The revolt of a Georgian National Guard detachment in Mukhrovani was a result the social problems in
By Mikha Gegeshidze (5/23/2001 issue of the CACI Analyst)
Sixty troopers of Kojori rapid response battalion of the Ministry of Defense responded by blocking the road to Tbilisi, showing the government’s fear that the detachment would march on the capital. According to eyewitness reports, however, the Mukhrovani base was never surrounded by the armed forces, contrary to later claims by the leader of the CUG fraction, Revaz Adamia. Apparently, the government never even considered the use of military force.THE ‘ANDEAN SYNDROME’? REGIONAL IMPLICATIONS OF THE TALIBAN OPIUM ERADICATION
By Svante Cornell and Marcela Londoño (6/6/2001 issue of the CACI Analyst)
BACKGROUND: It is well-known that the trade in illegal drugs, with the high risks it entails, is driven by the huge profit margins at all levels of the commerce. A farmer growing coca or opium earns up to five times as much as if he was growing wheat or rice; yet this pales compared to the profits made by the middlemen that refine the drugs and carry them from producers through international borders to customers. Added to this is the addictive qualities of narcotics, especially heroin and cocaine, which makes the demand for these drugs close to inelastic: no matter the price, the user needs to have them, and will go to great lengths to get them.
THE IRRESISTABLE FORCE & THE IMMOVABLE OBJECT: RUSSIA, TURKEY, OIL & THE STRAITS
By John C.K. Daly (6/20/2001 issue of the CACI Analyst)
BACKGROUND: It is the explicit goal of the Russian government to retain as much control and profit as possible from the production and transit of Caspian oil. Energy has become the fiscal engine that drives the Russia government. Moscow intends to have Caspian oil transported in Russian bottoms.
EURASIAN ECONOMIC COMMUNITY (EEC) COMES INTO BEING
By Roza Zhalimbetova and Gregory Gleason (6/20/2001 issue of the CACI Analyst)
BACKROUND: The original goal of creating the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) in late 1991 was to ensure the sovereignty of the individual republics. It is clear that the signatories of the CIS charter believed this goal could be accomplished without sacrificing what was referred to at the time as a 'unified economic space'. Soon after the dissolution of the USSR, however, events freed politicians of these illusions.
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Analysis Niklas Swanström and Leah Oppenheimer, "Invisible Ink: Looking for the Lost Trade between China, Russia, and Central Asia", ISDP Policy Brief, 13 March 2013. 
New Silk Road Paper S. Frederick Starr with Adib Farhadi, Finish the Job: Jump-Start the Afghan Economy, December 2012.
Conference Report Cheryl Benard, Eli Sugarman, and Holly Rehm, Cultural Heritage vs. Mining on the New Silk Road? Finding Technical Solutions for Mes Aynak and Beyond (in cooperation with the Alliance for the Restoration of Cultural Heritage) December 2012.
Article Svante E. Cornell, "The 'Afghanization of the North Caucasus: Causes and Implications of a Changing Conflict", in Stephen Blank, ed., Russia's Homegrown Insurgency: Jihad in the North Caucasus, Carlisle, PA: U.S. Army War College Strategic Studies Institute, 2012.