Number of results to display per page
Search Results
32. Stability, Security, and Sovereignty in the Republic of Georgia
- Author:
- David L. Phillips
- Publication Date:
- 01-2004
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Council on Foreign Relations
- Abstract:
- The Republic of Georgia suffers from pervasive problems. Popular frustrations boiled over after the November 2, 2003, parliamentary elections, which international observers determined were fraudulent. Facing mass protests and civil disobedience, President Eduard Shevardnadze resigned. The so-called revolution of roses culminated in a peaceful transfer of power when Mikhail Saakashvili assumed the presidency after receiving 96 percent of the vote in a special ballot on January 4, 2004.
- Topic:
- Security, Democratization, and Terrorism
- Political Geography:
- Central Asia, Asia, and Georgia
33. Minimal Investments, Minimal Results: The Failure of Security Policy in Afghanistan
- Author:
- Michael Bhatia, Kevin Lanigan, and Philip Wilkinson
- Publication Date:
- 06-2004
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Afghanistan Research and Evaluation Unit (AREU)
- Abstract:
- Prime Minister Tony Blair's 2003 declaration that the international community “will not walk away from” Afghanistan missed the real question: When will the international community really walk into Afghanistan, and make the necessary commitments and investments that will give the Afghan people a reasonable chance at building a peaceful and stable country?
- Topic:
- Conflict Resolution, Security, Development, and Terrorism
- Political Geography:
- Afghanistan, Central Asia, and Asia
34. Jemaah Islamiyah in South East Asia: Damaged but Still Dangerous
- Publication Date:
- 08-2003
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- International Crisis Group
- Abstract:
- Jemaah Islamiyah (JI), the South East Asian terrorist organisation based in Indonesia, remains active and dangerous, despite the mid-August 2003 arrest of Hambali, one of its top operatives.
- Topic:
- Conflict Prevention and Terrorism
- Political Geography:
- Central Asia, Indonesia, and Southeast Asia
35. Fighting proliferation—European perspectives
- Author:
- Gustav Lindstrom and Burkard Schmitt
- Publication Date:
- 12-2003
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- European Union Institute for Security Studies
- Abstract:
- Curbing the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction (WMD) is important to European policy-makers. This has been especially evident throughout 2003. On 6 June 2003, the European Union unveiled its basic principles for an 'EU Strategy against the proliferation of WMD'. Among its first principles, the EU underscores that 'the proliferation of all weapons of mass destruction (i.e. biological, chemical and nuclear weapons) and means of delivery such as ballistic missiles constitutes a threat to international peace and security'.
- Topic:
- Security and Terrorism
- Political Geography:
- Europe and Central Asia
36. From Laeken to Copenhagen European defence: core documents
- Author:
- Jean-Yves Haine
- Publication Date:
- 02-2003
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- European Union Institute for Security Studies
- Abstract:
- The year 2002 was characterised by the stabilisation of Afghanistan, the prospect of war in Iraq, the suicidal, deadly impasse in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and North Korea's declared nuclear proliferation. There was thus a significant deterioration in the international environment. In these conditions of growing uncertainty, in both the short and long term, the Union, which now extends to the borders of the Russian and Arab-Muslim worlds, appears as a haven of stability and peace. The peaceful reunification of the European continent that the enlargement of both the Union and the Atlantic Alliance represents will stand out as one of the positive events of 2002. Yet this pacification of Europe has taken place in a world that is still suffering the consequences of the terrorist attacks of 11 September 2001. To start with, the United States has developed a conception of its security that is both more sovereign and more comprehensive. The new National Security Strategy includes pre-emptive war among its ways of fighting terrorism and seems to favour coalitions of convenience rather than institutionalised alliances. There is no doubt that this attitude has raised questions in Europe and led to transatlantic difficulties. But this unilateralist fever early in the year gave way to more realistic, pragmatic attitudes with President Bush's speech to the UN on 12 September 2002 and the subsequent adoption of UN Security Council Resolution 1441.
