Field Reports
ROLE OF INFORMATION BLOCKADE ON ARMS DEPOT EXPLOSION AT KAGAN IN UZBEKISTAN
By Erkin Akhmadov (7/24/2008 issue of the CACI Analyst)
On July 10, 2008, Kagan – a small town located just outside of Bukhara – was shattered by massive explosions at a military arms depot. National information agencies reported that the explosions, caused by fire at a missile and artillery ammunition depot, killed at least three people and wounded 21. In the rush to evacuate the civilian population, handling the consequences of the blast and providing necessary medical and humanitarian assistance, Uzbek authorities were very terse about giving out information about the tragic event.
THE SCO AT THE TEST OF THE AFGHANI CHALLENGE
By Fabrizio Vielmini (7/24/2008 issue of the CACI Analyst)
While Afghanistan continuously stands as a source of concern and instability for its neighbors, it is natural that these are following the situation around the Hindu Kush with increasing attention. This is especially true for the Central Asian members of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), whose last Heads of State’s summit (Bishkek, August 2007) included a joint appeal by the Russian and Afghan Presidents, to have the SCO engaged in easing the Afghan quagmire.
In this context, last month, an original experiment of informal diplomacy took place on the shores of Kyrgyzstan’s Lake Issyk-Kul.
GOING EASTWARDS – A NEW DIRECTION FOR UZBEKISTAN?
By Diana Bayzakova (7/24/2008 issue of the CACI Analyst)
Uzbekistan’s hydrocarbon potential is indisputably substantial. It is the second largest gas producer within the Commonwealth of Independent States after Russia’s Gazprom, and the eighth largest gas exporter in the world.
TENSIONS MOUNTING IN SOUTH OSSETIA
By Johanna Popjanevski (7/9/2008 issue of the CACI Analyst)
A series of shootings and explosions in the Georgian separatist region of South Ossetia in the last week have given rise to increased tensions between Tbilisi and the secessionist South Ossetian authorities. The first of the recent incidents took place on July 3, when local police chief, Nodar Bibilov, was killed in an explosion outside his home in the South Ossetian village of Dmenisi. In a subsequent press statement, the South Ossetian de facto government accused the Georgian secret service for the attack, which it referred to as a “next step in Georgia’s policy of state terrorism against the people of South Ossetia”.
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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.