South Ossetia Conflict Profile
A “Self-determination Conflict Profile” summarizing its history from the 19th century, the role of the United States, proposed solutions and an evaluation of prospects for the conflict’s settlement.
Continue reading →Tag Archives: Russia
Why Belarus-Russia Relations Matter
A dangerous blind spot in the incoming administration’s view of Russian affairs is its inadequate understanding of the significance of the newly independent states (NIS). The unanticipated consequences of such policy blindness are exemplified by developments in the 1990s in … Continue reading →
Russia, Turkey, Iran: An Eternal Triangle
The one formal organization is the Central Asian Economic Union which includes Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. The leaders of these countries have concluded several agreements on expanding economic cooperation, but these will remain a dead letter until the Uzbek … Continue reading →
Ethnic Russian Discontent Grows in Kazakhstan
Dissatisfaction among ethnic Russians in Kazakhstan is growing. Many have left since the country gained independence, and those who remain are feeling increasingly frustrated and excluded by "Kazakhization" policies.
Continue reading →The Trans-Caspian Gas Pipeline, Blue Stream, and Turkey
For much of the period since the November 1999 OSCE summit in Istanbul, this column has principally discussed developments concerning the Baku-Ceyhan main export pipeline (MEP). I wish to shift gears here for an extended review of recent events related … Continue reading →
Kazakhstan Ethnic Groups: Recipe for a Shatterbelt In Central Eurasia
Nearly two weeks ago, twenty-two individuals (twelve citizens of Russia and ten ethnic-Russian citizens of Kazakhstan) were arrested in Ust-Kamenogorsk in East Kazakhstan province. They were charged with planning an uprising to seize political power in the province and proclaim … Continue reading →
Instability in the Balance: The Baku-Ceyhan Pipeline
The signing of the Istanbul Protocol on the Baku-Ceyhan pipeline at the recent OSCE meeting was highly important politically to the leaders who signed it. But the project will in the long run be more important to the peoples of … Continue reading →
BTC Pipeline Continues at Center of Negotiations
Transit of oil through the Baku-Novorossiisk pipeline continues to be a problematic affair. Since the beginning of the month, the pipeline has been shut down three times. The reasons given are the age of the Russian section of the pipeline … Continue reading →
BTC pipeline politics, Turkmenistan, and Iran
The new year has already established two new trends in Caspian Sea geo-economics and BTC pipeline politics as well as confirmed an old one. Two important new trends are an improvement in Turkmenistan’s finances and the refusal of BTC pipeline … Continue reading →
Integration Within and Without the CIS
One periodically encounters critical evaluations of the CIS, but a more nuanced analysis is motivated by bringing into the open some hidden assumptions and by shedding light on some blind spots in Western analysts’ predictions of the CIS’s imminent demise. … Continue reading →