RUSSIA’S STRONG-ARM POLICIES PROMPT REACTION IN SOUTH CAUCASUS AND SWAY BRUSSELS OPINION
By Jaba Devdariani and Blanka Hancilova (12/13/2006 issue of the CACI Analyst)
BACKGROUND: On December 6, the lower house of the Russian parliament approved in a first reading the draft law that would legalize economic sanctions against politically unfriendly countries. The sanctions have already been in force against Moldova, to block wine imports and, more heavily against Georgia – including the cutoff of the transport and postal links. The Kremlin-dominated gas giant, Gazprom, has also announced plans to almost double the gas price for Georgia and Azerbaijan, while keeping considerably lower rates for Armenia in exchange for a sell-off of its gas transit network to Gazprom.THE ANTI-REVOLUTIONARY TOOLKIT
By Regine A. Spector (12/13/2006 issue of the CACI Analyst)
BACKGROUND: Over the past six years, leaders of youth movements and NGOs in post-communist countries – including Serbia, Georgia, and Ukraine – have organized massive street protests that have toppled the ruling regimes, normally after flawed elections. Their tactics have been peaceful and creative, including tent encampments, hi-tech communication networks, the use of humor and street art in revolutionary propaganda, and strong identification with meaningful colors or symbols. In 2005, some of these techniques were copied by the leaders of Lebanon’s Cedar Revolution.THE CENTRAL ASIAN NUCLEAR-WEAPON-FREE ZONE AFTER KOREA
By Richard Weitz (11/29/2006 issue of the CACI Analyst)
BACKGROUND:The attention given North Korea’s detonation of a nuclear weapon on October 9 has overshadowed the signing of the long-sought CANWFZ the previous month. On September 8, 2006, the foreign ministers of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan signed the CANWFZ at Semipalatinsk in eastern Kazakhstan. The signatories timed the ceremony to coincide with the fifteenth anniversary of the closure of the nuclear testing ground there.THE BOOMERANG EFFECT OF ANS TV’S CLOSURE
By Alman Mir Ismail (11/29/2006 issue of the CACI Analyst)
BACKGROUND:On November 24, Azerbaijan’s National Council on TV and Radio Broadcasting issued a decision to stop the licensing of ANS TV, the first, most professional and most respected independent TV channel in the country. The move came following year-long pressures on the media outlet both by the Council and the tax authorities. The head of the National Council, Nushiravan Maharramli, informed journalists that ANS TV has been issued nine warnings in the past for violating rules of broadcasting.Visit also
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.