By Abraham Cohen (12/17/2003 issue of the CACI Analyst)
BACKGROUND: Since the mid-1970s, countries in both Eastern and Western Europe as well as the Slavic republics of the former USSR (Russia, Ukraine and Belarus) have experienced a steady and accelerating decline in population, leading to aging and a shortage of workforce, especially in low paid and unqualified branches of the economy, as well as increasingly, problems with conscripts to military service. In Western Europe, this led to the migration to Europe of more than fifteen million immigrants, mainly from Turkey, francophone Arab countries and Eastern European countries. Still, the enlarged European Union of 25 members and 350 million people will be in need of millions of new workforce in coming decade in order to sustain the system of social welfare and pensions.By Fariz Ismailzade (12/17/2003 issue of the CACI Analyst)
BACKGROUND: Since the collapse of the Soviet Union, Russia and the United States have engaged in a mixture of geopolitical competition and cooperation in the Caucasus region. Considering the region as its own backyard, Russia looked with suspicion to American efforts to engage the newly independent countries of the Caucasus into western military, political and economic institutions. The U.By Olivia Allison (12/17/2003 issue of the CACI Analyst)
BACKGROUND: Media laws were passed in 1991 and 1999, and the latter law was amended in 2001. The Constitution and each media law theoretically guarantee freedom of speech and expression and prohibit censorship, but lawyers, human rights organizations and press freedom/media groups cite a worsening trend for freedom of speech since the 1991 law. Oversight bodies and registration procedures have increased, and prohibitions of the “abuse of freedom,” as well as other limitations on press freedom, remain in the law.By Denis Trifonov (12/17/2003 issue of the CACI Analyst)
BACKGROUND: At the bilateral level, Russian intelligence has utilised old KGB networks and common Soviet heritage to influence threat perceptions of local leaders. Soon after the end of the USSR, Russia’s Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR) and its domestic counterpart FSB (then FSK) signed data exchange and joint operations deals with all CIS states. Russian intelligence stations were opened throughout the region, most with a remit to conduct operations against third states.The Central Asia-Caucasus Analyst is a biweekly publication of the Central Asia-Caucasus Institute & Silk Road Studies Program, a Joint Transatlantic Research and Policy Center affiliated with the American Foreign Policy Council, Washington DC., and the Institute for Security and Development Policy, Stockholm. For 15 years, the Analyst has brought cutting edge analysis of the region geared toward a practitioner audience.
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