News Digest
KEY AFGHAN BORDER CROSSING SHUT
By empty (12/2/2005 issue of the CACI Analyst)
A key border crossing between Pakistan and Afghanistan has been closed after a confrontation between soldiers from both countries. Efforts are now on to reopen the border crossing linking the Pakistani town of Chaman with Spin Boldak in Afghanistan. Both sides have accused each other of beating up their soldiers and the atmosphere remains tense, reports say.AZERBAIJANI AUTHORITIES CALL ON OPPOSITION TO MOVE DEMONSTRATION OUTSIDE OF CAPITAL
By empty (12/1/2005 issue of the CACI Analyst)
The Baku mayor\'s office issued a statement on 1 December calling on the opposition to move their planned 3 December demonstration from the center of the city to a sports facility outside of the capital. The mayor\'s office explained that such a move is necessary to ensure public order, citing the 1 December statement by Baku police chief Maharram Aliyev in which he charged that participants in the 26 November opposition demonstration committed \"illegal acts, disrupted public order and called for violence and civic disobedience.\"(Turan) .GEORGIAN PRESIDENT RULES OUT WITHDRAWAL FROM CIS
By empty (12/1/2005 issue of the CACI Analyst)
Speaking during a visit to Ukraine, Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili said on 1 December that he ruled out any suggestion of a Georgian withdrawal from the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS). He explained that although he was closely following a recent discussion of the subject in the Georgian parliament, he added that \"personally, I am against Georgia\'s withdrawal from the Commonwealth.\" But Saakashvili did stress that \"the CIS should be reformed and, instead of adopting declarations that are forgotten in a couple of days, it should work out concrete and real matters,\" and added that \"CIS countries should have freedom of action.KAZAKH OPPOSITION CANDIDATE WARNS OF \'DICTATORSHIP\'
By empty (12/1/2005 issue of the CACI Analyst)
Zharmakhan Tuyakbai, the presidential candidate of the opposition bloc For a Just Kazakhstan, told AFP in a 1 December interview that a victory for incumbent President Nursultan Nazarbaev in the country\'s 4 December presidential election will push Kazakhstan toward dictatorship. Warning that \"the political authorities in our country are going more and more toward authoritarianism and dictatorship,\" Tuyakbai said that if Nazarbaev is not stopped on 4 December, \"In seven years\' time we will be one of the worst countries in the world, like North Korea or Turkmenistan.\" The opposition candidate said that he felt he could force a run-off with Nazarbaev in an honest election, but expressed scant faith that the ballot will be fair.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.