Last week the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), a regional security body with a total population of 1.5 billion people, held a 10th anniversary summit in the capital of Kazakhstan, Astana. The original “Shanghai Five” was formed in 1996 comprised of China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Tajikistan. In 2001 when Uzbekistan joined the pack, it became […]
Since the Arab Spring the global media seems to have found a new obsession – a preoccupation with the remaining ruling dictators, their powers, legitimacy, impending revolutions, and the viability of totalitarian regimes in general. By the “global media” here I mean the news media (TV, radio, newspapers) and the Internet which also includes social […]
I have recently written about TAPI, the 1,680 km (1,000 mile) $7.6 billion Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India proposed pipeline scheduled for completion in 2016 with a capacity to transfer 90 million cubic meters of gas per day to energy starved South Asia. According to the TAPI agreement, Turkmenistan will supply 38 mmcmd each going to Pakistan and India, […]
On May 3, 2011, the Independent International Commission of Inquiry or the Kyrgyzstan Inquiry Commission (KIC) released its final report on the interethnic violence and clashes between the country’s ethnic Kyrgyz and Uzbek communities last year. The KIC was formed based on an initiative from the Nordic countries for an independent international inquiry and was […]
I came across a series of amazing photographs of the Aral Sea by Radek Skrivanek, a photographer who started visiting and documenting the devastation of the Aral shoreline and the surrounding areas since 2004, and returning to the region many times between 2004 and 2007. You can read more about his fascination with the Aral […]
Young women beside a fountain in a park, Tajikistan, July 2009. © Amnesty International I am a huge fan of the BBC World Service and have been following their Extreme World series of programs – a collection of TV, radio and online coverage that examines the extremes of our planet from education and corruption to attitudes […]
Fifty years ago today, the Soviets blasted off the first man into space from the Baikonur Cosmodrome, deep in the heart of the Kazakh steppe. His name was Yuri Gagarin, a 27-year old outstanding test pilot selected out of the 19 final candidates for the first human spaceflight. He came from very humble roots, born […]
Are you ready for this? Brace yourself and hold on to your seats because the winner of the most competitive, unpredictable, and exciting election in the history of Kazakhstan (sarcasm intended) is….Nursultan Nazarbayev. Really?! Same guy that has been in power since the late ’80s? Yup! This reads like an article from the Onion, but […]
Kazakhstan is gearing up for the snap presidential election that will take place on Sunday, April 3, 2011. No one doubts that the incumbent president Nursultan Nazarbayev will win, which will extend his presidency for another five years and give him a chance to consolidate his rule by grooming a successor (or so he hopes). Earlier […]
Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) reports that Russia has increased tariffs on oil and oil products exported to Tajikistan by as much as 5.3%. This will increase the price of gasoline from the current $232 per ton to more than $250 or even as high as $285 per ton, just in time to squeeze the […]
Happy Nowruz everyone! Today is what people in western culture and the Northern Hemisphere call the spring equinox, but in the east it is known as Nowruz (or as Persian New Year to some). In countries and cultures all across the Middle East and Central Asia, notably Iran, March 21 is Nowruz (or Nawroz in […]
Tomorrow, March 17th, the Asia Society in New York City is hosting a discussion entitled “The Future of Central Asia: A New Great Game?” Its focus is on current dynamics in Central Asia and how today’s developments will impact the region’s future featuring Philip Shishkin, a Bernard Schwartz Fellow at the Asia Society and a […]
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