RUSSIA REACTIVATES ITS CASPIAN POLICY WITH NEW DEMARCATION APPROACH
By Dr. Robert M. Cutler (6/21/2000 issue of the CACI Analyst)
BACKGROUND: Before 1992, the Caspian Sea was regulated by treaties that were signed by Persia and the RSFSR in 1921, and between Iran and the USSR in 1935 and 1940, that latter defined the Caspian as a "Soviet and Iranian sea." None of these treaties established any maritime boundary or referred to any division of rights to exploit resources in the continental shelf. In the early 1990s, Russia proposed that the Caspian be considered an "inland lake" under the Law of the Sea Treaty.
GULBUDDIN HEKMATYAR: A MAGNET OF DISCONTENT IN AFGHANISTAN?
By Awamdost Pakhtunkhel (3/12/2003 issue of the CACI Analyst)
BACKGROUND: The U.S. Government has recently proclaimed Gulbuddin Hekmatyar an international terrorist.RUSSIA, TURKEY AND IRAN: AN ETERNAL TRIANGLE
By Dr. Robert M. Cutler (7/5/2000 issue of the CACI Analyst)
BACKGROUND: There is a tendency to focus on patterns of bilateral relations in Central Asia, but dyads have dynamics different from triads, even if the triads are considered as three overlapping dyads. The eternal triangle of Russia, Iran, and Turkey is evolving in tandem, and in relation, with the various multilateral formations in the Central Asian region, although only three of the multilateral formations within Central Asia are of any significance and only one of them has a formal organizational body.
The one formal organization is the Central Asian Economic Union which includes Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.
CENTRAL ASIA TURNS TOWARD IRAN AT RUSSIA’S EXPENSE
By Christopher Boucek (7/5/2000 issue of the CACI Analyst)
BACKGROUND: As the Central Asian states slowly find their way in a post-Soviet world, the republics are cautious to avoid returning to a system dictated by Moscow. As they strive towards a policy of independence, the Islamic Republic of Iran is a natural geopolitical counterbalance to any perceptions of Russian chauvinism vis-à-vis Central Asia. Iran has taken strong positions on separatism and extremism, both comforting to the Central Asian republics.
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Staff Publications
Silk Road Paper S. Frederick Starr, Greater Central Asia as A Component of U.S. Global Strategy, October 2024.
Analysis Laura Linderman, "Rising Stakes in Tbilisi as Elections Approach," Civil Georgia, September 7, 2024.
Analysis Mamuka Tsereteli, "U.S. Black Sea Strategy: The Georgian Connection", CEPA, February 9, 2024.
Silk Road Paper Svante E. Cornell, ed., Türkiye's Return to Central Asia and the Caucasus, July 2024.
Book Svante E. Cornell, ed., "The Changing Geopolitics of Central Asia and the Caucasus" AFPC Press/Armin LEar, 2023.
Silk Road Paper Svante E. Cornell and S. Frederick Starr, Stepping up to the “Agency Challenge”: Central Asian Diplomacy in a Time of Troubles, July 2023.
Silk Road Paper S. Frederick Starr, U.S. Policy in Central Asia through Central Asian Eyes, May 2023.