Wednesday, 06 October 2004
WHAT COMES AFTER BESLAN?
By Stephen Blank (10/6/2004 issue of the CACI Analyst)
BACKGROUND: Since September 11 Putin has frequently acknowledged the legitimacy of the foreign (not only American) military presence in the former Soviet Union. At the same time he and his government, most of which is more clearly against that presence as is the Russian elite, has insisted on a time limit to it as soon as hostilities in Afghanistan are over. Yet it is also clear that Russia’s security sector (police, intelligence, and military formations) cannot defend Russia or project power to the CIS effectively in order to defeat the scourge of terrorism or help those regimes do so.
Wednesday, 06 October 2004
COULD THE ‘DEAL OF THE CENTURY’ STILL LIVE UP TO ITS NAME?
By Pavel K. Baev (10/6/2004 issue of the CACI Analyst)
BACKGROUND: Ten years ago, on 20 September 1994, the newly-forged consortium of several international oil companies, called the Azerbaijan International Operating Company (AIOC), signed the agreement with the government of Azerbaijan on the development of three oilfields: Azeri, Chirag, and Guneshli. It was BP that had worked hardest and lobbied the smartest in preparation for this agreement, but it had to cut in Amoco, Pennzoil, and Unocal from the U.S.
Wednesday, 06 October 2004
KAZAKHSTAN HOLDS ELECTIONS FOR A NEW PARLIAMENT
By Robert M. Cutler (10/6/2004 issue of the CACI Analyst)
BACKGROUND: In 1994 Kazakhstan elected its First (post-Soviet) Parliament, on the basis of the country’s first post-Soviet constitution. It was dissolved very soon thereafter when, on the basis of accusation of electoral fraud by one anti-Nazarbaev candidate in a single electoral district, the Constitutional Court ruled the entire parliament to be illegal. President Nazarbaev then ruled by decree for over a year.
Wednesday, 06 October 2004
PAKISTAN’S ECONOMIC REBOUND IS STRONGLY DEPENDENT ON INVESTMENT FLOWS
By Peter Laurens (10/6/2004 issue of the CACI Analyst)
BACKGROUND: At the time of General Pervez Musharraf’s coup in October 1999, Pakistan’s economy was reeling from the combined effects of a USD 39 billion foreign debt burden and the economic sanctions imposed as a reaction to the country’s nuclear tests in 1998. The country’s hard currency reserves were nearly nonexistent, barely enough to cover two weeks’ worth of imports. The government came close to default.Visit also
