Field Reports
OSH MAYOR WANTS OWN MUNICIPAL POLICE
By Joldosh Osmonov (11/16/2011 issue of the CACI Analyst)
The Mayor of Osh City has expressed the intention to create his own municipal police, including a special task force. While some consider the initiative an attempt to strengthen his position in a long-lasting confrontation with the central government, others contend that it is a game of politics in light of the upcoming local elections.
The Mayor’s Office of Osh, the country’s second largest city, plans to create a municipal police, independent from the Ministry of Interior and accountable to the city authorities.
RISK OF SOCIAL UNREST IN UZBEKISTAN DUE TO GAS SHORTAGES
By Erkin Akhmadov (11/16/2011 issue of the CACI Analyst)
In the first days of November, residents of several cities and villages in Uzbekistan started experiencing serious gas shortages. Meanwhile, representatives of the local authorities have not provided any comprehensive explanations to the anxious population, other than warning that the winter will be cold and advising to store alternative fuels to keep their houses warm and businesses running. Experts state that Uzbekistan’s large natural gas export is one of the main reasons for the increasing domestic gas supply crisis, as this provides significant income to the state budget but does not consider the needs of the local population.
PRESIDENT NAZARBAYEV DISSOLVES PARLIAMENT’S LOWER CHAMBER
By Georgiy Voloshin (11/16/2011 issue of the CACI Analyst)
On November 16, Kazakhstan’s President Nursultan Nazarbayev signed a decree dissolving the lower chamber of the country’s Parliament, thus responding to the request of a group of 53 Majilis deputies submitted a week earlier. As the representatives of this initiative group explained during a press conference, such a move had become inevitable in order to adjust to current international circumstances, with the second wave of the economic crisis threatening to bring down Kazakhstan’s financial system and cause irreparable damage to its economic prospects. The deputies believe that the dissolution of the Majilis will enable the entry into Parliament of a second party whose role would be to reinvigorate political debate and present original solutions that the presidential party might have previously missed or ignored.
AFTER RELEASE, TAJIK JOURNALISTS SEEK EXONERATION
By Alexander Sodiqov (11/2/2011 issue of the CACI Analyst)
Two Tajik journalists who were recently convicted in separate trials on charges related to their professional activities have appealed their verdicts. On October 14, reporters Urunboy Usmonov and Mahmadyusuf Ismoilov were handed guilty verdicts by Tajik courts in the northern town of Khujand, but were freed following the verdicts. Despite their release, the two journalists have refused to accept the verdicts and vowed to push for full exoneration in higher courts.
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Joint Center Publications
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.