To offer some sweet relief for your Monday blues, here's some Central Asian geopolitical analytical madness! A couple of weeks ago we discussed the EU's attempts at diversifying CA gas exports to circumvent Russian territory and influence, mainly in Turkmenistan. In addition, on this blog we have talked about China and India's growing role in […]
The world has been facing some tough days recently. Burma's tsunami, western China's earthquake, and the continual rising of food prices has wreaked havoc on many of the world's poorest people. As has been discussed earlier, food prices have been escalating in Central Asis for months now and show no signs of slowing. These rising […]
Just a quick one today folks. If you haven't checked it out yet, make sure to take a look at the post on May 11 ‘A Autocratic Dawn’, I think it raises an important issue that will and has affected CA and the world. EurasiaNet has written a scathing report chronicling the Tajikistan government's voluntary […]
Just as I opine about a growing autocratic threat to the world liberal system I want to introduce a report by the Brookings Institution analyzing weak states, many of which consist of authoritative leadership. Of course yesterday's discussion centered on the Great Powers of China and Russia who do not fair prominently on this list, […]
Robert Kagan, a neoconservative policy analyst and one of presidential candidate John McCain's foreign policy advisors, has a new book warning that the West and its present leading liberal international system has a legitimate challenger in authoritarian Great Powers Russia and China and their alternative political system. Read a brief excerpt of 'the Return of […]
A while back we discussed an upcoming major AIDS conference in Moscow, well the event has arrived and it comes with some positive news. It was the largest Eastern Europe/Central Asia conference ever held and lasted for three days. Around 2,000 participants from over 50 nations took part to assess regional achievements, share results and […]
Writing from this month's annual conference of the World Affairs Council of Northern California, Foreign Policy Blogger Mark Dillen examines, through the comments of conference participants, Russia's political transition, European energy security, and US-European relations. Part II examines the transition of power from President Vladimir Putin to his successor, Dimitri Medvedev. Read the article here.
In his first speech as Russia's new president, Dimitri Medvedev pledged to use his tenure in office to protect and expand economic and civil freedom in the country. But amid the pomp and circumstance surrounding his May 7, 2008, inauguration in the Kremlin's opulent Saint Andrew's Hall, observers are raising questions about whether Medvedev's new […]
Richard Boucher, Assistant Secretary for South and Central Asia gave his ‘The Year Ahead in South and Central Asia‘ news conference a little late this year. Boucher spoke on many topics, which I will break down below, and overall he stated that there's a ‘new sense of momentum and a new sense of energy’ in […]
No matter how advanced our human civilization becomes, creating and then depending on such things as the Internet and cell phones, life for all humans still comes down to one thing, WATER. Central Asia's historically harsh winter this past year has put tremendous strains on all parts of life in the region, from households to […]
For all you lucky readers I have a present…Press Conference reports from US State Department officials about ongoing relations with Central Asia! Calm down please. Acting Deputy Assistant Secretary, Pamela Spratlen (Photo, left) recently made diplomatic visits to Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan and in each destination held a press conference. In Bishkek, she participated in what […]
On April 21st I discussed Turkmenistan-EU's growing energy supply relations, specifically in regards to the building of the Nabucco and Trans-Caspian Pipelines, and yesterday I dropped you a quick article about a recent Memo of Understanding (MoU) between Turkmenistan and India regarding oil and gas cooperation. I have been wanting to discuss India's growing role […]
We have discussed Turkmenistan's ‘opening up’ diplomatically from their isolationist and totalitarian Niyazov era on a few occasions. The nation's participation in the latest NATO Summit, EU Troika, and their warming of relations with Turkey, for instance. I am pleased to report that this ‘opening up’ seems to have some legs: 1. Current President Berdymuhamedov […]
Since the new year, there has been a serious rise in attacks against non-slavic immigrants in Russia, mainly in the city of Moscow. Human rights groups accuse nationalist extremists, with neo-Nazi sympathies, of murdering between 41-53 immigrants, most of which are from Central Asia or the Caucacus. These types of attacks have occurred in recent […]
1. US/NATO-Kazakhstan Cooperation: NATO's Special Representative for the Caucasus and Central Asia, Robert Simmons recently visited Kazakhstan to discuss the ‘Line Communication‘ project. The project involves the railway transit of non-lethal goods through the territories of Russia, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, and Turkmenistan to Afghanistan by NATO forces. Simmons has reported that Russia and NATO exchanged letters […]