News Digest
AZERBAIJANI VILLAGERS DEMAND MEETING WITH PRESIDENT
By empty (2/4/2006 issue of the CACI Analyst)
Several hundred residents of the village of Nardaran on the outskirts of Baku gathered on 3 February to protest the conduct of the official investigation into the 24 January standoff between police and villagers in which two police officers and one villager were killed. The villagers demanded a meeting with Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev, asking why he does not consider it necessary to visit Nardaran when his father and predecessor Heidar Aliyev traveled to Nakhichevan to meet there with the population of Nehram to discuss the social problems they faced. (zerkalo.AFGHANISTAN BATTLE LEAVES 25 DEAD
By empty (2/4/2006 issue of the CACI Analyst)
A district governor is among 25 people killed after a fierce battle between Afghan troops and Taleban fighters in Afghanistan, officials say. Abdul Qoudoas, the district chief of Musa Qala, was killed by Taleban fighters fleeing after a 12-hour battle in the neighbouring Sangeen district. Helmand\'s deputy governor told the BBC that at one point, he and 100 soldiers were surrounded by 200 Taleban.RELATIONS WITH RUSSIA TENSE BECAUSE OF GEORGIA\'S NATO BID - SAAKASHVILI
By empty (2/3/2006 issue of the CACI Analyst)
Georgia\'s NATO ambitions have put a strain on relations with Russia, Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili said at a Berlin forum sponsored by the German Society of International Politics. \"Georgian-Russian relations have soured after Georgia openly announced its aspirations for NATO membership,\" he said. \"We told the Russians openly that we want to join NATO.REPORTS CITE ANXIETY OVER TURKMEN PENSION REDUCTIONS
By empty (2/3/2006 issue of the CACI Analyst)
Recent reductions in pensions and other social benefits in Turkmenistan have caused widespread anxiety among retirees and other beneficiaries of social programs. Deutsche Welle reported that the social-security minister spoke on national television on 30 January, explaining that 100,000 retirees will no longer receive pensions while the pensions of 200,000 others have been reduced. \"Vremya novostei\" reported that the reductions began in January, although the government provided incomplete information and many pensioners only learned of the changes once they tried to pick up discontinued payments.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.