SULTAN NAZARBAYEV?: CENTRAL ASIA'S LATEST PRESIDENT-FOR-LIFE
By Bea Hogan (7/5/2000 issue of the CACI Analyst)
BACKGROUND: Since he came to power during the Soviet era, Nursultan Nazarbayev has distinguished himself by his political skill. Early on he learned to balance the interests of various ethnic groups in the country, diffuse radical nationalist strains, cajole Western policymakers, and attract foreign investment. Mikhail Gorbachev appointed him First Secretary of the Kazakh SSR in 1989 and shortly thereafter, the Soviet parliament changed his title to president.
AIDS EPIDEMIC AMONG XINJIANG’S UYGHURS
By Alim A. Seytoff (7/5/2000 issue of the CACI Analyst)
BACKROUND: Heroin and AIDS were first only seen in Xinjiang, China in Western films beginning a decade ago. Marijuana and hashish have been common to the region for centuries. But drugs such as heroin and cocaine were introduced to Xinjiang only in the early 1990s from Southeast Asia’s Golden Triangle, which is thousands of miles away.
THE ARMY IN TAJIKISTAN: TEN YEARS OF INDEPENDENCE
By Roger N. McDermott (3/12/2003 issue of the CACI Analyst)
BACKGROUND: Whilst most of the early militaries in Central Asia were developed on the basis of the units in the Soviet Turkestan Military District, in Tajikistan the experience of military construction was unique, relying upon volunteer groups. The Tajik armed forces inherited little from Soviet army, military schools and training centers were entirely lacking. This greatly inhibited the speed at which suitable forces could be constructed.INTERNET LATEST BATTLEGROUND FOR CENTRAL ASIAN REPRESSION
By Bea Hogan (7/19/2000 issue of the CACI Analyst)
BACKGROUND: In its short history on-line, the five Central Asian states have earned the dubious distinction of comprising one quarter of the world’s "enemies of the Internet," according to the Paris-based watchdog group Reporters Sans Frontiers. Throughout Central Asia, Telecommunications are tightly controlled. In Tajikistan, the state-run Telecom Technologies provides the country’s only Internet access and restricts web-access to Dushanbe, the capital.
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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.