News Digest
TATAR CONSTITUTIONAL COURT ENTERS FRAY OVER CYRILLIC ALPHABET
By empty (12/29/2003 issue of the CACI Analyst)
Tatarstan\'s Constitutional Court issued a ruling on 24 December stating that the republic has the right to determine which script is used in writing the Tatar language, RFE/RL\'s Tatar-Bashkir Service reported. The court was considering an appeal by the republican legislature\'s Committee on Science, Education, Culture, and National Issues. In September 1999, the Tatar legislature passed a law restoring Latin script for the Tatar language, and a year ago, the State Duma passed a federal law making Cyrillic mandatory for all state languages.GEORGIAN POLITICAL PARTIES DISAPPROVE OF PLANNED WEALTH TAX
By empty (12/29/2003 issue of the CACI Analyst)
In separate statements reported by Caucasus Press, the New Rightists, the Union of Traditionalists of Georgia (STK), and the Socialist Party have criticized a planned wealth tax announced on 22 December by Minister of State Zhvania. STK Chairman Akaki Asatiani and the Socialists termed the tax a return to Bolshevism, while David Gamkrelidze of the New Rights called it \"populist.\" Asatiani also criticized the proposed abolition of the land tax.ANOTHER GEORGIAN EMBEZZLEMENT SUSPECT SUFFERS HEART ATTACK
By empty (12/29/2003 issue of the CACI Analyst)
Former Georgian Railways Director Akaki Chkhaidze, whose Silk Road party was a member of the pro-presidential For a New Georgia election bloc, has reportedly been hospitalized in Batumi after suffering a heart attack. Earlier that day, Georgian Interior Minister Giorgi Baramidze warned that a search warrant would be issued for Chkhaidze unless he turned himself in for questioning concerning suspected large-scale embezzlement. Meanwhile, officials from the Prosecutor-General\'s Office have still not been able to question former Energy Minister David Mirtskhulava, who is also recovering from a heart attack.KAZAKHSTAN SEEKS CASPIAN OIL CARTEL
By empty (12/28/2003 issue of the CACI Analyst)
The nations surrounding the Caspian Sea should create an OPEC-like oil cartel to help support global prices and reassure OPEC itself, Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev said in interviews published on Sunday. Former Soviet Caspian states Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan are not OPEC members, and their giant energy reserves are being developed by international majors such as ChevronTexaco Corp. (NYSE), BP Plc (BP.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.