Article
The Caspian Studies Program launched a new Policy Brief series this fall. The briefs analyze issues relating to the Caspian Region and propose policy recommendations where appropriate.
The first in the series, "Putin''s Caspian Policy," takes account of Moscow''s heightened activity in the Caspian and President Putin''s articulation of new policies toward the region. Carol Saivetz, an analyst of Russian foreign policy at Harvard, notes Putin''s determination to reassert Russian influence in the "near abroad" and bring coherence to Moscow''s policy in the Caspian region. She concludes by recommending U.S. responses to the new Russian policies.
http://ksgnotes1.harvard.edu/BCSIA/Library.nsf/pubs/SaivetzPutin
The second in the series, written by Tomas Valasek, a Senior Analyst at the Center for Defense Information, is "Military Cooperation between Georgia, Ukraine, Uzbekistan, Azerbaijan and Moldova in the GUUAM Framework." He argues that as part of the new administration''s policy formation toward the Caucasus, Central Asia, and Russia, the GUUAM group should be taken into account. The member states of this security association, he says, regard the organization very seriously and see it as a vehicle for increasing cooperation with the U.S.
http://ksgnotes1.harvard.edu/BCSIA/Library.nsf/pubs/ValasekGUUAM
The third brief tackles the question of why pipelines and oil investments in the region attract so much international attention. Lucian Pugliaresi, President of LPI Consulting, forecasts an increasing tendency for Gulf producers to try to control prices and argues that Caspian oil can play an important role in maintaining lower world oil prices— thereby countering the power of the Gulf States— through its contribution to a diversification of supply.
http://ksgnotes1.harvard.edu/bcsia/library.nsf/pubs/Pugliaresi