Political Consulting

•  Consulted with US Department of Defense, 2004 – present. 

•  Consulted with Canadian Armed Forces in Kandahar, Afghanistan, 2006 – 2007. 

•  Consultant, RAND Corporation.  January – June, 2006. 

•  Panelist, Roundtable: Chechnya [sic]: Past, Present, Future, Central Eurasian Studies Society – VI, Boston University, 30 September – 2 October 2005. 

•  Consulted with members of RAND Corporation on stability in the Caucasus, February – May 2005. 

•  Advised the Chechen Foreign Minister in exile, Ilyas Akhmadov, 3 December 2004. 

•  Contractual Consultant, responsible for the Caucasus, United States Department of State, 1 April 2001 -31 March 2002. 

•  Advised Foreign Affairs on a continual basis regarding the Caucasus since early 1999. 

•  I advised United States Department of State on possible refugee and humanitarian programs in Chechnya and elsewhere in the North Caucasus.  4 November 1999. 

•  Advised the First Secretary of the Japanese Embassy, Washington, D.C., Dr. Masayuki Miyamoto, on conditions in the Caucasus.  4 November 1999. 

•  Advised State Department and the School of Advanced International Studies at Johns Hopkins University (Washington campus, Paul H. Nitze School of Diplomacy), on developments in the Caucasus.  September - November  1999 

•  Served as a diplomatic back channel between the Russians and Chechens regarding deteriorating relations and the prospects for war. September 1999. 

•  Upon request of the Russian Embassy in Washington I advised then Prime Minister Sergei Stepashin about the dangers of renewing conflict with Chechen Fundamentalist Moslems.  June 1999. 

•  Upon request of the Russian Embassy in Washington I have advised President Boris Yeltsin regarding an upcoming meeting between him and President Aslan Maskhadov on ways to strengthen the position of Maskhadov and the secularists in Chechnya, 22 April.  This meeting was never held.  June 1999. 

•  Advised the Chechen Ambassador-designate to the United States, Löma Usmanov, on his country's position with regard to a range of political issues, both regarding relations with the West and with Russia.  3 March (in Ottawa), 4 June (by telephone) 1999. 

•  Discussed Chinese diplomatic overtures and oil politics in Central Asia with the Russian Embassy in Washington.  November 1998. 

•  Upon request the Russian Embassy in Washington I advised Russian Prime Minister Yevgeny Primakov regarding negotiations between him and the Chechen president, Aslan Maskhadov, resulting in a successful parley between the two, 8 and 27 October 1998.  August – September 1998. 

•  Advised the Atlantic Council of the United States (NATO) on the Caucasus and Central Asia.  18-20 March 1998.           

•  Advised the Russian Embassy in Washington, D. C., regarding the unrest in Chechnya and the neighbouring Republic of Daghestan.  8 January 1998. 

•  Advised the Russian Embassy in Washington, D.C., regarding the visit of the Chechen President, Aslan Maskhadov, to the United States, 5-21 November, with particular emphasis on understanding American motives in this sensitive matter and in how best to react to this potentially gross breach of diplomatic protocol and how to avoid serious deterioration in Russian - American relations.  1997.

 •  Memorandum of policy recommendations to Stephen Lee, Director, Canadian Centre for Foreign Policy Development on the Caucasus, Central Asia, and China.  October 1996. 

•  Advised the Chechen "Foreign Ministry" regarding their accord with Moscow.  September 1996. 

•  Advised Aleksandr Lebed, head of the Russian Security Council, regarding negotiations with the Chechens.  August 1996.

•  Wrote memoranda to the Department of State and the National Intelligence Council urging a reappraisal of Aleksandr Lebed.  This led to a reversal of a previous, strongly negative assessment.  My more balanced assessment of him was vindicated by his success in reaching a truce with the Chechens.  It was also influential in that it set the basis for his visit to Washington in November, and to his attendance at President Clinton's inaugural ball in January 1997.  July 1996. 

•  Advised an official, Andreas Weichert, of Foreign Affairs, regarding matters in the Caucasus.  (He was posted to Georgia in January 1997.)   June – December 1996. 

•  Member of The Atlantic Council, Working Group on Policy Formation for Central Asia, The Program on International Security, contributing to an effort to formulate American and Western interests in inner Eurasia and its new states.  April 1996 – March 2000. 

•  Advised Dr. Emil Pain, Special Advisor to President Boris Yeltsin, regarding peace prospects in the Chechen war, with continuing advice given to the Russian Embassy in Washington, D.C., on this conflict. February - March 1996. 

•  Advised General Jokhar Dudaev on peace prospects prior to his assassination on April 21, 1996.  

•  Participated in preventive diplomacy negotiations between the Abkhazians and Georgians, entitled Finding Common Cause in the Caucasus, sponsored by the Center for Political Leadership and Participation, the Center for International Development and Conflict Management, and Partners in Conflict Program, University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland.  20  October 1995. 

