RARE EARTHS INVESTMENT RACE CONFRONTS RISKY CENTRAL ASIAN MARKETS
By Myles G. Smith (8/22/2012 issue of the CACI Analyst)
Since China imposed export restrictions on Rare Earth Elements (REEs) in 2010, investors have flooded the sector in search of an alternative supplier of these elements, which are critical in high-tech manufacturing. Kyrgyzstan, home of the Soviet Union’s primary REEs industrial complex and one of the world’s few previously-proven asset sets outside China, appeared set to capitalize. Kazakhstan, already a global mining hub, signed investment deals with German and Japanese interests early in 2012.
KAZAKH JIHADISTS INTENSIFY INTERNET PROPAGANDA
By Jacob Zenn (8/22/2012 issue of the CACI Analyst)
Jund al-Khilafah (JaK) claimed responsibility for three terrorist attacks carried out by separate cells in Atyrau, Taraz and Almaty between October and December 2011. JaK caught Kazakhstani and foreign governments by surprise since the attacks, which targeted and killed state officials, were unprecedented in the country.
CSTO ABSORBS AN UZBEK TREMOR
By Roger N. McDermott (8/8/2012 issue of the CACI Analyst)
Tashkent’s decision to suspend its membership of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) on June 20 prompted speculation about Uzbekistan’s apparently sudden policy reversal. Some observers restricted themselves to dismissing Tashkent as a troublesome and disagreeable partner both for Russia and the country’s Central Asian neighbors, while others advanced the argument that President Islam Karimov is preparing to host a new U.S.
IS THE SCO COMING TO LIFE?
By Richard Weitz (8/8/2012 issue of the CACI Analyst)
For the first time in many years the SCO held a summit that actually mattered. The attendees at the June 6-7 annual meeting of the heads of state of the SCO member states admitted Afghanistan as a formal observer country and designated Turkey a dialogue partner. Perhaps the reality of NATO’s impending military withdrawal from the region has finally spurred the SCO to assume a more forthcoming role in securing Afghanistan’s security.
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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.