News Digest
INTERNATIONAL EXPERTS LAUD TAJIK MEDIA PROGRESS
By empty (5/3/2004 issue of the CACI Analyst)
Representatives from the UN Tajikistan Office for Peace-Building, the OSCE, and Russia\'s Glasnost Foundation noted at a 3 May forum on the occasion of World Press Freedom Day that Tajikistan has taken \"a step forward toward freedom of the press.\" They stressed, however, that much work remains to be done. Zafar Saidov, director of Tajikistan\'s Khovar national news agency, praised a presidential decree exempting the media from the value-added tax.UZBEK PRESIDENT URGES GREATER PARTY ACTIVISM
By empty (5/3/2004 issue of the CACI Analyst)
In an address to parliament on 30 April, President Islam Karimov berated Uzbek political parties for failing to take a more active role in the country\'s political life, Uzbek Radio reported the same day. Karimov said, \"We have five political parties..AJARIA ORDERS REBUILDING BRIDE ON BORDER WITH GEORGIA
By empty (5/3/2004 issue of the CACI Analyst)
The authorities of Georgia\'s Ajaria region on Monday ordered the rebuilding of one of the bridges on the Georgian-Ajarian border that Ajaria blew up on Sunday. A team of carpenters will finish the pedestrian bridge across the Choloki river by Tuesday morning, the Ajarian Interior Ministry told Interfax. \"There\'s nothing difficult about restoring the bridges that have been blown up, but blowing them up averted provocation and loss of life,\" Ajarian Interior Minister Jemal Gogitidze told reporters on Monday.SAAKASHVILI CONFIRMS BRIDGE BLOWN ON AJARIAN BORDER
By empty (5/2/2004 issue of the CACI Analyst)
Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili told journalists aboard the warship Kutaisi that \"illegal armed formations have blasted the bridge across the Choloki river.\" \"I would recommend that Aslan Abashidze refrain from provocations. The Georgian authorities do not plan to use force against Ajaria,\" Saakashvili said.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.