The opening ceremony of the Sochi Winter Olympic Games (February 7) was just about picture-perfect, and the sizeable legion of critics, including most of the home-grown disbelievers in the ability of the ruling plutocracy to organize this mega-event, had to eat their words. It is... MORE

On January 17, Kazakhstani President Nursultan Nazarbaev delivered his annual address to the nation, titled “Kazakhstan’s way—2050: common aim, common interests, common future.” The address largely elaborated on the national development plan and ways to achieve the goal of bringing Kazakhstan into the group of... MORE

While most of the worldwide media outlets focused on Euromaidan protests in Kyiv since Ukraine’s withdrawal from signing the Association Agreement with the European Union in November 2013, the signing of a five-year economic agreement between Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych and several Chinese companies went... MORE

On January 22, Kazakhstani President Nursultan Nazarbayev arrived in Davos to attend the 44th session of the World Economic Forum and held a number of bilateral meetings. These included, among others, private conversations with high-level officials of the European Union, the European Bank for Reconstruction... MORE

Amid an ongoing domestic political scandal, Uzbekistan may face another wave of investment capital flight. On January 2, British-Canadian Tethys Petroleum announced its decision to leave Uzbekistan and focus on projects in Kazakhstan and Tajikistan. Tethys Petroleum is a public company listed on the Toronto... MORE

In his January 17 State of the Nation Address, Kazakhstani President Nursultan Nazarbayev reaffirmed the core long-term vision of stable economic development found in the “Kazakhstan-2050” national development strategy that he proposed in his December 2012 address. For example, the president wants to increase Kazakhstan’s per capita... MORE

The European Union–Russia biannual summit, postponed from December 2013 and held on January 28, 2014, and reduced to three hours instead of the customary one and a half or two days, perforce omitted energy from its agenda. The severely abbreviated summit in Brussels had to... MORE

With the backing of the Kremlin, and some help from interested European parties, Gazprom is intent on rolling back the European Union’s Third Energy Legislation Package on EU territory. The Russian government and Gazprom have signed inter-governmental and corporate agreements to build sections of the... MORE

So much self-congratulating has been emanating from the Kremlin following the spectacular triumphs of Russian foreign policy since September 2013, that the court of President Vladimir Putin prefers to ignore the fact that the annual meeting of the World Economic Forum, which took place in... MORE

As 2013 came to a close, China and Russia continued to be Uzbekistan’s most important partners: China as the country’s biggest investor, and Russia as its largest trade partner. However, last year’s signing of the Agreement on Strategic Partnership between Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan made Astana... MORE