News Digest
RUSSIA SLAMS IRAQ OVER LUKOIL CONTRACT
By empty (12/15/2002 issue of the CACI Analyst)
The Russian government expressed bewilderment on 15 December over Iraq's decision to cancel a contract with LUKoil to develop the West Qurna oil field. The Foreign Ministry issued a statement saying the decision is "a step that does not correspond to the friendly relations between our two countries." The statement also drew attention to the fact that Baghdad made the decision even as Moscow is expending considerable effort to find a peaceful solution to the Iraq situation.KYRGYZSTAN, TAJIKISTAN DRAWING UP MILITARY COOPERATION ACCORDS
By empty (12/15/2002 issue of the CACI Analyst)
PRIVATE Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan are working on two military cooperation agreements. A Kyrgyz Defence Ministry official told Interfax on Thursday 12 December that they include an agreement on confidence-building measures within the border area and a defence cooperation treaty. "These documents will lay the groundwork for contacts between the two countries' defence ministries and special services.AFGHANISTAN NEIGHBOURS TO PLEDGE NON-INTERFERENCE
By empty (12/16/2002 issue of the CACI Analyst)
Pakistan's new Foreign Minister Mian Khursheed Mehmood Kasuri will visit the Afghan capital on December 22 to join counterparts from Iran, China, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan for a conference expected to unanimously approve a declaration on non-interference in Afghanistan which will then be submitted for U.N. Security Council confirmation.PAKISTAN ISLAMIC HARDLINERS MAKE IRAQ RALLYING CRY
By empty (12/17/2002 issue of the CACI Analyst)
The rallying cry from the fiercely anti-U.S. bloc of six religious parties, which posted stunning gains in an October election, will be an early barometer of its ability to mobilise popular support and of the level of Pakistanis' resistance to a strike on Iraq.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.