DEALING WITH WARLORDS
By R. Grant Smith (1/30/2002 issue of the CACI Analyst)
BACKGROUND: The term "warlord" recalls China in the 1920's and 1930's. More recent examples come from Africa, from the Balkans and, in the immediate region of Afghanistan, from Tajikistan. A less pejorative term might be "regional strongman," implicitly in a situation where central power is weak.
HAS IRAN EMBARKED ON A STRATEGIC TURN?
By Stephen Blank (2/27/2002 issue of the CACI Analyst)
BACKGROUND: Iran ostensibly supports the war against terrorism. Yet President Bush calls it a member of the axis of evil, i.e.
PUTIN AIMS TO LOCK UP CASPIAN GAS WITH OR WITHOUT NIYAZOV
By Michael Denison (2/27/2002 issue of the CACI Analyst)
BACKGROUND: Presidents Niyazov of Turkmenistan and Aliyev of Azerbaijan paid separate visits to Moscow in the last week of January. High on their respective agendas were designs to develop the Caspian region’s energy sector and to unblock the impasse over who owns what part of the Caspian Sea itself. After a meeting with Niyazov, President Putin called for the establishment of a “Eurasian Gas Alliance” to co-ordinate more effectively the volume, transport and consumption of the region’s natural gas output.
RUSSIAN-IRANIAN RELATIONS AND AMERICAN MILITARY PRESENCE IN CENTRAL ASIA
By Hooman Peimani (2/27/2002 issue of the CACI Analyst)
BACKGROUND: For various reasons, Iranian-Russian relations have been growing over the last decade. Besides economic interests, the common interest of the Iranians and the Russians in security and stability in Central Asia and the Caucasus and their concern about the destabilizing effects of instability in Afghanistan on the two regions and on their own countries have been major factors in cementing their relations. Being their former historical rulers, Iran and Russia share long borders with the two regions, making them concerned about stability in these volatile areas.
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Staff Publications
Silk Road Paper S. Frederick Starr, Greater Central Asia as A Component of U.S. Global Strategy, October 2024.
Analysis Laura Linderman, "Rising Stakes in Tbilisi as Elections Approach," Civil Georgia, September 7, 2024.
Analysis Mamuka Tsereteli, "U.S. Black Sea Strategy: The Georgian Connection", CEPA, February 9, 2024.
Silk Road Paper Svante E. Cornell, ed., Türkiye's Return to Central Asia and the Caucasus, July 2024.
Book Svante E. Cornell, ed., "The Changing Geopolitics of Central Asia and the Caucasus" AFPC Press/Armin LEar, 2023.
Silk Road Paper Svante E. Cornell and S. Frederick Starr, Stepping up to the “Agency Challenge”: Central Asian Diplomacy in a Time of Troubles, July 2023.
Silk Road Paper S. Frederick Starr, U.S. Policy in Central Asia through Central Asian Eyes, May 2023.