Field Reports
POLITICAL REFORM EFFORTS IN KAZAKHSTAN BOG DOWN IN CORRUPTION
By Marat Yermukanov (3/22/2006 issue of the CACI Analyst)
The most impressive part of Nazarbayev’s lengthy speech was the optimistic assessment of the current economic performance of Kazakhstan and generous social spending planned for the years 2006 and 2007 which, if implemented successfully, should raise the standard of living for vast sections of population. The President promised a 30 percent increase in pay for civil servants in 2007 and social benefits for war veterans will rise to make up 6,000 tenge ($46). Among other encouraging signs are the planned 30 percent social tax reduction and the introduction of a 10 percent flat income tax rate next year.DISPUTES ABOUT THE ROLE OF THE MARCH 24 EVENTS AIRED IN KYRGYZSTAN
By Aida Baltabaeva (3/22/2006 issue of the CACI Analyst)
Nevertheless, these actions are taking place amid popular dissatisfaction with the results of the so-called “Tulip revolution”. Many experts, foreign and domestic, characterized this event as more of a coup d’etat than a revolution, but the President rejects this viewpoint and threatens to punish all who would spoil the holiday.Indeed, a year since the upheaval, there is growing dissatisfaction with the outcome of the street protests that swept away former authoritarian president Askar Akayev.
TAJIKISTAN PLANS TO IMPROVE INFRASTRUCTURE, BECOME A TRANSPORT HUB
By Zoya Pylenko (3/22/2006 issue of the CACI Analyst)
The road that goes over the mountain range through which the Anzob tunnel passes is closed for transport from November until March, when it is covered with meters of snow. Therefore, northern and southern Tajikistan are pretty much isolated from each other as soon as the bad weather starts. Travel from Dushanbe in the south to Khujand in the north, and vice versa, is only possible by air – which is far from safe, too expensive for many Tajiks and unsuitable for large cargo.MERCHANTS VS. GOVERNMENT: CASH REGISTER CONTROVERSY IN GEORGIA
By Kakha Jibladze (3/8/2006 issue of the CACI Analyst)
According to the law, all merchants – with the exception of street vendors selling nuts and barber shops – were required to start using a government-approved cash register by March 1 or face serious fines. Shop owners and vendors hit the street in surprising numbers with protests in Tbilisi, reaching an estimated 1,000 people once word of the law and its implications became widespread. Protests were also reported in Batumi, Gori and the Kakheti region.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.