News Digest
AFGHANISTAN OMITTED FROM US AID BUDGET
By empty (2/13/2003 issue of the CACI Analyst)
The United States Congress has stepped in to find nearly $300m in humanitarian and reconstruction funds for Afghanistan after the Bush administration failed to request any money in its latest budget. One mantra from the Bush administration since it launched its military campaign in Afghanistan 16 months ago has been that the US will not walk away from the Afghan people. President Bush has even suggested a Marshall plan for the country, and the Afghan leader, Hamid Karzai, will visit Washington later this month.PRIME MINISTER BACKS RUBLE AS EES COMMON CURRENCY
By empty (2/19/2003 issue of the CACI Analyst)
Speaking at a session of the Eurasian Economic Commonwealth (EES) in Moscow on 19 February, Prime Minister Mikhail Kasyanov said he supports the idea of using the Russian ruble as the organization\'s common currency. The idea was proposed earlier at the session by Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbaev, who said, \"It is nonsense that businessmen in these countries make deals in foreign currencies and part of their profits goes God knows where.\" Kasyanov also proposed the creation of a Eurasian natural-gas consortium, which would create uniform trade and transit conditions for all members.PROFESSOR GETS EIGHT-YEAR SUSPENDED SENTENCE FOR ESPIONAGE
By empty (2/19/2003 issue of the CACI Analyst)
The Moscow Municipal Court on 18 February convicted Professor Anatolii Babkin of spying for the United States and handed down an eight-year suspended sentence, plus five years\' probation. The court also banned Babkin from conducting any research or working as a professor for three years, banned him from holding any administrative posts at his research center, and stripped him of his academic honors. Babkin\'s lawyers deny that he engaged in espionage and say he merely authorized the transfer of certain scientific papers to an American university under the terms of an approved contract.MOSCOW WELCOMES EXTENSION OF PEACEKEEPER\'S MANDATE IN ZONE OF GEORGIAN-ABKHAZ CONFLICT
By empty (2/19/2003 issue of the CACI Analyst)
Moscow welcomed Tbilisi\'s agreement to extend the mandate of the CIS Collective Forces for Maintaining Peace in the zone of the Georgian-Abkhazian conflict for another six months. As the Russian Foreign Ministry reported on Tuesday, Russia\'s Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov pointed out at the meeting with Georgian Foreign Minister Irakly Menagarishvili that the decision would have a positive effect on the situation in the region. The two ministers exchanged views on the conflict settlement.Visit also
Staff Publications
Silk Road Paper S. Frederick Starr, U.S. Policy in Central Asia through Central Asian Eyes, May 2023.
Analysis Svante E. Cornell, "Promise and Peril in the Caucasus," AFPC Insights, March 30, 2023.
Oped S. Frederick Starr, Putin's War In Ukraine and the Crimean War), 19fourtyfive, January 2, 2023
Oped S. Frederick Starr, Russia Needs Its Own Charles de Gaulle, Foreign Policy, July 21, 2022.
Silk Road Paper S. Frederick Starr, Rethinking Greater Central Asia: American and Western Stakes in the Region and How to Advance Them, June 2022
Oped Svante E. Cornell & Albert Barro, With referendum, Kazakh President pushes for reforms, Euractiv, June 3, 2022.
Oped Svante E. Cornell Russia's Southern Neighbors Take a Stand, The Hill, May 6, 2022.
Silk Road Paper Johan Engvall, Between Bandits and Bureaucrats: 30 Years of Parliamentary Development in Kyrgyzstan, January 2022.
Oped Svante E. Cornell, No, The War in Ukraine is not about NATO, The Hill, March 9, 2022.
Analysis Svante E. Cornell, Kazakhstan’s Crisis Calls for a Central Asia Policy Reboot, The National Interest, January 34, 2022.
Book S. Frederick Starr and Svante E. Cornell, Strong and Unique: Three Decades of U.S.-Kazakhstan Partnership, Central Asia-Caucasus Institute, December 2021.
Silk Road Paper Svante E. Cornell, S. Frederick Starr & Albert Barro, Political and Economic Reforms in Kazakhstan Under President Tokayev, November 2021.