By Kevin Daniel Leahy (9/17/2009 issue of the CACI Analyst)
The sudden reappearance of the suicide attack as a tactic of choice for insurgents in the North Caucasus has caused panic among security forces in the region. In attempting to account for this unwelcome trend, Chechnya’s president, Ramzan Kadyrov, has blamed the machinations of Western security agencies, as well as the advent of mind-altering psychotropic drugs for misleading young men into carrying out such attacks.
By Farkhod Tolipov (9/17/2009 issue of the CACI Analyst)
Since mid-July, rumors and official pronouncements have multiplied regarding the possible deployment of a second Russian military base in Kyrgyzstan. The base would be deployed in the town of Osh in the southern parts of the country, to house forces of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO).
By Fariz Ismailzade (9/1/2009 issue of the CACI Analyst)
Turkmenistan’s recent plans to sue Azerbaijan over the Kyapaz oil field as well as to create a military base, border patrol service and navy in the Caspian have shocked Baku and sent a worrying signal to European energy and political circles. These intentions put the much-hoped Nabucco gas pipeline at risk and set the scene for an arms race in the region. Nobody is likely to emerge as a winner in this situation, and the general security framework in the Caspian basin is likely to worsen.
By Cornelius Graubner (9/1/2009 issue of the CACI Analyst)
The activities of the Obama administration hint that the main U.S. interest in Central Asia continues to be in its function as a military transit and supply hub.
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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