- Topic:
- Terrorism and War
- Political Geography:
- Afghanistan, Russia, Europe, Central Asia, Israel, North Korea, Palestine, and United Nations
37. Al-Qaeda in Southeast Asia: The case of the "Ngruki Network" in Indonesia (Corrected on 10 January 2003)
- Publication Date:
- 08-2002
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- International Crisis Group
- Abstract:
- One network of militant Muslims has produced all the Indonesian nationals so far suspected of links to al-Qaeda. This briefing paper explains how that network emerged, its historical antecedents, and the political dynamics over the last two decades that led some of its members from Indonesia to Malaysia to Afghanistan. It is part of an occasional series that ICG intends to issue on the nature of radical Islam in Southeast Asia.
- Topic:
- Terrorism and War
- Political Geography:
- Central Asia, Indonesia, and Southeast Asia
38. The Afghan Transitional Administration: Prospects and Perils
- Publication Date:
- 07-2002
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- International Crisis Group
- Abstract:
- The Emergency Loya Jirga, or grand national assembly, held from 10 to 21 June 2002 in Kabul was a small but critical step in Afghanistan's political development. It was an opportunity to accord national legitimacy to the peace process begun at Bonn in November 2001 but it produced mixed results. From a narrow perspective, it was a success: representatives from across Afghanistan came together to elect, or rather anoint, a head of state, and the major armed factions kept their hats in the political ring rather than resort to violence. Given the last three decades of war and turmoil, this is significant.
- Topic:
- Democratization, Government, and Terrorism
- Political Geography:
- Afghanistan and Central Asia
39. The IMU and the Hizb-ut-Tahrir: Implications of the Afghanistan Campaign
- Publication Date:
- 01-2002
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- International Crisis Group
- Abstract:
- The attacks in the United States on 11 September 2001 and the U.S.-led military campaign in Afghanistan have intensified the scrutiny of Islamist movements across Central Asia. Of such movements, two – the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IMU) and the Hizb-ut-Tahrir al-Islami (“Party of Islamic Liberation”) – have been of greatest concern to the governments of Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan and to the broader international community.
- Topic:
- Conflict Resolution, Government, and Terrorism
- Political Geography:
- Afghanistan, United States, Central Asia, Kyrgyzstan, and Uzbekistan
40. Crime, Terror and the Central Asia Drug Trade
- Author:
- Tamara Makarenko
- Publication Date:
- 06-2002
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Centre for the Study of Terrorism and Political Violence, St. Andrews University, Scotland
- Abstract:
- Over the last decade, opium poppy cultivation in Afghanistan has been rising incrementally, culminating in a bumper crop in 1999 that produced approximately 80 percent of the global supply of illicit opium. Despite this predicament, the dynamics of the illicit drugs trade in Afghanistan has received little attention. Most media reports and government statements over-simplify the situation, making it appear as though the Taliban controlled the planting, cultivation, production and trafficking of all opiates. For example, The Times, in an article published in January 2000, reported “The Taliban rulers of Afghanistan have become the world's biggest producers and smugglers of hard drugs, overtaking rings in Colombia and Burma. They are now responsible for 95 per cent of all the heroin entering Britain.” Following the September 11 attacks, this responsibility was shared with Usama bin Laden and the Al-Qaeda network. British Prime Minister Tony Blair thus stated that the “arms the Taliban are buying today are paid for with the lives of young British people buying their drugs on British streets”, and subsequently added that the Taliban and Usama bin Laden “jointly exploited the drugs trade.” This view has also been propagated in the United States by leading news agencies. CNN, for example, explicitly reported that the Taliban both taxed and trafficked in narcotics, which were directly used to finance their military operations.
- Topic:
- Crime, Economics, and Terrorism
- Political Geography:
- Britain, Afghanistan, Central Asia, Taliban, Colombia, and Burma