By empty (10/11/2002 issue of the CACI Analyst)

Eighty parliamentary deputies from five opposition factions (the National Movement, the New Rightists, the United Democrats, the Union of Traditionalists, and the New Abkhazia-Christian Democrats) walked out of the legislature on 11 October to signify their rejection of the socioeconomic development program unveiled by President Eduard Shevardnadze in his annual address to the nation. Former parliamentary speaker Zurab Zhvania said Shevardnadze "sidestepped" all the most pressing problems facing Georgia. In his two-hour address, Shevardnadze advocated strategic partnership with both the United States and Russia, resolving the Abkhaz and South Ossetian conflicts on the basis of a federal model, reintroducing the post of prime minister and reducing the number of ministries, and creating a bicameral parliament.

By empty (10/14/2002 issue of the CACI Analyst)

Blair, who on Thursday arrived with his wife Cherie at the Russian president's hunting lodge outside Moscow, had hoped to gain Moscow's support for a tough U.S.-drafted proposal on Iraq.

By empty (10/11/2002 issue of the CACI Analyst)

A European Commission (EC) expert told journalists in Almaty on 11 October that the EC will provide 2 million euros ($1.96 million) over the next two years toward the cost of improving control over the storage of nuclear waste at the Ulba Metallurgical Plant in East Kazakhstan Oblast. The plant produces beryllium and dry fuel for nuclear reactors, and is the largest single producer of nuclear fuel in the entire CIS.