CENTRAL ASIAN COUNTRIES CLOSE RANKS WITH RUSSIA
By Gregory Gleason (6/30/2004 issue of the CACI Analyst)
BACKGROUND: Since the establishment of the CIS in 1991 the Eurasian countries have struggled to solve problems of regional cooperation while maintaining national sovereignty. The Soviet collapse severed long-standing ties in trade, transportation, energy, communication, and investment. The division of the physical infrastructure among the post-Soviet states took place relatively quickly.THE WITHDRAWAL OF RUSSIAN BORDER GUARDS IN TAJIKISTAN: IMPLICATIONS FOR DRUG TRAFFICKING AND ISLAMIC MILITANTS?
By Justine Walker (6/30/2004 issue of the CACI Analyst)
BACKGROUND: Tajikistan has long been a key transshipment state for Afghan drugs on-route to Russia and Europe. Its extensive continuous border with Afghanistan, destabilization from the civil war, and established ethnic and clan ties have combined to created an environment highly conducive to large-scale drug trafficking. Deadlock in bilateral talks earlier this year between Russia and Tajikistan resulted in the Russian government’s decision to remove the RFBS.SOUTH OSSETIA: ACTIVISM OF THE GEORGIAN GOVERNMENT TESTS INTERNATIONAL EFFORTS
By Jaba Devdariani (6/16/2004 issue of the CACI Analyst)
BACKGROUND: The conflict in South Ossetia, leading to the death of ca. 1,000 and the displacement of some 60,000 persons ended in a ceasefire in July 1992. A somewhat unorthodox ceasefire arrangement introduced a joint peacekeeping force (JPKF) composed of Georgian, South Ossetian and Russian elements.RUSSIA’S HAPPINESS IN MULTIPLE PIPELINES
By Pavel Baev (6/16/2004 issue of the CACI Analyst)
BACKGROUND: The start for this race was back in September 1994 when Azerbaijan signed a contract on the development three oil fields with a BP-led consortium of Western companies. With hindsight, the investors would probably agree that the term ‘the deal of the century’ was a bit of wishful thinking, but their immediate concern ten years back was transportation. The hugely expensive and geopolitically risky plan for a 1000-mile pipeline connecting Baku via Tbilisi to the Mediterranean port of Ceyhan (BTC) captured the imagination of politicians in Azerbaijan, Turkey and, crucially, the U.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.