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632. Chechnya Weekly: More violence and unrest in dagestan
- Publication Date:
- 01-2007
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- North Caucasus Weekly (formerly Chechnya Weekly), The Jamestown Foundation
- Abstract:
- No abstract is available.
- Topic:
- Security and Ethnic Conflict
- Political Geography:
- Russia, Europe, and Asia
633. Chechnya Weekly: Volume 8, Issue 1
- Author:
- Andrei Smirnov
- Publication Date:
- 01-2007
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- North Caucasus Weekly (formerly Chechnya Weekly), The Jamestown Foundation
- Abstract:
- On January 3, a shootout between gunmen and police in the Dagestani capital of Makhachkala left a police officer and two local residents wounded and one gunman dead. Citing Dagestan's Interior Ministry, ITAR-TASS reported that the incident took place around 5PM Moscow time on Ganidov Prospekt in Makhachkala, when police tried to stop a Zhiguli car for a document check and someone inside the vehicle fired on them. One of the gunmen was killed in the ensuing gun battle while the three others in the car managed to escape. One of the escaping gunmen may have been wounded. Interfax quoted a Makhachkala police official as saying that two local residents were slightly injured in the gunfight and that the life of the wounded policeman, shot in the leg, was not in danger.
- Topic:
- Security and Ethnic Conflict
- Political Geography:
- Russia and Moscow
634. The Limits of Sino-Russian Strategic Partnership in Central Asia
- Author:
- Brian Carlson
- Publication Date:
- 05-2007
- Content Type:
- Journal Article
- Journal:
- Journal of Public and International Affairs (JPIA)
- Institution:
- School of Public and International Affairs (SPIA), Princeton University
- Abstract:
- U.S. foreign policy has recently suffered setbacks in Central Asia, where its role had expanded dramatically following the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. Recent events appear to indicate growing Sino-Russian cooperation to limit U.S. influence in the region. Although Russia and China have grown closer together in recent years based on convergent strategic views, a number of factors will limit their strategic partnership at the global level. Likewise, their interests in Central Asia mix elements of cooperation with competition, reducing the likelihood of a Sino-Russian condominium in the region. Prudent U.S. foreign policy can prevent anti-American, Sino-Russian power balancing in Central Asia. In order to achieve its goal of a stable, independent Central Asia, the United States should seek to promote a regional concert with Russia, China, and the Central Asian states. If this is not fully achievable, the United States should promote maximum cooperation to address shared interests on issues of security and economic development.
- Topic:
- Security, Foreign Policy, Partnerships, Economic Development, and Strategic Interests
- Political Geography:
- Russia, China, Central Asia, Asia, and United States of America
635. Russian Phoenix: The Collective Security Treaty Organization
- Author:
- Adam Weinstein
- Publication Date:
- 01-2007
- Content Type:
- Journal Article
- Journal:
- The Journal of Diplomacy and International Relations
- Institution:
- School of Diplomacy and International Relations, Seton Hall University
- Abstract:
- Russia’s quest for security and power did not die with the collapse of the USSR in 1991, though it did face new complications. Fifteen republics arose from the Soviet rubble, and with them, fifteen competing notions of national prestige. While media images in the West reinforced a uniformly positive view of communism’s death throes—statues of Lenin and Marx felled like dead timber, red flags and banners ripped down—little sober thought was given to what might rise in their place. To the lay observer, the age of cold war alliances, arms races, and geopolitical competition was now strictly a concern for historians. Not so in the Russian Federation and its surrounding regions. Although independence—both from the strictures of Soviet communism and the expenses associated with leading the USSR—was a priority for Russia, life in 1992 presented a bevy of new defense concerns. Control of the Soviet nuclear and conventional arsenals was a priority, as was the prevention or control of sectarian violence in the former USSR, particularly where large numbers of ethnic Russians were concerned. Furthermore, seventy-four years of communist rule, preceded by centuries of czarist domination, reinforced a sense of security interdependence (as well as a Russian sense of imperial pride and responsibility) in the Russian “near abroad.” The breakaway republics shared many such concerns with Russia but disagreed over how to address them. Most of these fledgling republics preferred a “lone wolf ” or regional approach to any Moscow-led form of security cooperation. That appears to have changed in the interceding years. While collective measures and deference to Russian authority were nonstarter issues for most of the postSoviet states in their infancy, these nations have achieved a degree of stability and sovereignty that enables them to reconsider their old military ties—particularly as shared apprehensions have grown over the threat of terrorism and extremism in the post-Soviet space. The evolution of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) reflects this sea change.
