News Digest
GEORGIA CONSIDERS WAYS TO CLOSE RAILROAD FROM RUSSIA TO ABKHAZIA
By empty (2/10/2003 issue of the CACI Analyst)
A meeting of the National Security Council of Georgia, devoted to the situation in breakaway Abkhazia and around it, will be held in Tbilisi on January 22. A Georgian government spokesman told RBC that real ways to stop the railway service between Abkhazia and Russia and the process of systematic granting of Russian citizenship to residents of Abkhazia would be discussed at the meeting. The possibility of closing Georgian airspace for Russian military aircraft carrying out flights to Russian military bases in Georgia and Armenia will be considered among other possible measures.ARMENIA OPENS PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION CAMPAIGN
By empty (2/10/2003 issue of the CACI Analyst)
Armenia kicked off its presidential election campaign on Tuesday with a lottery to determine the order in which candidates would receive television and radio time. Eleven candidates, including incumbent Robert Kocharian, will be on the Feb. 19 ballot.UZBEKISTAN CONVICTS EIGHT MILITANTS CAPTURED IN AFGHANISTAN AND PAKISTAN
By empty (2/10/2003 issue of the CACI Analyst)
Eight Uzbek nationals who were captured in Afghanistan and Pakistan during anti-terrorism operations last year have been sentenced to various prison terms in Uzbekistan, security officials said Thursday. The eight men were tried in September and October on charges of terrorism, religious extremism and anti-constitutional activity and given prison terms ranging from 15 to 18 years, said security service spokesman Alimjon Turdakulov. The convictions were not previously reported in this Central Asian nation, where the media are tightly controlled and any form of dissent is harshly persecuted.POOR SECURITY \'HAMPERING AFGHAN AID\'
By empty (2/10/2003 issue of the CACI Analyst)
A British parliamentary report on international aid to Afghanistan says the lack of security there is hampering distribution of aid as well as efforts to rebuild the country. The report accuses the international community of lacking the will to create a more secure environment. It says it was an error not to extend the international peace-keeping force outside the capital, Kabul.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.