S. Frederick Starr

S. Frederick Starr is the "founding chairman of the Central Asia-Caucasus Institute; began work in the Turkic world as an archaeologist in Turkey and went on to found the Kennan Institute for Advanced Russian Studies, which opened U.S. research contact with Central Asia; served as vice president of Tulane University and president of Oberlin College and the Aspen Institute; has advised three U.S. presidents on -Russian/Eurasian affairs and chaired external advisory panel on U.S. government-sponsored research on the region; organized and co-authored first comprehensive strategic assessment of Central Asia, the Caucasus and Afghanistan for the Joint Chiefs of Staff in 1999 and has followed up by close involvement in drafting of recent U.S. legislation affecting the region; Ph.D., history, Princeton University."

Failing to disclose Kazakhstan funding for reports
In September 2008, it was revealed that the Kazakhstan government had paid John Hopkins University's Central Asia-Caucasus Institute to author three reports about the country. The arrangement was brokered through APCO Worldwide, Kazakhstan's Washington DC lobbying firm. The Kazakh government paid $52,300 for reports titled "Kazakhstan's New Middle Class" and "Parliament and Political Parties in Kazakhstan." A third report, "Kazakhstan in its Neighborhood," was "also underwritten by the government," but lobbying reports that would disclose the amount paid for it are not yet available. The reports, issued by the Central Asia-Caucasus Institute at Johns Hopkins, do not disclose the Kazakhstan funding. Institute director S. Frederick Starr said their "relationship was only with the lobbying firm and not directly with the government." He added that "the entire editorial process was 100 percent in our hands." The author of the third report, Hudson Institute fellow Richard Weitz, said, "It's an important topic so I would have written about it anyway." The Kazakhstan funding also required the Johns Hopkins Institute to sponsor "think tank discussions" on each report, "sponsored by the Central Asia-Caucasus Institute."

Affiliations

 * Former Member, American Committee for Peace in Chechnya
 * Trustee, Eurasia Foundation
 * Advisor (2003), Civil Society International

Related SourceWatch articles

 * Kazakhstan