News Digest
RUSSIAN EXPERTS SUPPORT ARMENIAN REFUSAL TO CLOSE NUCLEAR-POWER PLANT
By empty (10/27/2003 issue of the CACI Analyst)
Several Russian nuclear-power experts announced on 24 October that they support the Armenian government\'s decision to continue operating Armenia\'s sole nuclear-power plant, according to RFE/RL\'s Yerevan bureau. In a statement released on 24 October, Armen Abakian, the director of a Moscow-based nuclear research institute, dismissed concerns that the Medzamor facility poses environmental risks and contended that the plant can safely operate for at least another 13 years. The European Union and several environmental groups have called on the Armenian government to close the aging Soviet-era plant, arguing that the plant\'s light-water reactor is inherently dangerous and unstable.U.S. AMBASSADOR CRITICIZES KHODORKOVSKII ARREST
By empty (10/27/2003 issue of the CACI Analyst)
Commenting on Mikhail Khodorkovskii\'s arrest, U.S. Ambassador to Russia Alexander Vershbow said the U.KABUL STRIKES DEAL WITH WARLORDS
By empty (10/26/2003 issue of the CACI Analyst)
The government in Kabul has reached an agreement with two rival regional leaders in northern Afghanistan under which they will merge their forces, according to a senior advisor to the Afghan interior minister. There have been repeated outbreaks of factional fighting between soldiers loyal to the two leaders, Abdul Rashid Dostum and Ata Muhammad. The government\'s attempt to broker a deal comes as Kabul begins an ambitious United Nations-backed programme to disarm many of Afghanistan\'s private militias.KAZAKH PRESIDENT\'S DAUGHTER NAMED HEAD OF NEW POLITICAL PARTY
By empty (10/25/2003 issue of the CACI Analyst)
At a congress in Almaty on 25 October, the Asar (All Together) public movement transformed itself into a political party and unanimously elected Darigha Nazarbaeva, eldest daughter of Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbaev, the party\'s leader. The congress was attended by 1,300 delegates, who also selected a seven-person leadership council and adopted a party platform. At a news conference following the congress, Nazarbaeva rejected claims that she has presidential ambitions.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.