Tag: Central Asia

The Great Succession Game: Central Asian leaders’ silence on succession plans poses a growing threat to stability in this volatile region.

Central Asia
Map of Commonwealth of Independent States, Central Asian States

(Business New Europe – bne.eu – Naubet Bisenov in Almaty – January 23, 2015) In Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan, where ageing leaders run one-man shows that suppress any hint of opposition, the issue of succession resurfaces every time the autocratic presidents are reported to have travelled abroad for medical treatment. That these leaders hide succession plans under a veil of secrecy […]

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The galloping militarisation of Eurasia

Foreign Policy, Security, Visas, Military
Eurasia Map

(opendemocracy.net – Neil Melvin – June 16, 2014) Neil Melvin is director of the Armed Conflict and Conflict Management Programme at SIPRI In recent months, attention has overwhelmingly been focused on Moscow’s actions in Ukraine. But there is a wider and more disturbing process of militarisation underway throughout the Eurasian region. Russia’s annexation of the Crimean peninsula and the deployment […]

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Interfax: Afghan heroin has “killed” at least 500,000 Russians since 2000 – drug watchdog head

Afghanistan, Drugs
Map of Afghanistan and Environs

MOSCOW. May 15 (Interfax) – The director of Russia’s Federal Drug Control Service, Viktor Ivanov, has said there have been at least 500,000 deaths in Russia caused by the use of Afghan heroin since 2000. “Over the past 14 years, since the start of Operation Enduring Freedom, Afghan heroin has killed more than one million people in Eurasia, including at […]

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Turkmenistan: The Achilles Heel Of Central Asian Security

Afghanistan, Central Asia
Map of Turkmenistan and Environs

(RFE/RL – rferl.org – February 16, 2014) Central Asian governments are already on heightened alert over the withdrawal of foreign forces from Afghanistan. This sense of alarm is almost certain to increase in coming months. But in Turkmenistan there does not seem to be the same concern heard in the neighboring Central Asian states. Ashgabat seems content to rely on […]

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RIA Novosti: Russia Concerned at US Plans for Bases in Afghanistan

Afghanistan, United States, U.S.-Russian Relations
Allied Troops on High Ground Overlooking Afghan Valley

MOSCOW, November 20 (RIA Novosti) ­ A senior Russian diplomat has voiced concerns over US plans to retain nine military bases in Afghanistan after their planned withdrawal from the country. Russia’s presidential envoy to Afghanistan, Zamir Kabulov, told RIA Novosti in an interview Wednesday that the bases would “exert a serious influence on the whole vast Asian region and become […]

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Indo-Russian Summit Highlights Emerging Trends in Asian International Relations

Arms Trade, Military Aid, Central Asia, CIS, Customs Union, Eurasian Union, Economy, Business, Investment, Trade, India
India map

(Eurasia Daily Monitor: Volume 10, Issue 199 – Stephen Blank – Jamestown Foundation – jamestown.org – November 6, 2013) Indian Premier Manmohan Singh’s October 21–22 visit to Moscow not only reaffirmed traditional Indo-Russian amity, it also revealed significant trends in Asian developments that affect both parties as well as other key players like the United States, China and Pakistan. In […]

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EVENT & CALL FOR PAPERS: ASN 2014 Convention Call for Papers

Education, Academia, Events, Jobs, Opportunities, Calls for Papers, Nonprofits, Activists, NGO's
Columbia University Campus with Main Building

From: Dominique Arel <darel@uottawa.ca> Subject: ASN 2014 Convention Call for Papers Date: Tue, 17 Sep 2013 Call for Papers 19th Annual World Convention of the Association for the Study of Nationalities (ASN) International Affairs Building, Columbia University, NY Sponsored by the Harriman Institute 24-26 April 2014 www.nationalities.org ***Proposal deadline: 24 October 2013*** [Please note that the deadline is earlier than […]

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Russian citizens are not ready to live with people from central Asia in one country – VTsIOM

Central Asia, Population Disaster, Demographics, Race, Ethnic, Extremism, Xenophobia
Map of Central Asia, Including Commonwealth of Independent States Members

(Interfax – September 11, 2013) Less than 10 percent of Russian citizens are ready to accept people from Central Asia who have lived in Russia for a long time as equals, VTsIOM General Director Valery Fyodorov said. “Tajiks, Uzbeks, and Kyrgyz – those who are in most cases called guest workers – only 8 percent of Russians agree to consider […]

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Economic aid to Central Asian states strategic investment – Russian diplomat

Central Asia
Map of Central Asia, Including Commonwealth of Independent States Members

(Interfax – MOSCOW, September 10, 2013) The Central Asian region is important for Russia, just as Russia is important for Central Asia, Russia’s Deputy Foreign Minister Grigory Karasin said in an interview published by the business daily Kommersant on Tuesday. “In some instances our relations were elevated by mutual agreement to the level of strategic partnership and even allied relations. […]

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The Foreign and Security Policies of the Central Asian States

Central Asia
Map of Central Asia, Including Commonwealth of Independent States Members

