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Latest Articles about Central Asia
CLANS, CRIME, AND POWER IN KYRGYZSTAN
Despite their assassinations in recent months, Jyrgalbek Surabaldiyev, Bayaman Erkinbayev, and Tynychbek Akmatbayev remain influential in Kyrgyz politics. Now the slain parliamentarians' closest family members are struggling for power. Surabaldiyev's nephew, Erkinbayev's widow, and Akmatbayev's brother are going to compete for their loved ones' now-vacant... MORE
KAZAKH OPPOSITION ACTIVIST MYSTERIOUSLY DIES AHEAD OF PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION
The sudden death of Zamanbek Nurkadilov, a prominent opposition activist in Kazakhstan, has triggered a flurry of speculation that is raising the tension level ahead of the December 4 presidential election. Nurkadilov's wife, the popular singer Makpal Zhunusova, found him dead in their home in... MORE
ANDIJAN SHOW TRIAL VERDICT CONDEMNED BY WEST
The first criminal trial related to the May uprising in Andijan, Uzbekistan, ended in Tashkent on November 14. The Supreme Court of Uzbekistan sentenced the 15 defendants to prison terms ranging from 14 to 20 years. According to Judge Bakhtier Dzhamalov, the investigation proved that... MORE
CHINESE NEED RUSSIAN OIL TO FILL PIPELINE FROM KAZAKHSTAN
Mesmerized by the huge hydrocarbon export opportunities offered by China's rapidly developing Xinjiang province, last year Kazakhstan began building the Atasu-Alashankou oil pipeline to connect western China with oilfields in Aktobe region, western Kazakhstan. The daunting adventure, hailed as the project of the century in... MORE
UZBEKISTAN: ENTER RUSSIA
The alliance treaty of Russia and Uzbekistan, signed on November 14 in Moscow, painfully illustrates Washington's declining plausibility as a buttress of security and stability in Central Asian perceptions, particularly that of the region's strategic linchpin country Uzbekistan. Those perceptions are traceable to U.S. policy... MORE
UZBEKISTAN: EXIT AMERICA
Tashkent's now-official switch of alliances completes the reversal of a cycle that had begun with Uzbekistan's attendance at NATO's 1999 Washington summit, its abandonment of the CIS Collective Security Treaty that same year, and accession to the U.S.-supported GUAM (Georgia, Ukraine, Azerbaijan, Moldova) group. Uzbekistan... MORE
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PUTIN PLEDGES TO BACK UP KARIMOV IN A CRISIS
Russia and Uzbekistan have formally signed a new military alliance agreement with far-reaching consequences for bilateral relations between the two states and for Central Asia. Russian President Vladimir Putin invited Uzbek President Islam Karimov to Moscow in order to sign the treaty on November 14.... MORE
RUSSIA’S WARMING TOWARD UZBEKISTAN MAY DAMAGE RELATIONS WITH THE WEST
As the Kremlin inked an alliance with Uzbekistan this week, the European Union banned arms sales to Tashkent and imposed visa restrictions on top Uzbek officials. While Russia may have scored a geopolitical victory in the short term, it will likely lose in the long... MORE
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COLLECTIVE SECURITY GROUP SEEKS TO ESTABLISH ITS IDENTITY, AVOID MERGERS
Russia's efforts to promote a regional military bloc with five Soviet successor states have been stymied by NATO's refusal to treat the grouping as an equal partner. Officially, the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) seeks to ensure the security and territorial integrity of its member... MORE
NGOs WANT KYRGYZ TO BE THE SOLE STATE LANGUAGE OF KYRGYZSTAN
Several days before Kyrgyz President Kurmanbek Bakiyev presented the draft law "On the Introduction of Changes and Additions to the Constitution of the Kyrgyz Republic" for public discussion, a number of local national movements raised the question of elevating the status of the Kyrgyz language... MORE