By Marat Yermukanov, Kazakhstan (9/26/2001 issue of the CACI Analyst)

A huge crowd of believers, representatives of diplomatic Corps and government officials headed by the president of the country, Nursultan Nazarbayev, gathered Saturday evening at the international airport of the Kazakh capital Astana to welcome Pope John Paul II. The event had been publicized in national media for many weeks before the visit started.

The 81 year-old Pope looked rather tired after the long flight when he, after the welcoming words of the president Nazarbayev, made his lengthy speech in Russian with a faltering voice.

By Aziz Soltobaev, student of the American University in Kyrgyzstan (9/26/2001 issue of the CACI Analyst)

The Collective Forces of Quick Deployment (CFQD) of the Collective Security Treaty have been carrying out joint military exercises. The main goal of these exercises is the improve the CFQD to combat international extremist groups. It is assumed that the collective troops will become the force that will enable the member-states of the Collective Security Treaty to repulse the attacks of Islamic extremists on Central Asian territory, and possibly, the Afghan Taliban movement.

By Maria Utyaganova, student, International Relations Department, American University in Kyrgyzstan, Bi (10/24/2001 issue of the CACI Analyst)

In Soviet times, not much information on damage to the environment caused by industrial growth and nuclear testing was available for public information. Such information was classified and banned from public view. Unawareness of the dreadful effects on the environment contributed to the idea of people being the masters of the nature who must extract and transform its “unlimited resources” for their own benefit.