News Digest
ARMENIAN PARLIAMENTARY DEPUTY SPEAKER WARNS OF DANGER OF REOPENING
By empty (7/14/2003 issue of the CACI Analyst)
Speaking at a 12 July press conference, Armenian parliamentary Deputy Chairman Vahan Hovannisian warned that opening the Turkish-Armenian border would place \"Armenia\'s interests under direct threat.\" Hovannisian explained that an unrestricted opening of the border with Turkey would lead to irreparable harm to Armenian agriculture and would spur a \"flood of cheaper products in the Armenian market,\" leading to \"serious losses\" for Armenian farmers. The deputy speaker recommended that Armenia should place higher priority in the reopening of the railway link through Abkhazia, suggesting that the Abkhaz route would \"enable Armenia to export competitively priced products.GEORGIA\'S UN AMBASSADOR ACCUSES RUSSIAN BASES OF TRAFFICKING IN WEAPONS
By empty (7/12/2003 issue of the CACI Analyst)
Revaz Adamia on 8 July accused the Russian military of engaging in the illegal trafficking of small arms. Adamia claimed that the three Russian military bases in Georgia serve as \"the major source of arms and weapons for various secessionist, criminal, or terrorist groups\" and noted that the bases are not \"under the effective control of their central command and are located in the areas with lucrative black markets for illicit arms trade.\" Adamia concluded that the situation at the \"three bases poses a major threat to the security of Georgia.OVER 5 TONS OF DRUGS CONFISCATED IN TAJIKSITAN IN PAST 6 MONTHS
By empty (7/11/2003 issue of the CACI Analyst)
Some 5 tons of drugs, including 3 tons of heroin, have been confiscated in Tajikistan with the assistance of Russian frontier guards over the first six months of 2003. The amount over the same period last year was half as much, reports Avaz Yuldashev, press-service chief of the Tajik president\'s drug control agency. He made a point of the greater bulk of narcotics being delivered to Tajikistan from Afghanistan.GEORGIAN ARMED FORCES FACING SERIOUS FINANCIAL DIFFICULTIES
By empty (7/11/2003 issue of the CACI Analyst)
Georgian Defense Ministry asked Georgian President and Commander-in-Chief Eduard Shevardnadze to summon an extraordinary meeting of the National Security Council. The meeting is necessary due to the disastrous financial standing of the Georgian Armed Forces, a source in the Georgian Defense Ministry reported to RBC. Over the first six months of 2003, the Georgian Armed Forces received only 62 percent of due financing, and many servicemen have not received their pays for a considerable period of time.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.