CHINA’S RECENT ENERGY GAINS IN CENTRAL ASIA: WHAT DO THEY PORTEND
By Stephen Blank (10/31/2007 issue of the CACI Analyst)
China and Turkmenistan recently laid the ground for a 30bcm gas pipeline that will start pumping in 2009. This was the second deal consummated by China for a pipeline originating in Central Asia, the first being the deal with Kazakhstan to ship oil in the Atasu-Alashankou pipeline that began operating in 2005. A planned extension to the Caspian will give China direct access to the Caspian Sea.
THE POLITICAL CONSIDERATIONS BEHIND GRIGORI RAPOTA’S APPOINTMENT
By Kevin Daniel Leahy (10/31/2007 issue of the CACI Analyst)
On October 6, Russian President Vladimir Putin named Grigori Rapota as his new plenipotentiary representative to Russia’s Southern Federal District (YUFO). Rapota’s appointment was a surprise. Latterly secretary of the Eurasian Economic Association, Rapota is known as a low-profile, somewhat demure official.
SECOND CASPIAN SUMMIT FAILS TO RESOLVE CONTENTIOUS ISSUES
By Richard Weitz (10/31/2007 issue of the CACI Analyst)
On October 16, Tehran hosted the second presidential summit of Caspian Sea nations. Azerbaijan’s Ilham Aliyev, Iran’s Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Kazakhstan’s Nursulan Nazarbayev, Russia’s Vladimir Putin, and Turkmenistan’s Gurbanguli Berdymukhamedov adopted a joint declaration affirming their solidarity on important regional security issues. Yet, the presidents failed to resolve such important questions as the legal status of trans-Caspian energy pipelines and how to delineate the littoral states’ competing territorial claims.
GEORGIA'S OKRUASHVILI SCANDAL: LOUD BANG WITH UNCERTAIN FALLOUT
By Jaba Devdariani (10/17/2007 issue of the CACI Analyst)
The Return of Georgia’s former hawkish Defense Minister, Irakli Okruashvili, to Georgian politics was scandalous, but short-lived. After leveling an array of heavy accusations against President Mikheil Saakashvili on September 25, Okruashvili was arrested on September 27 on charges of extortion, money laundering and negligence. Surprisingly, he pleaded guilty on October 9 and publicly recanted his allegations against the president.
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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.