Field Reports
NDI DELEGATION WORRIED ABOUT KYRGYZ ELECTIONS
By Anna Kirey, student of journalism, American University-Kyrgyzstan (10/25/2000 issue of the CACI Analyst)
For the Kyrgyzstani people, the upcoming Presidential elections are a subject of worry. So far the special linguistic commission that tests the presidential candidates’ command of the Kyrgyz language has already failed six candidates. Another worry is that Topchubek Turgunaliev, the well-known opposition figure, was sentenced to a 16-year imprisonment for "inspiring the crime" of assassination of Kyrgyz President Askar Akayev, an event that never occurred.
MERITOCRACY CHARADES IN TASHKENT
By C. Iskandar (10/25/2000 issue of the CACI Analyst)
In post-Soviet Uzbekistan, nepotism, cronyism and corruption are reaching endemic proportions. Not that the region is new to the concept. For centuries despotic Khans ruled the various desert oases.
EURASIAN ECONOMIC UNION SIGNED AND SECURITY DISCUSSED IN ASTANA
By Maria Utyaganova, student in the International Relations Department, American University-Kyrgyzstan (10/25/2000 issue of the CACI Analyst)
From October 10-12 the leaders of Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia and Tadjikistan met in Astana, Kazakhstan to negotiate and sign a document establishing the Eurasian Economic Union. This newly formed international organization is intended to solve the problems of external trade and customs policies by establishing common trade laws on goods and services. The new payment system and new single order of currency control and regulation is hoped to be more effective than its Customs Union predecessor which did not lead to the successful and effective economic integration of its members.
MACHINATIONS MAR UZBEKISTAN’S BANKING SYSTEM
By Farangis Said, Tashkent, Uzbekistan (11/8/2000 issue of the CACI Analyst)
The banking system of Uzbekistan experienced significant changes recently when Acting Chairman of the National Bank of Uzbekistan (NBU), Zaynutdin Mirkhodjaev, and his first deputy Georgi An were removed from office at their "own request" according to President Karimov’s decree. But soon Georgi An was charged with "financial machinations" and according to rumors is currently a fugitive from justice. The NBU is the country’s largest bank with USD $400 million and four billion Uzbekistan soms in capital.
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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.