IS EUROVISION THE NEW STALINGRAD? For whatever reason, in Russia this contest is taken very seriously… people feel that the Eurovision Song Contest is like an annual Stalingrad battle.” THE RUSSIA-GEORGIA SPLIT AS PLAYGROUND POLITICS: Saakashvili supposedly lost track of time while doing laps in his hotel pool, arriving at the Kremlin half an hour […]
On April 15, Henry E. Hale, Ph.D. Harvard 1998, an Associate Professor of Political Science and International Affairs at George Washington (GW) University in Washington, DC, who specializes in the comparative study of democratization, federalism, ethnic politics, and international integration, came to speak at the University of Washington at Seattle on the “Logic of Regime […]
These are two phrases chanted by opposing groups during the protest demonstration by a group of about 300 Afghan women yesterday in Kabul. The group of women were voicing their opposition to the recent law passed by the Parliament and signed by President Karzai, which among other items, states that Shiite women in the country […]
In another round of truly awful news for Tajiks, two former Soviet nuclear waste sites located in the northern Sughd region are not adequately sealed and will not be in the near future. Some of the dust has been escaping out of these mounds of waste and contaminating water and soil. So far, the dust […]
As I reported on March 29 and March 30, Russia and Turkmenistan seemed to be headed for a new level of mutually-beneficial relations. They had signed a series of treaties and left only one to be signed, on gas, for a date in the near future, after they had worked out some kinks. Then on […]
For Lenin, the only question that mattered in a revolution was ‘kto – kogo’: who is dominating whom? Today, the questions of which people? and whose power? are seldom directly addressed in the media’s euphoric mentions of ‘people power’ during eruptions of popular protest. However, they often determine the press angle and coverage of the […]
I woke up this morning, opened my laptop, and took a look at my Afghan feeder and found one theme in yesterday’s news, death. If anyone needed to be shown how troubled the conflict still was all they need to hear are these three troubling and sad stories: Afghan officials are reporting that NATO airstrikes […]
A colleague here at FPA brought to my attention last week proposed legislation in the US congress regarding Afghanistan-Pakistan duty-free areas that looks like it may have promise. The legislation, spearheaded by Rep. Chris Van Hollen, would open up segments of Afghan-Pakistan territory to be free trade or duty-free zones. In other words, certain products […]
In sad news for both Russia and Tajikistan, RFE/RL’s Tajik Service reports that at least 300 labor migrants from Tajikistan’s Sughd Province have died in Russia since January 1, 2008. More than half were killed by nationalist skinheads while the rest, about 140, died in accidents or from natural causes. Many deaths are not investigated […]
In advance of the International Fund for Saving the Aral Sea meeting in Almaty on April 28, Uzbekistan’s President, Islam Karimov, has been busy convincing Turkmenistan’s President, Gurbangly Berdymukhamedov, to ally with the downstream Central Asian states against the upstream ones. The Syr Darya and Amu Darya are the only sources for water in the […]
An integral factor in the growth of a stable and prosperous Afghanistan is a functional and legitimate police force. One that the population could depend on to bring order and justice. The attainment of this has been a goal for the nascent Afghan government and international community and President Obama’s announced Afghan strategy put great […]
The Iranian and Kazakh presidents met Monday in the Kazakh capital of Astana and signed a series of mutually beneficial deals that will also pay dividends to other countries. President Nazarbayev said he supports Iran’s right to have nuclear energy but believed it should be developed in a transparent way so as to not worry […]
Here are some Afghan-related issues to Check Out! Check out this intriguing story of the Last Jew in Afghanistan, which features a five minute video interview of you got it, the last Jew in Afghanistan. The short documentary by Oliver Englehart, profiles Zablon Simantov, a Jewish resident of Kabul, explains why he remains despite his […]
Is Stalin being rehabilitated in Putin’s Russia? That’s the fashionable question being asked by the middle-brow press and fanned by such big name historians as Simon Sebag Montefiore and Orlando Figes. A few days ago, even the BBC’s Laurie Taylor jumped aboard and invited Mikhail Ryklin, “one of Russia’s most significant intellectuals” now living in […]
The stronger downstream countries are teaming up to block hydropower projects in their much poorer neighbors ahead of an upcoming conference. This is truly unfortunate as Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan are experiencing political and economic unrest. To make matters worse, Uzbekistan is limiting shipments of gas to Tajikistan over outstanding debt. In a terrible catch-22, Tajikistan […]