News Digest
GERMANY WON\'T GIVE TERMEZ AIR BASE TO NATO, AMBASSADOR SAYS
By empty (8/15/2003 issue of the CACI Analyst)
German Ambassador to Uzbekistan Martin Haecker told a press conference in Tashkent on 14 August that Germany has no intention of handing over to NATO its air base at Termez on the Uzbek-Afghan border. Haecker said the Uzbek government handed over the base for use by German forces as long as they are taking part in the activities of the international antiterrorism coalition in Afghanistan. The ambassador noted that the Bundeswehr had modernized the Termez base, which can now accommodate up to nine large transport planes.GEORGIA FAILS TO MEET IMF DEADLINE
By empty (8/15/2003 issue of the CACI Analyst)
For lack of a quorum, the Georgian parliament failed on 15 August to endorse the budget sequester proposed by the government in response to demands made in early July by a visiting International Monetary Fund (IMF) delegation. The fund had made disbursement of the third and final installment of a Poverty Reduction and Growth Facility loan contingent on sweeping budget cuts, passage of a new Tax Code, and the abolition of cuts in electricity tariffs. Minister of State Avtandil Djorbenadze, who came to parliament to brief deputies on the planned budget cuts, blamed speaker Nino Burdjanadze for the legislature\'s failure to ensure the government met the IMF deadline of mid-August.AZERBAIJANI OPPOSITION DEMANDS PRIME MINISTER\'S DISMISSAL
By empty (8/16/2003 issue of the CACI Analyst)
Between 8,000 and 20,000 people participated in a march and rally in Baku on 16 August to protest the appointment of President Heidar Aliev\'s son, Ilham, as prime minister and to demand his dismissal from that post. They further demanded that equal conditions be created for all candidates in the 15 October presidential election. On 15 August, the Constitutional Court ruled that in the event that President Aliev dies or resigns before 15 October, there would be no need to cancel the planned elections and schedule a new ballot.KYRGYZ AND UZBEK PRIME MINISTERS MEET ON BORDER ISSUES
By empty (8/18/2003 issue of the CACI Analyst)
Kyrgyz Prime Minister Nikolai Tanaev, at the head of a delegation of Kyrgyz government officials, met with his Uzbek counterpart Otkir Sultonov on 15 August in Tashkent to discuss the delimitation of the two countries\' common border. The Uzbek side said that the shooting of a Kyrgyz citizen by an Uzbek border guard in July is under investigation and the guilty parties will be punished. However, the Uzbeks insisted that the Kyrgyz side bore some responsibility for 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.