India's ONGC Plans To Bring Russian Hydrocarbons To South Asia
by Gulshan Sachdeva (05/15/2013 issue of the CACI Analyst)
After years of discussions on TAPI and IPI, the Indian public sector giant ONGC now plans to bring Russian hydrocarbons to India via Central Asia, Afghanistan and Pakistan. If taken seriously by all concerned parties, the project has the potential to fundamentally change the energy security scenario of India as well as Pakistan, offer vast new markets for Russian hydrocarbons and provide an economic cushion for Afghanistan in its decade of transformation.
Facing Growing Iranian Threats, Azerbaijan Deepens Ties To Israel
by Robert M. Cutler (05/15/2013 issue of the CACI Analyst)
Iranian legislators in Teheran have drafted a bill calling for revision of the 1828 Treaty of Turkmanchay, which divided the multiple Azerbaijani khanates between the Russian and Persian Empires. While this cannot be taken wholly seriously, it is a symbol of the deterioration of bilateral relations. It comes against a background of worsening rhetoric between Teheran and Baku, which have in the past extended into subversive actions by Iran on the territory of Azerbaijan. It is thus in the line of longstanding Iranian threats against Azerbaijani sovereignty and the government of President Ilham Aliyev.
Russia Unlikely To Change Policies in North Caucasus After Boston Bombing
by Valery Dzutsev (05/15/2013 issue of the CACI Analyst)
The security situation in the North Caucasus has deteriorated progressively since Moscow expelled foreign organizations from the region. Following the recent Boston Marathon bombing and its purported connection to the North Caucasus, the region and its precarious situation has attained increased international interest. Yet, while several arguments can be made for why an increased international presence in the region would benefit all sides, the Russian government will likely opt for keeping the region isolated from the world while justifying its ongoing military campaign in the North Caucasus as a contribution to global counterterrorism.
China Deepens Energy Cooperation In Central Asia
by Robert M. Cutler (05/01/2013 issue of the CACI Analyst)
Days after the conclusion of the late-March summit in Moscow between Russia’s President Vladimir Putin and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping, Kazakhstan’s President Nursultan Nazarbaev met with Xi during a visit to China to attend the multilateral Boao Forum of Asia (BFA), which styles itself the Asian Davos. The two leaders established a new bilateral business council, signed numerous agreements for economic cooperation including infrastructure construction, and deepened still further Chinese participation in the development and bringing-to-market (and especially bringing-to-China) of Kazakhstan's impressive raw materials resources, most of all energy.
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.