PAKISTAN’S ECONOMIC REBOUND IS STRONGLY DEPENDENT ON INVESTMENT FLOWS
By Peter Laurens (10/6/2004 issue of the CACI Analyst)
BACKGROUND: At the time of General Pervez Musharraf’s coup in October 1999, Pakistan’s economy was reeling from the combined effects of a USD 39 billion foreign debt burden and the economic sanctions imposed as a reaction to the country’s nuclear tests in 1998. The country’s hard currency reserves were nearly nonexistent, barely enough to cover two weeks’ worth of imports. The government came close to default.NATO EXERCISES CANCELED IN AZERBAIJAN
By Emin Alisayidov (9/22/2004 issue of the CACI Analyst)
BACKGROUND: Azerbaijani authorities found themselves between the pressure from NATO to allow military personnel of Armenia, which still occupies significant parts of Azerbaijan’s territory, and the rapidly growing outrage in the Azerbaijani public. In fact, when last month a judge issued sentences ranging up to five years imprisonment for activists of the “Karabakh Liberation Organization” for breaking into the a hall where a NATO pre-exercise seminar was held with the participation of two Armenian officers, the verdict was roundly condemned by virtually all political groups in Azerbaijan. This was followed by a daily campaign conducted by independent and opposition media, printing first page ads and interrupting broadcasts to call for a ban on visits by Armenian officers.PARLIAMENTARY REFORM AND ELECTIONS IN UZBEKISTAN
By Aftab Kazi (9/22/2004 issue of the CACI Analyst)
BACKGROUND: Uzbekistan’s December 26 elections aim to institutionalize a major political development in the national democratic evolution. For the first time, the people of Uzbekistan will exercise their right to elect a bicameral House of Representatives with upper and lower houses of the Oliy Majlis (Parliament). Constitutional changes regarding the distribution of political power between the executive and legislative bodies and between the offices of President and Prime Minister are coupled with a nationwide public awareness campaign to educate the nation about the newly introduced structural reforms, the rights and duties of citizens as well as the role mass media plays in modernizing societies.MEDIA AND ELECTIONS IN CENTRAL ASIA
By Olivia Allison (9/22/2004 issue of the CACI Analyst)
BACKGROUND: Sarsanbaiuly’s resignation was the final step in a long line of strong statements against corruption and media bias toward pro-presidential parties in the run-up to Kazakhstan’s parliamentary elections. In particular, he criticized stations owned by President Nursultan Nazarbayev’s daughter Dariga, including Khabar and KTK, presenting monitoring results that show these stations’ extreme bias in favor of the pro-governmental parties Otan and Asar, while Channel 31 was found to be least biased by a Western-sponsored monitoring project during the campaign. Kyrgyzstan’s capital, Bishkek, lost its popular independent TV station Pyramida, when station management sold shares to a government affiliate late this summer.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.