DESPITE GROWING SECURITY COOPERATION, RUSSIA IS LOSING GROUND IN TAJIKISTAN
By Alexander Sodiqov (11/26/2009 issue of the CACI Analyst)
Tajikistani President Emomali Rahmon’s state visit to Moscow in October resolved none of the major divisive issues marring the relations between Moscow and Dushanbe. The Tajik leader failed to convince President Medvedev to pay Tajikistan a rent for Russia’s military base in Tajikistan, and to participate in the Rogun power station project. Despite this, security considerations have pushed Dushanbe and Moscow to agree to step up military cooperation.
CHINA’S WATER POLICIES IN CENTRAL ASIA AND LEADERSHIP POTENTIAL
By Stephen Blank (11/26/2009 issue of the CACI Analyst)
Although they do not get a lot of attention abroad, water issues are truly vital in Central Asia. Since those states who have water do not have oil and gas and vice versa, a fundamental economic-political asymmetry exists between them. This has led to many continuing instances of disputes, rivalries, and clashes among them.
AZERBAIJAN’S DIVERSIFIED ENERGY SECURITY STRATEGY
By Gulmira Rzayeva (11/26/2009 issue of the CACI Analyst)
Due to its own energy resources and its indispensable geographic position between the oil and gas reserves of the Caspian Sea, Iran and Central Asia, Azerbaijan is successfully pursuing a diversified energy security strategy. It seeks to develop alternatives for delivering its gas to Russia and Iran along with an alternative route transporting gas to Europe through the Black Sea ports. By diversifying its own energy routes and markets, Azerbaijan is increasingly contributing to global energy security.
WHOSE CONDITIONALITY? THE FAILURE OF EU SANCTIONS ON UZBEKISTAN
By Andrea Schmitz (11/11/2009 issue of the CACI Analyst)
On October 27, the European Union at its General Affairs and External Relations Council Meeting in Luxembourg decided, as expected, not to renew the sanctions imposed on Uzbekistan in the aftermath of the Andijan uprising in 2005. Ultimately, the case has revealed a profound lack of strategic thinking on the side of the EU and recalls an important lesson for European diplomacy: that sanctions are an instrument for gaining compliance, and that the latter is a matter of leverage – for both sides involved.
BACKGROUND: In November 2005, the EU imposed sanctions on Uzbekistan in response to the Government´s reluctance to allow an independent investigation of the uprising in Andijan in May the same year, where reportedly hundreds of civilians were killed by security forces.
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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.