Wednesday, 02 November 2005
KAZAKHSTAN LAYS LEGAL BASIS FOR DEEPER COOPERATION WITH NATO
By Roger N McDermott (11/2/2005 issue of the CACI Analyst)
BACKGROUND: On October 5, Ambassador Robert Simmons, Special Representative of the NATO Secretary-General for the Caucasus and Central Asia, held forthright talks with Army General Mukhtar Altynbayev, Kazakhstan’s Defence Minister, exploring options on how best to deepen the level of Kazakhstan’s existing PfP cooperation, aimed at promoting regional security and modernising the Kazakhstani armed forces. The Kazakhstani MoD plans to create a regional center based on its Peacekeeping Battalion (KAZBAT) to train bomb disposal experts for possible future service in international peace support operations. Simmons mooted the idea of utilizing the PfP Planning and Review Process (PARP) project to include setting up a team by 2007 to react to disasters, including those that resulted from the use of weapons of mass destruction or major terrorist incidents.
Wednesday, 02 November 2005
GEORGIA’S SCAPEGOAT: THE OSCE IN SOUTH OSSETIA
By Markus Bernath (11/2/2005 issue of the CACI Analyst)
BACKGROUND: Georgia’s French-born former Foreign minister Salome Zourabishvili, who was forced out recently, put it bluntly: “We cannot believe that this is the organization that can solve our problems”, she said after a series of incidents on South Ossetia’s “independence day” on September 20, referring to her year-long history of growing frustration with the OSCE. Zourabishvili several times traveled to the OSCE Permanent Council in order to plead for an increase in military observers in South Ossetia, and for the prolongation of the OSCE border observation mission on Georgia’s border with Chechnya, Ingushetia and Daghestan. But Russia only conceded to some three more observers and blocked the mission.
Wednesday, 02 November 2005
PRESIDENT ALIYEV’S SHAKEUP: A CHANGING PORTRAIT
By Alman Mir Ismail (11/2/2005 issue of the CACI Analyst)
BACKGROUND: When President Ilham Aliyev was elected to the presidency in October 2003, many expected sweeping political and economic reforms and significant cadre changes. After all, President Aliyev was young and had extensive experience working with Western companies as well as democracy building organizations, such as the Council of Europe and OSCE. Yet the slow pace of cadre changes made many both inside and outside Azerbaijan believe that Ilham Aliyev lacked the charisma, power and determination to deal with the “old guard”, implying members of the administration that had served under his father and since then grew into corrupt, powerful and well-networked power centers in the country.
Wednesday, 02 November 2005
KYRGYZSTAN’S REVOLUTION: WHAT WENT WRONG?
By Rafis Abazov (11/2/2005 issue of the CACI Analyst)
BACKGROUND: It is not the first time that Kyrgyzstan experiences a period of serious political turmoil. Back in 1990-1991, the country was on a brink of political collapse and uncertainty. There were even fears that the inter-ethnic and political conflicts that started in the southern Osh region in the Summer of 1990 would escalate into civil war.Visit also
