The Bug Pit
Most of the speculation surrounding the newly opened Ayni military airfield in Tajikistan centers around Russia and India, as the two countries most likely to use the base.
Kazakhstan's multi-vectored foreign policy is getting a workout these days -- just over a week after the conclusion of the U.S.- and UK-backed Steppe Eagle exercises, Kazakhstan is hosting a Shanghai Cooperation Organization exercise, starting today:
Georgia has lost its first soldier in Afghanistan, Lt. Mukhran Shukvani, a 28-year-old company commander who died in a roadside bomb attack. Another soldier was badly injured in the same attack, losing both his legs.
The military airfield that Tajikistan has been renovating with Indian support has opened:
On Friday September 3, President Emomali Rahmon attended an official ceremony of opening of the renovated Ayni airfield belonging to the Ministry of Defense (MoD)....
The CSTO has faced plenty of (deserved) criticism for its failure to help Kyrgyzstan during the terrible ethnic violence there this summer. But few people have offered advice on how to reform the organization to make it more effective. Dmitry Trenin of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace takes a shot at some constructive criticism.
Turkey's new national security strategy is formally removing Greece, Iran, Iraq and Russia from its official list of "threats" -- but that's not keeping Ankara from going on an unprecedented arms buying spree, including new fighter jets, attack helicopters, tanks and submarines, reports Hurriyet:
The humanitarian impulses of the Manas Transit Center air base in Kyrgyzstan have been well documented. But now they are apparently taking the next step and cooperating directly with the Peace Corps there. From a Manas press release:
How are Tajikistan's chattering classes reacting to the prospect of a U.S.-built antiterror training center on their territory? The newspaper Najot surveyed some political figures and analysts, and found that opinion was mixed, but none of the people they talked to seemed to have strong opinions on either side.
There is a lot of speculation surrounding Russia's future plans for its Black Sea Fleet, primarily because of its role in the 2008 war with Georgia. Comparatively little has been written about the Caspian Flotilla, but Dmitry Gorenburg helps rectify that. There isn't too much action, it appears:
Frigates