By Jaba Devdariani and Blanka Hancilova (3/7/2007 issue of the CACI Analyst)

BACKGROUND: EU peacekeepers could be deployed to Georgia\'s breakaway republics of Abkhazia and South Ossetia, EU foreign policy Chief Javier Solana said after meeting with the Georgian president Mikhail Saakashvili in Brussels on February 28. He added that the EU is ready to participate in missions “as long as those missions have a clear objective …[that] can be achieved.” Behind this cryptic comment might lie an EU intention to seek to modify the peacekeeping format with Russia’s consent and participation.

By Diana Janse (3/7/2007 issue of the CACI Analyst)

BACKGROUND: The number of violent incidents related to \'anti-government activities\' in the last six months of 2006 was almost double that in the first six months. The Afghan National Army (ANA) and the Afghan National Police (ANP) were among the prime targets, along with foreign troops and representatives of the new Afghan administration. Since early 2005, in fact, the security situation in Afghanistan has been deteriorating steadily, a trend which accelerated in 2006.

By Rafis Abazov (2/21/2007 issue of the CACI Analyst)

BACKGROUND: The election of a new president is an important event for every country, but elections in secretive and closed societies, such as that of Turkmenistan, stir an especially big wave of speculation. Turkmenistan definitely is one of the most reclusive and isolated countries in the world, as almost all human rights and freedom of the press organizations put Turkmenistan on a par with North Korea. Saparmurat Niyazov Turkmenbashi was the only president in the former Soviet space who fiercely resisted any kind of reforms in the social, economic and political arenas.