Foreign Policy Blogs

Russia & Central Asia

Central Asia: Revisiting "Demographic Upheavals"

Central Asia: Revisiting "Demographic Upheavals"

The first tidal wave In 1996, Martha Brill Olcott wrote an important paper on the pressures for migration in Central Asia during the 1990's: “Demographic upheavals in Central Asia.”  In this paper, she discussed the many Central Asian natives, primarily of Russian ethnicity, who picked up stakes and left the five newly-independent Central Asian states […]

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Central Asia: reducing income inequality, part 2

Central Asia: reducing income inequality, part 2

In part 1 of this series, I reviewed a joint presentation of The Brookings Institution and UNU on the unequal distribution of wealth under globalizing conditions.  Once again, states are charged with redistributing this income through policy planning and the social contract, and courting investment from other states, international organizations, and most of all, transnational […]

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Central Asia: reducing income inequality, part 1

Central Asia: reducing income inequality, part 1

One long-held belief in globalization literature is that developed nations find themselves torn between the lure of expanding investment opportunities at the same time that jobs for its middle and lower class begins to fall apart.  A lecture on "The Impact of Globalization on the World's Poor" at The Brookings Institution announced a new study […]

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Central Asia: That N.G.G. metaphor

Central Asia: That N.G.G. metaphor

Last week, I posted critical thinking from the blogosphere on the metaphors commonly used when discussing Afghanistan. Now I want to contribute my own two cents on a common metaphor used in Central Asia: The New Great Game.   The N.G.G. is a term that now stands for more than one aspect of Central Asian affairs, which has confused the set of […]

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Russia: US putting strings on ADB membership

Russia: US putting strings on ADB membership

Russia is accusing the US of tying strings to its accession to the Asian Development Bank, saying that the US expects Russia to complete debt write-offs to Afghanistan and Iraq before it will sponsor its ADB membership.  This new development ostensibly arrived during the ADB meeting in Kyoto earlier this month, RIA Novosti reported.  Japan […]

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Central Asia: CSTO planning military increase

Russia's Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) is planning new military contingency plans in Central Asia, according to today's Ria Novosti article. The CSTO military activities include anti-terror military training exercises.

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Two years past: Andijan's heroine, witness

Two years past: Andijan's heroine, witness

As Nathan Hamm at registan.net reminded me, today marks the second aniversary of the Andijan Massacre.  Central Asia watchers know that this horrific event has intensified the conduct of internal control within Uzbekistan, and changed diplomatic discourse regarding Central Asia ever since. Andijan's heroine is Mahbuba Zokirova, the lone witness in the Andijan trials to contradict the […]

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Turkey, Central Asia, & 'best-laid' plans

Turkey, Central Asia, & 'best-laid' plans

Yesterday, I attended the Third Annual Sakip Sabanci lecture at The Brookings Institution, a joint presentation of Sabanci University and Brookings.  The lecture series is devoted to developing scholarship concerning Turkey's relationships in the international system.  The speaker was former Ambassador Richard Holbrooke, who has been involved in U.S. diplomatic efforts since at least the Vietnam War, through […]

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Casual Friday: Roughing It–First US nation-building was domestic

Casual Friday: Roughing It–First US nation-building was domestic

US diplomacy in the developing world has often failed to capitalize on its full array of experience with national development.  State and nation-building literature focuses upon the present, but the past reveals how the US accomplished its own nation-building–and how supremely difficult this 200-plus year project has been.  I’m talking about the Wild West.  Go ahead and laugh, because a. this will probably […]

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Afghanistan: Making distinctions, exposing clichés

Afghanistan: Making distinctions, exposing clichés

Notes from the blogosphere: In April, I collected four posts from three blogs that take apart conventional metaphors and assumptions, either in a large way or small.  These phrases have taken on the ring of tired, unhappy, and uninteresting truth–but may not be true.  Their constant repetition has led to hopelessness and apathy.  Yet the issues these […]

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Tajikistan enters Iran's NPT fray via economic diplomacy

Tajikistan enters Iran's NPT fray via economic diplomacy

Tajikistan's President Rahmon has been visiting Iran as head of his country's economic delegation.  It appears to have been a fruitful meeting for both sides: Transportation and Energy: New initiatives on land, rail, and air transport were agreed upon between the two countries.  This is extremely important news, as transport via Uzbekistan for Tajikistan's commerce […]

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Umida Niyazova sentence lifted after changed plea

Umida Niyazova sentence lifted after changed plea

According to BBC, journalist Umida Niyazova has had her sentence lifted because she has changed her trial plea from ‘not guilty’ to guilty, and because the judge had compassion over separating a mother from her 2-year-old boy.  She recanted her association with human rights groups and others, citing ‘undue influence from her environment’.   I remain grateful for her brilliant work through discouraging […]

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Kyrgyzstan: Bermet Akaeva's curfew, charges

Kyrgyzstan: Bermet Akaeva's curfew, charges

The daughter of former President Akaev, Bermet Akaeva, was interrogated again on May 5th for 4 hours–between 10 am and 2 pm.  This curious scheduling information is related to Ms. Akaeva's previous interrogation, which put her into the hospital, and lasted until after 10pm at night.  Following the interrogation, Ms. Akaeva has been put under house […]

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Uzbekistan: Beep beep! New auto investment

Uzbekistan: Beep beep! New auto investment

Yes, trade can drive on in where pastors fear to tread: Edmund's, a trade group following the auto industry, reports that auto manufacturer GM-Daewoo has bought into the UZ-Daewoo plant in Asaka, a city in the Andijan region of Uzbekistan.  The article continues with a fine and high disregard for previous asset expropriation of foreign business, including […]

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Dateline, Bangkok: Heading for high ground

Dateline, Bangkok: Heading for high ground

My colleague Bill Hewitt at the FPA Climate Change Blog has posted an overview of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) activities over the last week in Bangkok, Thailand.   The bad news is no news: he isn't forecasting universally useful political agreement, with critical states dragging their feet (uh, that would be the U.S., […]

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