News Digest
KAZAKHSTAN AND INTERNATIONAL OIL GIANTS SIGN AGREEMENT ON KASHAGAN FIELD
By empty (2/25/2004 issue of the CACI Analyst)
Kazakhstan\'s state oil-and-gas company KazMunaiGaz signed an agreement in Astana on 25 February with the members of the international consortium that is developing northwest Kazakhstan\'s Kashagan oil field. The field was scheduled to start producing in 2005, but the consortium will be unable to meet the deadline. Kazakh Prime Minister Akhmetov told journalists on 25 February that according to the revised schedule, oil will start flowing from Kashagan in 2007 or 2008.UZBEK \'TORTURE\' MOTHER FREED
By empty (2/24/2004 issue of the CACI Analyst)
An Uzbek court has freed a woman involved in a key human rights case, just hours before US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld began a visit. Fatima Mukhadirova, 62, is the mother of a man who died in prison, allegedly after he was immersed in boiling water and otherwise tortured. She was jailed for six years earlier this month for \"undermining the constitution\".ARMENIAN UNIVERSITY STUDENTS CONTINUE BOYCOTT TO PROTEST MILITARY DRAFT
By empty (2/23/2004 issue of the CACI Analyst)
Several hundred Armenian university students continued their boycott of classes for a second day on 20 February, protesting a government plan to abolish existing military-service exemptions and deferments, according to RFE/RL\'s Yerevan bureau. A demonstration of more than 1,000 students at the Yerevan State University was also held on 20 February in support of the boycott. The Armenian government approved a new law on compulsory military service last month that only allows students to enroll in graduate studies after they complete their mandatory service in the country\'s armed forces.NATO CONDEMNS KILLING OF ARMENIAN OFFICER
By empty (2/23/2004 issue of the CACI Analyst)
NATO officials on 20 February issued a strong condemnation of the slaying by an Azerbaijani serviceman of an Armenian military officer attending a NATO training course in Hungary, RFE/RL\'s Yerevan bureau reported. Characterizing the incident as a \"clear criminal act,\" the NATO statement added that it hopes the \"tragic incident\" will not affect Armenia\'s \"strong participation\" in NATO\'s Partnership for Peace program. Although the official Azerbaijani response to the killing expressed \"regret\" at the death of Lieutenant Gurgen Markarian, it nevertheless blamed the victim for provoking the incident.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.