| Tuesday, May 20, 2008 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Today's
Issue:
- AZERBAIJAN CAN RESCUE THE ODESSA-BRODY PIPELINE PROJECT Previous
Issue:
- OBSERVERS DEBATE WHETHER THE SILOVIKI HAVE WON OR LOST
Other Jamestown Publications:
|
AZERBAIJAN CAN RESCUE THE ODESSA-BRODY PIPELINE PROJECT
The energy summit in Kyiv, to be attended by heads of state and government from Caspian, Black Sea and Baltic countries on May 22 and 23, is expected to revitalize the Odessa-Brody-Plock-Gdansk pipeline project for Caspian oil. This has become possible thanks to rapidly developing oil transport routes from Azerbaijan to Georgian maritime terminals. There, the oil can be shipped to Odessa by tankers for pumping to Poland through the pipeline.
Azerbaijan has become key to this European pipeline project. Although the European Union has long declared it a priority, and the United States has also supported it declaratively, Azerbaijan can make it a reality in its triple role as oil producer, transporter, and investor. KAZAKHSTAN EMERGING AS AN ARMS EXPORTER
By Roger McDermott
Kazakhstan has announced ambitious plans to become the leading regional exporter of arms in Central Asia, transforming its defense industry capabilities within the next two years in order to export mainly artillery systems. Kazakhstan Defense Minister Daniyal Akhmetov has confirmed that the country intends to sell such weapons not only on the Central Asia arms market but also on a broader international scale. TURKEY OFFERS “DIALOGUE” TO ARMENIA
By Emil Danielyan
Turkey has offered to enter into a “dialogue” with neighboring Armenia that would aim at improving the historically strained relations between the two nations. The diplomatic overtures have prompted a positive response from Armenian leaders, raising fresh hopes for the elimination of a major source of geopolitical tension in the South Caucasus. Ankara, however, has given no official indication so far that it is ready to drop its preconditions for normalizing bilateral ties. ALLEGED SURVEILLANCE OF SENIOR JUDGES RAISES QUESTIONS ABOUT POLITICIZATION OF TURKISH POLICE
By Gareth Jenkins
On May 16 the Ankara Public Prosecutor initiated an investigation into claims by Vice President of the Constitutional Court of Turkey Osman Paksut, that he had been the subject of a surveillance operation by the country’s police. |
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
