By Stephen Blank (8/23/2006 issue of the CACI Analyst)
BACKGROUND: Since the Andijan crackdown of May 13, 2005 U.S. relations with Uzbekistan have declined to the point of frigidity.By Richard Morningstar (8/23/2006 issue of the CACI Analyst)
BACKGROUND: One need only look at a map of the greater Caspian region, which stretches from Turkey to Kazakhstan, to realize its huge geopolitical and economic importance. The United States’ strong interest in the Caspian dates to the break-up of the Soviet Union. Virtually overnight, eight new independent states came into existence in an area rich with natural resources.By Erica Marat (7/26/2006 issue of the CACI Analyst)
BACKGROUND: Since 1991, every Central Asian leader managed to win presidential elections with at least 75% of popular support. The higher, the better, - with 99.9% being the record for the Turkmen president Saparmurat Niyazov in 1992.By Kevin Daniel Leahy (7/26/2006 issue of the CACI Analyst)
BACKGROUND: During his time as president, Boris Yeltsin pursued a distinctly asymmetrical policy toward Russia’s regions. This often entailed making compromises with certain regional leaders which might have seemed quite gratuitous when it came to dealing with other, less entrenched local elites. His successor, Vladimir Putin, has proven far less flexible in this regard, and clearly disapproves of the loose tactical bargaining which characterised Yeltsin’s tenure.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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