THE STATE-CRIME DYNAMIC IN KYRGYZSTAN AFTER THE REGIME CHANGE
By Erica Marat (1/19/2011 issue of the CACI Analyst)
Over the past six years, Kyrgyzstan has lived through two forceful regime changes – one in March 2005 and another April 2010. Both times, the reconfiguration of political power required Kyrgyz citizens to adapt to a new reality and try to cope with the dual feelings of optimism after unpopular dictators were ousted and uncertainty about the new leaders. Kyrgyzstan’s complex and volatile criminal underworld needed to adapt to the new political conditions as well, in order to ensure continuity of the vast shadow economy and maintain their influence over government officials.
UMID FIELD PROVIDES AZERBAIJAN WITH NEW EXPORT PERSPECTIVES
By Gulmira Rzayeva (12/22/2010 issue of the CACI Analyst)
On November 24, 2010, the Azerbaijani state oil company SOCAR announced the discovery of the largest gas field in Azerbaijan after the Caspian giant Shah Deniz deposit. This offshore field is named Umid, meaning “Hope”. President Ilham Aliyev met with the management of the company on that day and expressed his hope that the gas field would ultimately prove to contain more gas than the initial estimates had suggested.
MERGER OF STAVROPOL AND NORTH CAUCASUS BREEDS ETHNIC NATIONALISM AMONG LOCAL RUSSIANS
By Dmitry Shlapentokh (12/22/2010 issue of the CACI Analyst)
In early January 2010, the Kremlin decided to unify the North Caucasian autonomous republics of the Russian Federation with that of the Stavropol region, still mostly populated by ethnic Russians. The plan was a bureaucratic design by the Kremlin that supposedly would increase the ethnic/social cohesiveness of the region and the country and promote economic development in the region. This merger has received a strong response among locals who demanded that the Stavropol region remain a separate entity.
CHECHENS IN EUROPE AND THE FUTURE OF THE CHECHEN CONFLICT
By Murad Batal Al-Shishani (12/22/2010 issue of the CACI Analyst)
On November 9, the Kavkaz-Tsentr website posted a video entitled “Address of Chechens Living Abroad to Organizers of fitnaht al-mujahedin”, showing unidentified people, one of whom was speaking in Chechen. He delivered a message connected to the recent split among Chechen rebels and the renunciation of the bayat (oaths of allegiance) to North Caucasus rebel leader Doku Umarov by rebel leaders in Chechnya.
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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.