The battle for power, and political influence which begets it, is as old as human civilization. Societies and States are not usually left wanting for people who want to be ‘in charge’ or 'take power.’ However, how this is done, as in the process of acquiring and maintaining political power, depends greatly from one location […]
Today I have several stories to treat you to; some old, some new, some interesting, some bor…well you get the idea. Last March, Turkmen President Berdymukhamedov announced his country's second military doctrine. The change appears to be in accord with Turkmenistan's recent more open diplomatic and international posture, a strong departure from its recent isolationist […]
Gone are the heady heroin nights of the nineties, and with them, many of the expats who had come East to trade in the drudgery of their suburban lives for a more visceral, tragic version of humanity. Now that the country brims with the Toyota Priuses (Prii? Priux?), hipsters, libel laws, Time Out Magazine, […]
Lately there has been much talk on this blog and the FPA site about NATO and its role in Afghanistan, and rightly so, but it has just been simply too long since I have talked about the ‘other’ regional alliance with influence in Central Asia, the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO). The Asia Times wrote a […]
Ahmed Rashid a Pakistani journalist/author has a new book called ‘Descent into Chaos: The United States and the Failure of Nation Building in Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Central Asia.’ I have not read the book yet, but here is a review by Philip Bowring and an interview with the Rashid by Radio Free Europe correspondent Abubakar […]
In today's International Herald Tribune, Henry Kissinger delivers a very optimistic assessment of US-Russian relations in the post-Putin era. The king of realpolitik describes the Medvedev period as “a transition from a phase of consolidation to a period of modernization”, one which “may, in retrospect, appear as the beginning of an evolution toward a form […]
The region of Central Asia is home to several functioning and capable radical terrorist groups. Just last May, Interpol rounded up 176 terrorist suspects in Europe from 19 countries, and unfortunately all 5 major CA states were represented. French authorities also announced the arrest of 10 other suspects for financing Islamic terrorist groups, including the […]
Weeks back we discussed the media rollback within the Central Asia states, emphasized in a report by Freedom House, and last week I quickly mentioned a World's Association of Newspapers report that also painted a bleak picture of media rights in CA. Today I have two stories that further showcase the region's not only lack […]
Mysterious message spotted on their website. Will update with more information.
Here are some short snipets with some reading material to get you through the weekend without fresh, red-hot Central Asian news! Continuing our discussion about CA's blood transfusion and HIV/AIDS problem on June 19, here is a more personal and touching story of the consequences of the region's poorly managed and constructed health care system. […]
World Bank President and former US diplomat Robert B. Zoellick met with President Nazarbayev and the Kazak government this week to discuss several joint World Bank/Kazak projects. The two sides announced plans to jointly finance a $2.5 billion road project to help upgrade the trade routes between Asia, especially China, Russia, and all the way […]
Edward Lucas, the Economist's Eastern Europe correspondent, raises a provocative point in his recent article for Standpoint Magazine. It is certainly true that the worst aspects of the Russian system are often a concentrated form of our own worst shortcomings. Indeed, the West has largely lost the moral authority that it enjoyed during the last […]
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