News Digest
GEORGIA CONSIDERS WAYS TO CLOSE RAILROAD FROM RUSSIA TO ABKHAZIA
By empty (2/10/2003 issue of the CACI Analyst)
A meeting of the National Security Council of Georgia, devoted to the situation in breakaway Abkhazia and around it, will be held in Tbilisi on January 22. A Georgian government spokesman told RBC that real ways to stop the railway service between Abkhazia and Russia and the process of systematic granting of Russian citizenship to residents of Abkhazia would be discussed at the meeting. The possibility of closing Georgian airspace for Russian military aircraft carrying out flights to Russian military bases in Georgia and Armenia will be considered among other possible measures.ARMENIA OPENS PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION CAMPAIGN
By empty (2/10/2003 issue of the CACI Analyst)
Armenia kicked off its presidential election campaign on Tuesday with a lottery to determine the order in which candidates would receive television and radio time. Eleven candidates, including incumbent Robert Kocharian, will be on the Feb. 19 ballot.UZBEKISTAN CONVICTS EIGHT MILITANTS CAPTURED IN AFGHANISTAN AND PAKISTAN
By empty (2/10/2003 issue of the CACI Analyst)
Eight Uzbek nationals who were captured in Afghanistan and Pakistan during anti-terrorism operations last year have been sentenced to various prison terms in Uzbekistan, security officials said Thursday. The eight men were tried in September and October on charges of terrorism, religious extremism and anti-constitutional activity and given prison terms ranging from 15 to 18 years, said security service spokesman Alimjon Turdakulov. The convictions were not previously reported in this Central Asian nation, where the media are tightly controlled and any form of dissent is harshly persecuted.POOR SECURITY \'HAMPERING AFGHAN AID\'
By empty (2/10/2003 issue of the CACI Analyst)
A British parliamentary report on international aid to Afghanistan says the lack of security there is hampering distribution of aid as well as efforts to rebuild the country. The report accuses the international community of lacking the will to create a more secure environment. It says it was an error not to extend the international peace-keeping force outside the capital, Kabul.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.