News Digest
RUSSIAN, CHECHEN OFFICIALS CALL FOR EXTENSION OF CHECHEN AMNESTY
By empty (9/1/2003 issue of the CACI Analyst)
Chechen administration head Akhmed-hadji Kadyrov has written to State Duma Speaker Gennadii Seleznev requesting that the Duma discuss at the earliest opportunity the possibility of extending for a further three months the amnesty for Chechen fighters that expired on 31 August. Deputy Prosecutor-General Sergei Fridinskii said the same day that some 145 Chechen fighters have been amnestied, of a total of 170 who requested amnesty. Some 226 servicemen and Interior Ministry personnel have also benefited.UN CONFERENCE IN CENTRAL ASIA TO FOCUS ON WATER
By empty (9/29/2003 issue of the CACI Analyst)
The global threat posed by water-related problems will be the focus of a UN-sponsored conference due to begin in the capital of Central Asia\'s Tajikistan. Delegates from Canada, Lebanon, Turkey, Iran, the United States and Malaysia were due to gather for the Dushanbe International Water Forum to discuss problems as diverse as flooding, desertification and water-borne disease. But it is unclear how much the conference will accomplish, since several of Tajikistan\'s neighbors who face grave water-related problems are not sending high-level government officials to the event.IMF WARNS KAZAKHSTAN THAT WTO MEMBERSHIP WON\'T HELP IT IN WORLD MARKET
By empty (9/29/2003 issue of the CACI Analyst)
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has warned Kazakhstan World Trade Organization (WTO) membership, for which the country is so eagerly preparing, is not going to improve the country\'s position on world markets, \"Novye izvestiya\" reported on 28 August. According to the IMF, WTO membership will not affect Kazakhstan\'s relations with its present trading partners, because it already has free-trade agreements with them. Nor will membership help Kazakhstan overcome trade barriers such as antidumping sanctions.AZERBAIJANIS RALLY IN MOSCOW IN SUPPORT OF EXILED OPPOSITION LEADERS
By empty (9/29/2003 issue of the CACI Analyst)
Some 1,200 Azerbaijanis attended a rally in Moscow on 28 August to demand that the Azerbaijani authorities register former President Ayaz Mutalibov and former parliament speaker Rasul Guliv as candidates in the 15 October presidential election. Mutalibov has lived in Moscow since fleeing Baku in May 1992 after an abortive comeback attempt. Guliev, who left Azerbaijan in 1996, now lives in the United States.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.