Field Reports
Georgia's National Currency Continues to Depreciate
By Eka Janashia (the 22/01/2014 issue of the CACI Analyst)
2013 saw a significant depreciation of the Georgian national currency Lari (GEL) compared to both the US$ and the Euro. From the beginning of last year until now, the Lari's exchange rate has dropped against the U.S. and EU currency by over 5 and 7 percent respectively. Georgia's Minister of Finance, Nodar Khaduri, Minister of Economy and Sustainable Development, Giorgi Kvirikashvili, and the President of the National Bank of Georgia (NBG), Giorgi Kadagidze, insist that there is no reason for panic. However, the steady and speedy depreciation of the Lari has already triggered undesirable expectations among consumers and the business sector.
Armenia's Former President Attacks Prime Minister
By Haroutiun Khachatrian (the 22/01/2014 issue of the CACI Analyst)
Armenia's second President Robert Kocharyan presented an unexpectedly harsh criticism of Prime Minister Tigran Sargsyan’s economic policy. The attack demonstrates that cooperation between Kocharyan and Armenia's third President Serzh Sargsyan, may be deteriorating.
Opposition under Fire in Georgia
By Archil Zhorzholiani (the 08/01/2014 issue of the CACI Analyst)
The post-election period in Georgia, and especially December 2013, has been marked with a new wave of prosecutions against the main opposition party United National Movement (UNM).
Turkmenistan Holds Its First Multiparty Parliamentary Elections
By Tavus Rejepova (the 08/01/2014 issue of the CACI Analyst)
On December 15, almost 2.8 million voters cast their ballots to elect new members into Turkmenistan’s first ever multi-party unicameral Parliament, Mejlis. According to the Central Election Commission (CEC), the total voter turnout was 91.3 percent out of all registered eligible voters. The CEC is expected to announce the results of the first multiparty elections in the country next week, while skeptics claim the elections bring no real change in the near future.
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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.