Latest Articles about Central Asia
KYRGYZ NGOS REJECT GOVERNMENT’S CRITICISM
Following the Tulip Revolution on March 24, 2005, and amid continuous political instability in the country, Kyrgyz political leaders habitually accuse local non-government organizations for their dependence on foreign financing. Some politicians see local civil society groups cooperating with foreign donors as an encroachment on... MORE
TRANS-ASIA GAS PIPELINE PROJECT LAUNCHED IN KAZAKHSTAN
The volume reserved for Kazakhstan is intended to supply the southern and south-central parts of the country. To that end, under a separate project, KazTransGaz will lay a 1,510 kilometer pipeline, Beyneu-Akbulak, with a first-phase capacity of 5 billion cubic meters annually by mid-2011 and... MORE
CENTRAL ASIA’S WATER PROBLEMS SOAR DURING LONG SUMMER
One of Eurasia’s most intractable legacies dating from the 1991 implosion of Communism is how Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan transited their economies to national sovereignty after being constituent Soviet republics of the USSR. Of all the economic readjustments that the “Stans” have had... MORE
GAZPROM’S EFFORTS IN TURKMENISTAN UNMATCHED BY WEST
Gazprom president Aleksei Miller’s July 24-25 visit to Ashgabat brought Russia closer to its goal of monopolizing Turkmenistan’s proven and probable gas reserves for the next several years. Miller’s visit was the third by Gazprom’s top leaders to Turkmenistan in the last three months and... MORE
ISRAELI-KAZAKH COOPERATION GROWS
Since 1991 Kazakhstan has pursued a multilayered foreign policy, juggling its evolving foreign initiatives from hydrocarbons to military cooperation with its former Communist master Russia through growing relationships with China and the United States. Now a fourth player is entering the market—Israel, not for Kazakhstan’s... MORE
KYRGYZ MINISTER OF JUSTICE CONTINUES PROMOTING LEGALIZATION OF POLYGAMY
Last year prior to the celebration of International Women’s Day on March 8, Kyrgyz Minister of Justice Marat Kaypov proposed to legalize polygamy as a means of fighting poverty and prostitution among women. Although his idea drew public attention, the parliament avoided discussing the minister’s... MORE
RELIGIOUS AUTHORITIES IN KYRGYZSTAN PLAY POLITICS
The question of the spread of Islamic fundamentalism occupies a substantial part of political discourse in Kyrgyzstan. A new bill on “Freedom of religious practices and religious organizations” in particular is being actively discussed within the Kyrgyz government. While Kyrgyzstan’s two mainstream religious organizations, the... MORE
KASHAGAN PROJECT DELAYS SERVE RUSSIAN INTERESTS
At a recent government session Kazakh Prime Minister Karim Massimov congratulated Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources Sauat Mynbayev on the successful outcome of talks with the international Agip KCO consortium developing the Kashagan oil field, the largest deposit found in the Caspian in the... MORE
MEDVEDEV PATIENTLY COURTING CENTRAL ASIAN LEADERS
On July 6 Tajikistan’s President Emomali Rakhmon met Russian President Dmitry Medvedev during their visit to Kazakhstan to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the renaming of Astana. Details on the talks are scarce, but with the prospect of another bilateral meeting at the Dushanbe Shanghai... MORE
KAZAKHSTAN HOSTS OSCE PARLIAMENTARY ASSEMBLY
The 17th session of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly hosted by Kazakhstan in Astana from June 29 to July 3 is generally seen as an outstanding diplomatic victory for Kazakhstan on its uphill way to political recognition by the Western world. On the other hand, it... MORE