Field Reports
BREAD CRISIS IN KAZAKHSTAN HEIGHTENS SOCIAL TENSION
By Farkhad Sharip (10/17/2007 issue of the CACI Analyst)
To all appearances, the Kazakh government was totally unprepared for the unprecedented rise in bread prices aggravated by runaway inflation. At a government meeting on October 1, Prime Minister Karim Masimov, irritated by the helplessness of regional governors in coping with galloping prices, assigned them the task of creating grain reserves to stabilize the food situation in their respective regions. He warned that the government would establish a strict state monopoly on bread production if governors fail to cope with the task within a week.
TAJIK-UZBEK-TURKMEN ENERGY DEAL
By Sergey Medrea (10/17/2007 issue of the CACI Analyst)
On October 12, the electric power council of the CIS member states held its thirty-second session in Dushanbe, Tajikistan. Participants included the heads of electric energy authorities, national electric companies from CIS countries, observers, invited guests and organizations. The highlight of the session was the signing of an agreement on transmission and supply of Turkmen electricity to Tajikistan via Uzbekistan.
CELEBRATING RAMADAN EID IN UZBEKISTAN
By Erkin Ahmadov (10/17/2007 issue of the CACI Analyst)
Last week was marked by extensive celebrations of Ed-al-Fitr (Ramazan Hait) in all Muslim states of the world. Central Asian states were no exception to these festivities, as Islam is the predominant religion in all states of the region. In Uzbekistan, the religious holiday that was declared to be a public day off by a presidential decree, underwent a number of tight regulations.
AZERBAIJAN EYES EAST EUROPEAN COUNTRIES FOR ALLIANCE
By Azer Karimov (10/3/2007 issue of the CACI Analyst)
The wave of bilateral meetings and visits by the representatives of East European countries in the past weeks has shown the growing importance of this region for Azerbaijan’s foreign policy and the potential selection of these countries as a role model for Azerbaijan’s Euro-Atlantic integration.
On September 24-25, President Ilham Aliyev traveled to Romania to meet his Romanian counterpart Troyan Basescu, a number of other high level officials and to sign bilateral agreements between the two countries. President Aliyev also opened the Heydar Aliyev park in Bucharest and visited Ploeshti, considered by many as the oil capital of Romania.
Visit also
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.