•  Advised the OSCE mission to Grozny, and with Adam Wasserman, Policy Planning, State Department.  March 1995. 

•  Formulated peace initiatives for the late General Jokhar Dudaev of Chechnya, for Ambassador Thomas Pickering, U.S. Embassy, Moscow, and for officials of the Russian Embassy, Washington.  I am responsible for having suggested that Moscow deal with Chechen Field Commander (now President) Aslan Maskhadov. February 1995 to April 1996 

•  Advised (regarding the Russo-Chechen war)

            Ambassador Thomas R. Pickering, U.S. Embassy, Moscow

            Thomas Graham, First Secretary, Political Section, U.S. Embassy, Moscow,

            George Kolt, National Intelligence Officer, Russia-Eurasia, National Intelligence Council, Washington, D.C.,

            Mark Nichols, head of the Emergency Chechnya group, USAID and Department of State, Washington, D.C., and

            the U.S. Senate Committee on Foreign Relations.

            January 1995 – August 1996. 

•  Advised Mr. Dennis Pluchinsky, US Department of State, Intelligence and Threat Analysis, Office of Diplomatic Security, regarding security issues in the Caucasus.  June –December 1994. 

•  The President of the Chechen-Ingush Society of North America, Prof. Mohammed Shashani, delivered my invited paper, "A Brief Comment Upon Chechen - Russian Relations," for me at an international conference in Grozny, capital of the self-proclaimed Chechen Republic.  20-24  May 1994. 

•  Worked with the Center for Sustainable Democracy in Georgia (an affiliate of the Institute for Foreign Policy Analysis and the Gorbachev Foundation).  May 1994. 

•  Worked with USIA to organize visits of Russian and Caucasian dignitaries to the United States.  May 1994. 

•  Advised Policy Planning, of State Department, and the National Intelligence Officer for Russia - Eurasia, National Intelligence Council on tensions in the North Caucasus.  7-20 March 1994. 

•  Delivered a briefing to a group at the United States Department of State regarding the Caucasus generally and Abkhazia and Georgia specifically.  I also consulted with a top official, Thomas Graham, in Policy Planning.  2 March 1994. 

•  Advised Vladislav Ardzinba, Chairman of Abkhazia and Stanislav Lakoba, Speaker of the Abkhazian Parliament, during their visit to the United Nations, Geneva and New York, February 1994 and March 1994. 

•  Advised the Secretary General of the United Nations, Dr. Butros-Ghali, as well as people at State Department and the National Intelligence Council, regarding Russian assistance in Bosnia.  I was told that this played a key role in recruiting Russian assistance in this conflict. 14 February 1994. 

•  I was instrumental in arranging a US tourist visa for Jokhar Dudaev, but misadventures in Istanbul precluding his utilizing it, January 1994. 

•  In March, July, and August 1993 I issued a report on current happenings and their possible significance, entitled "Caucasus Update," on an occasional basis to a circle of twenty-five interested officials, analysts, and scholars. 

•  Advised the Second Secretary, Political Section, United States Embassy, Moscow on the Caucasus. for in this capacity, I interviewed:

            Alan Chochiev, Speaker of the Parliament, South Ossetia;

            Aleksandr Dzasokhov, MP in Russian Parliament;

            Igor Akhba, Plenipotentiary for Abkhazia in Russia;

            Aleks Iskandarian, Armenian journalist;

            Alan Kasaev, Ossetian journalist, head of Caucasus Research Center;

            Musa Shanibov, President, Confederation of Caucasian Peoples;

            Anatoli Emouzov, Foreign Minister, Kabardino-Balkaria;

            Sergei Akopov, Chief of Protocol, Kabardino-Balkaria;

            Svetlana Danilova, MP in Kabardino-Balkarian Parliament and leader of the Circassian Jewish Community of Nalchik;

            Aslan Jarimov, President of Adygheya;

            Ruslan Panush, Foreign Minister, Adygheya.  August 1993. 

•  Advised Dr. Yuri Kalmykov, Minister of Justice of the Russian Federation, former PM of the Russian Parliament, President of the International Circassian Association, representing the Confederation of Caucasian Peoples in Washington, 24-26 February 1993. 

•  The Voice of America, the United States Information Agency, advisor on the Caucasus, 1992. 

•  Library of Congress (Foreign Affairs and national Defence division), advisor on strategic matters concerning the Caucasus, (1992-3) 

•  United States Department of State (to the Russian Sub-Desk of the Independent States and Commonwealth Affairs Desk, and to the Strategic Planning office), advisor on strategic matters concerning the Caucasus, (1992-3). 

•  The first Abkhazian Human Rights Mission to Washington, D.C., (head delegate Dr. Natela Akaba), advisor, accompanying the group on their rounds of meetings and placing their position into a wider Caucasian context for various officials, 4-10 December 1992. 

•  The Republic of Adygheya (Russian Confederation), advisor to President. Aslan Jarim(ov), June, 1992.