CHINA’S MILITARY FOOTPRINT IN CENTRAL ASIA
By Stephen Blank (8/25/2004 issue of the CACI Analyst)
BACKGROUND: China’s increasing interest in Central Asia does not get a lot of analysis in the West. This is unfortunate because in terms of economic interest and military capability, China’s presence is steadily growing. In the last 12-18 months, it has finally begun to consummate energy deals with Kazakstan and Azerbaijan, and it has particularly asserted itself through the medium of the Shanghai Cooperative Organization or SCO.FOR MANY INVESTORS, KAZAKHSTAN’S CREDIT UPGRADES ARE A MIXED BLESSING
By Peter Laurens (8/25/2004 issue of the CACI Analyst)
BACKGROUND: Nowadays, the credit ratings agencies are less interested in telling a debtor’s economic story than in judging its ability to service its debt. On August 19th, Moody’s Investors Service changed its credit outlook on three major Kazakh banks to “positive”, and upgraded the foreign-currency debt rating of both the national oil transport company and another large bank. It based its decision on its belief that Kazakhstan’s government has the wealth as well as the will to support the country’s most important companies in case of distress.REGIONAL INTEGRATION, WTO ACCESSION AND THE IMPORTANCE OF TRADE FACILITATION IN CENTRAL ASIA
By Daniel Linotte (7/28/2004 issue of the CACI Analyst)
BACKGROUND: All five Central Asian States belong to various regional cooperation and integration schemes such as the CIS, Eurasian Economic Community, Central Asian Cooperation Organization, Common Economic Space, Economic Co-operation Organization, Shanghai Cooperation Organization, etc. In most cases, these schemes include ambitious trade liberalization components such as the creation of free trade areas with the elimination of tariff barriers among members or customs unions with the adoption of common external tariffs. At the same time, Central Asian states are making their new international borders more effective with the strengthening of customs controls, and raising numerous technical and administrative obstacles to trade in goods and services, the movement of people and transit.UZBEKISTAN ENGAGES IN A MORE NUANCED WAR AGAINST ISLAMIST TERROR
By Christopher Boucek (7/28/2004 issue of the CACI Analyst)
BACKGROUND: On July 15th it was announced that the United States would impose a punitive blockage of American financial assistance in response to Uzbekistan’s poor human rights record. Approximately $18 million are slated to be withheld from an annual aid package that by some estimates exceeds $500 million per year. The $18 million in military and economic assistance would exclude monies directed towards the Nunn-Lugar Cooperative Threat Reduction Program, as well as American funding for pro-democracy groups and health care programs.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.