News Digest
ARMENIAN PRESIDENT SATISFIED WITH PARLIAMENTARY ELECTION OUTCOME
By empty (6/3/2003 issue of the CACI Analyst)
A spokesman for President Robert Kocharian told RFE/RL on 2 June that Kocharian is content with the results of the 25 May parliamentary election in which parties loyal to the president gained 70 of the 131 seats. He said talks are under way with various political forces, without specifying which ones, and affirmed that \"it is possible to form a majority in the National Assembly that will work effectively and for a long time.\" Also on 2 June, the pro-presidential Armenian Revolutionary Federation-Dashnaktsutiun (HHD), whose spokesmen claim it polled significantly more than the 11.US SOLDIERS \'HELD BY IRAN\'
By empty (6/3/2003 issue of the CACI Analyst)
Four United States soldiers and five civilians on boats were detained and interrogated by Iranians for several hours on Sunday, according to US Central Command. They were sailing up the Shatt al-Arab waterway when they were taken by force, a spokesman for Central Command said on Monday. The soldiers and three of the civilians, including an oil contractor, were escorted back to their boats and released on Monday, the spokesman added.UZBEK JOURNALIST CHARGED WITH HOMOSEXUALITY
By empty (6/2/2003 issue of the CACI Analyst)
Uzbek journalist Ruslan Sharipov has been charged with homosexuality, Human Rights Watch reported on 29 May. This is the first known case of an arrest for homosexuality in independent Uzbekistan. Sexual relations between men are still a crime under the Criminal Code and are punishable by up to three years in prison.TAJIK HEALTH MINISTRY EMPLOYEE CAUGHT WITH 5.5 KILOS OF HEROIN
By empty (6/2/2003 issue of the CACI Analyst)
A forensic expert at the Tajik Ministry of Health was detained by customs officials at Dushanbe airport when she tried to smuggle 5.5 kilograms of heroin. The news agency quoted customs officer Colonel Dusti Sherkhonov as saying that the woman had stuffed the heroin into 52 lemons; her lack of luggage and the large quantity of lemons and vegetables caught the attention of the airport customs officials.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.