Last month (July 2014), a World Bank assessment explicitly approved the technical, economic and social aspects of the construction of the planned Rogun hydropower plant (Rogun HPP). The conclusions vindicate Tajikistan, which has hoped to build this hydroelectric dam for years. Uzbekistan, on the other... MORE

On August 4, the Ukrainian media widely reported on the arrest of Vladimir Mukhtarov, the major-general of Ukraine’s Cossack community. According to a statement by the prosecutor’s office of Luhansk province, Mukhtarov is suspected of having organized several “terrorist groups” near the town of Severodonetsk.... MORE

President Xi Jinping of China proposed a new Asian security concept on May 21, 2014 at the fourth summit of the Conference on Interaction and Confidence-Building Measures in Asia (CICA). He called on Asian countries to pursue “common, comprehensive, cooperative and sustainable security” based on... MORE

In June 2014, Central Asian media (centrasia.ru, June 19; avesta.tj, kursiv.kz, June 20) widely republished a June 18 article by EurasiaNet that analyzed the United States Defense Department’s latest biannual report to Congress regarding the implementation of its Drug Interdiction and Counter-Drug Activities program in... MORE

Since Russia’s “annexation” of Crimea and the start of the Russia-backed “rebellion” in Donbas (eastern Ukrainian region encompassing Donetsk and Luhansk provinces), Central Asian countries have become concerned about their citizens joining the pro-Russia forces in Ukraine as “mercenaries.” Prior to the Ukraine crisis, the... MORE

Apart from closer economic and trade ties, the Eurasian Economic Union (EEU), which its three founding members—Russia, Kazakhstan and Belarus—expect to launch as early as next January, also foresees increased cooperation in the scientific field, with an emphasis on innovations. While Russia and Kazakhstan have... MORE

Moscow is using much the same strategy to punish and rein in Tashkent for its pro-Western tilt that it has used against Kyiv: promoting separatism in Karakalpakstan (see EDM, windowoneurasia2.blogspot.com, June 13) and organizing the regional power grid in Central Asia in such a way... MORE

On May 21, two people were killed by law enforcement officers in Tajikistan’s eastern city of Khorog (the capital of the Gorno-Badakhshan Autonomous Province, located in the eastern half of Tajikistan, in the Pamir Mountains region). The police opened fire on a crowd that had... MORE

The ceremony in Astana last Thursday (May 29) on signing the Eurasian Economic Union between Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan was a surprisingly business-like affair. The lack of fanfare reflected the mood of Kazakhstani President Nursultan Nazarbaev, who was not altogether pleased with how his old... MORE

On May 29, in the Kazakhstani capital of Astana, the presidents of Russia, Kazakhstan and Belarus signed a treaty to form the Eurasian Economic Union (EaEU)—a post-Soviet reintegration project vigorously pursued by President Vladimir Putin. The EaEU will come into being next January, after the... MORE