- Topic:
- Security, Diplomacy, Post-Soviet Space, and Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO)
- Political Geography:
- Russia
636. APEC and the search for relevance: 2007 and beyond
- Author:
- John Ravenhill, Lorraine Elliott, Helen E.S. Nesadurai, and Nick Bisley
- Publication Date:
- 11-2006
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Australian National University Department of International Relations
- Abstract:
- In September 2007, Australia will host the annual Economic Leaders' Meeting of the Asia–Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum. This will be the culmination of over 100 days of ministerial, official and business group meetings, working groups and dialogues that will be held in various Australian cities from January to August. Fifteen federal government departments will be involved along with a range of other interested actors, predominantly in the private sector. The Australian government will spend considerable sums of money on the leaders' meeting itself, not least to ensure the security of those attending. This will include, if all goes according to plan, the heads of government of 21 countries—member economies in APEC-speak—including the United States, Russia, Japan and China. Security may well be the least of the government's worries. Few would argue that APEC is 'going strong' as a regional economic forum and recent reviews have suggested that at best it faces an uncertain future and that at worst it could be in a state of terminal decline. The forum is argued to have lost its relevance and to have generally been unsuccessful in attaining any of its more ambitious goals such as regional trade liberalisation.
- Topic:
- Security, Development, Economics, and International Trade and Finance
- Political Geography:
- Russia, United States, Japan, China, Australia, and Australia/Pacific
637. Brookings Foreign Policy Studies Energy Security Series: India
- Author:
- Tanvi Madan
- Publication Date:
- 11-2006
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- The Brookings Institution
- Abstract:
- Growth demands energy. It is no wonder that India — with an economy expected to grow at over 5 percent a year for the next twenty-five years — has developed a ravenous appetite for energy. India is the world's fifth largest consumer of energy, and by 2030 it is expected to become the third largest, overtaking Japan and Russia.
- Topic:
- Security, Development, and Energy Policy
- Political Geography:
- Russia, Japan, India, and Asia
638. Reappraising Nuclear Security Strategy
- Author:
- Rensselaer Lee
- Publication Date:
- 06-2006
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- The Cato Institute
- Abstract:
- The danger posed by Russia's inadequately secured stocks of nuclear weapons and fissile material is a major national security concern for the United States. Various cooperative U.S.-Russian programs aimed at securing nuclear material, weapons, and design intelligence have been mounted since the 1990s, but clever and determined adversaries may be able to circumvent or defeat the defenses that the United States and its partners are attempting to put in place. U.S. programs are by their nature reactive: they have long time horizons; they focus preeminently on the supply side of the problem; and they face serious technological limitations. Russia's imperfect commitment to nonproliferation also undermines the effectiveness of U.S. nonproliferation efforts.
- Topic:
- International Relations, Security, Foreign Policy, and Nuclear Weapons
- Political Geography:
- Russia, United States, Europe, and Asia
639. Kosovo's Status: Difficult Months Ahead
- Publication Date:
- 12-2006
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- International Crisis Group
- Abstract:
- There is growing concern that the short postponement UN Special Envoy Martti Ahtisaari announced in November 2006 for presentation of his Kosovo final status proposals to take account of Serbia's 21 January elections may not be the last delay in a process that now could extend into the second half of 2007. Nervous Kosovo Albanian leaders worry they may not be able to contain public pressures beyond March. With Russia's position hardening and Serbia as obstinate as ever, EU unity is vital – but far from assured – to keep the status process on track, first in the small Contact Group that has managed Kosovo affairs since 1999, then in the Security Council where ultimate decisions should be made.
- Topic:
- Security and United Nations
- Political Geography:
- Russia, Eastern Europe, Kosovo, Serbia, and Albania
640. East of the Middle East: The Shanghai Cooperation Organization and U.S. security implications
- Author:
- Tim Murphy
- Publication Date:
- 12-2006
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Center for Defense Information
- Abstract:
- The war in Afghanistan represented an eastward shift in the United States' international focus. Previously concentrated on the Middle East, the United States has reconfigured its foreign policy directives to include interests east of the Middle East. The shift was long overdue. Central Asia is a rising regional security concern, and Chinese and Russian actions therein have cultivated robust political ties. Resulting cooperatives and agreements promote Chinese and Russian regional objectives. The Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) originally consisted of five Central Asian and Asian countries (the Shanghai Five), ostensibly to unify signatories on economic, social and political platforms. However, the SCO is often a proxy to advance Chinese and Russian interests.
- Topic:
- Security and Weapons of Mass Destruction
- Political Geography:
- Afghanistan, Russia, United States, China, Europe, Middle East, and Asia