelava was dismissed without prior warning on 19 April from the post of mayor of Tbilisi that he has held for several years. Zodelava said he will not retire, but continue his engagement in politics and may run for the post of Tbilisi mayor if that office becomes elective. Also on 19 April, President Mikheil Saakashvili named former Central Election Commission Chairman Zurab Chiaberashvili to succeed Zodelava, giving him six months to demonstrate his competence in that post by, among other things, halting illegal construction, installing new traffic lights, and introducing a cheaper municipal bus system.U.S. WANTS KARABAKH RESOLVED IN OSCE MINSK GROUP FORMAT
By empty (4/19/2004 issue of the CACI Analyst)
The United States believes the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict must be resolved within the framework of the OSCE Minsk Group, U.S. diplomat Stephen Mann, who was appointed in early April as co-chair of the group, told a news conference in Yerevan on Monday.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.