Latest Articles about Central Asia
THREE PARTIES TO CONTEST UKRAINIAN PARLIAMENTARY ELECTIONS
The March 26 parliamentary election in Ukraine will be contested by an unprecedented 45 parties and blocs, but this impressive number is misleading. Opinion polls show that over 30 of them have nothing to hope for, while four to six parties will be struggling to... MORE
DUSHANBE WELCOMES MILITARY AID, BUT WITHOUT DEMOCRATIC STRINGS ATTACHED
Tajikistan's government, committed to the improvement and gradual reform of the armed forces and security services, sent a worrying signal this week by rescinding its experiment with contract servicemen within its army. This may be interpreted in some quarters as a gambit on the part... MORE
ROSNEFT EXPANDING ITS ROLE IN KAZAKHSTAN
The chairman of Russia's state oil company Rosneft, Sergei Bogdanchikov, has completed a round of discussions in Kazakhstan with Kazakhstan's Prime Minister Daniyal Akhmetov, Energy and Mineral Resources Minister Baktykozha Izmukhambetov, and the KazMunayGaz state oil and gas company management. During the concluding news conference... MORE
TURKMEN GAS PRICE HIKE, DEBT COLLECTION CLAIMS COMPLICATE UKRAINE’S SITUATION
Turkmenistan has taken two steps in quick succession that pose severe problems for Ukraine's gas supplies. Ashgabat will raise the gas price in line with international market trends, and is demanding prompt payment of Ukraine's arrears for past deliveries of Turkmen gas. Missteps by Ukrainian... MORE
KAZAKH NATIONAL SECURITY COMMITTEE IMPLICATED IN DEATH OF ANTI-NAZARBAYEV POLITICIAN
More and more active opponents of the current regime in Kazakhstan are dying in mysterious deaths. The latest victim is Altynbek Sarsenbayev, the 43-year-old co-chairman of the Naghyz Ak Zhol (True Bright Path) political party and one of the leaders of the "For a Fair... MORE
The Foreign Makeup of Afghan Suicide Bombers
The recent arrests of several foreign fighters, allegedly organizing or carrying out terrorist attacks in Afghanistan, demonstrate how Afghanistan is attracting international suicide bombers. According to the Afghan Interior Ministry, in the past two months police have arrested some nine foreigners—most of them Pakistani nationals—under... MORE
RUSSIA AUGMENTING AIR BASE IN KYRGYZSTAN
Russia's Air Force commander-in-chief General Vladimir Mikhailov, along with Security Council Deputy Secretary Yuri Zubakov and CIS Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) Secretary-General Nikolai Bordyuzha, held talks February 16-18 in Kyrgyzstan on augmenting Russia's Kant air base near Bishkek. The Russian side did not negotiate,... MORE
NEW RUSSIAN COMMANDER FOR 201st MOTORIZED RIFLE DIVISION IN DUSHANBE
On February 17 Tajikistan's President Emomali Rahmonov received Colonel Alexei Zavizyon as the new commander of the Russian 201st Motorized Rifle Division (MRD) based in Tajikistan. The otherwise normal passing of the former commander of the base was noted for its emphasis on the renewed... MORE
CHINA OBSTRUCTS RIVER MANAGEMENT TALKS WITH KAZAKHSTAN
Over the last decade Kazakhstan and China have conducted a wide range of talks on the environmental safety of shared rivers and the use of joint water resources. Beijing took every occasion to deny on official levels that China was building dams in the Irtysh... MORE
History Overtakes Optimism in Afghanistan
Every rule has an exception and Afghanistan seems to be the rock-solid exception to the rule that history never repeats itself. The increasingly emboldened insurgency now confronted by the U.S.-led coalition in Afghanistan is eerily similar to the insurgencies previously initiated, fought, and lost by... MORE