Officials in Georgia harbor ambitions of turning the South Caucasus country into a global cultural center, but those plans took a big hit when a deal to bring the New York Philharmonic to Tbilisi imploded recently. Now, Georgian officials are scrambling to repair the damage done to the country’s image.
Representatives of the Russian energy giant Gazprom confirm that the company is poised to participate in a joint venture to supply fuel to the US-run Manas Transit Center, a key logistics hub for US and NATO forces in Afghanistan.
Every year for the past 29 years, top US and Turkish government, military and business figures have gathered in Washington, DC, to discuss bilateral relations. This year’s meeting was the tensest in years, prompting some participants to express concern that Turkey’s once solid ties to the West are fraying, and Ankara is adopting a more Eastern-oriented geopolitical course.
Tajikistan seems to be angling for a quid-pro-quo deal with Russia in which Dushanbe grants Moscow access to the Ayni air base in return for the Kremlin’s help in resolving a water-related dispute with Uzbekistan. Analysts are skeptical that the Kremlin will bite.
Uzbekistan wants to help the United States transform the Northern Distribution Network from a supply route for military cargo bound for Afghanistan into a broader trade network, government officials say.
The Senate confirmation process for the Obama administration’s nominee as US envoy to Azerbaijan appears stuck in neutral. Experts believe that the confirmation has become entangled in partisan politics.
After initially expressing concern about Washington’s desire to “reset,” relations with Moscow, officials in Georgia are taking a more positive public stance. During the summer, for example, Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili lauded the United States for treating Georgia “exactly the right way,” adding that the reset is “not just changing relations with Russia at the expense of the others.”
Plans for the United States to construct an anti-terror training center in southern Kyrgyzstan have collapsed. The demise of the project raises concerns about stabilization prospects in southern Kyrgyzstan, a region that is still searching to regain a sense of equilibrium following an outburst of inter-ethnic violence in June.