(International Relations and Security Network (ISN) – isn.ethz.ch – Stephen Aris for the ISN, senior researcher at the Center for Security Studies (CSS) – 30 July 2013) Despite the potentially suffocating interests of external powers, the Central Asian states still have enough political space to pursue their own foreign and security policy agendas. In today’s Q&A session, the CSS’ Stephen […]

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Central Asia: An Indicator of Russia’s Imperial Aspirations

Central Asia
Map of Central Asia, Including Commonwealth of Independent States Members

(RIA Novosti – Fyodor Lukyanov, Editor-in-Chief, Russia in Global Affairs journal, authoritative source of expertise on Russian foreign policy and global developments) Polish-American political scientist Zbigniew Brzezinski said in the mid-1990s that “without Ukraine, Russia ceases to be an empire, but with Ukraine, suborned and then subordinated, Russia automatically becomes an empire.” This phrase is often used in disputes, both […]

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U.S. Transit Center will be shut down on schedule – Kyrgyz premier

Central Asia, United States, U.S.-Russian Relations
Map of Central Asia, Including Commonwealth of Independent States Members

(Interfax – BISHKEK, July 9, 2013) Kyrgyz Prime Minister Zhantoro Satybaldiyev has denied rumors claiming that the presence of the U.S. Transit Center at Manas International Airport near Bishkek could be prolonged. “These are just rumors. The government submitted a bill renouncing the agreement with the U.S. on the deployment of the Transit Center at Manas Airport to parliament. Parliament […]

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The ‘big game’ in Central Asia is long over

Central Asia
Map of Central Asia, Including Commonwealth of Independent States Members

(Russia Beyond the Headlines – rbth.ru – Sergei Markedonov, special to RBTH – June 27, 2013 – Sergei Markedonov is a visiting research fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, D.C.) What the implications of Bishkek’s decision regarding the lease of the NATO-U.S. transit center at Manas are for Moscow. On June 20, 2013, the parliament […]

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MGIMO Analyst Sees Border Changes Ahead for Central Asia

Central Asia
Map of Central Asia, Including Commonwealth of Independent States Members

(Window on Eurasia – Paul Goble – Staunton, June 18, 2013) Andrey Kazantsev, the director of the Analytic Center of the Russian Foreign Ministry’s Moscow Institute for the Study of International Relations (MGIMO), says that the borders of the countries of the Central Asian region are likely to change over the next century and that this prospect should worry Russian […]

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Aral Sea Stopped Shrinking Says Russian Scientist

Environment
Map of Central Asia, Including Commonwealth of Independent States Members

(RIA Novosti – MOSCOW, June 18, 2013) The Aral Sea, which has been shrinking for almost half a century causing an environmental disaster in Central Asia, has finally stopped drying up, a Russian scientist said on Tuesday. “The sea is currently close to a balance because its surface has shrunk so much that evaporation has gone down too, so that […]

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Russian Influence in Central Asia a Greater Threat than Chinese, Kazakh Nationalist Says

Central Asia, China
Map of Central Asia, Including Commonwealth of Independent States Members

(Window on Eurasia – Paul Goble – Staunton, June 12, 2013) Despite the hysteria about it whipped up in Russian language outlets in Kazakhstan, one commentator says, the growth of Chinese influence in Kazakhstan is far less a threat to the survival of the Kazakh people than the past and present impact of Russian influence on that Central Asian nation. […]

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Russia Aims to Boost Security Alliance in Central Asia

Afghanistan, Central Asia, Foreign Policy, Security, Visas, Military
Map of Central Asia, Including Commonwealth of Independent States Members

(Moscow Times – themoscowtimes.com – Ivan Nechepurenko – May 29, 2013) Ahead of NATO’s planned withdrawal from Afghanistan next year, leaders of the Russia-led Collective Security Treaty Organization have pledged to pool their resources to counter any potential deterioration of the security situation in the region. In an effort to demonstrate the importance of the military alliance, President Vladimir Putin […]

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Russian-US Military Competition in Central Asia Threatens to Compromise Regional Security

Central Asia, NATO, United States, U.S.-Russian Relations
Map of Central Asia, Including Commonwealth of Independent States Members

(Jamestown Foundation – jamestown.org – Eurasia Daily Monitor: Volume 10 – jamestown.org/programs/edm/ – Georgiy Voloshin – March 18, 2013) Following his recent visit to Brussels, the secretary general of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO), Nikolai Bordyuzha, told the Russian press that the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) had been ignoring all attempts to establish a permanent dialogue on security issues […]

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China’s quiet splash in the post-Soviet space

Central Asia, China, Economy, Business, Investment, Trade, Europe, EU
File Photo fo Chinese Military Parade

(opendemocracy.net – Michael Cecire – February 25, 2013) Michael Hikari Cecire is a Black Sea-Eurasia regional analyst and an associate scholar at the Foreign Policy Research Institute, where he contributes to the Project on Democratic Transitions. China’s steadily growing economic expansion throughout the world is a cause of concern for many governments. Eastern Europe and Central Eurasia are no longer […]

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No Plans to End US Cargo Transit via Russia – Deputy FM

Afghanistan, Central Asia, NATO, United States, U.S.-Russian Relations
Map of Afghanistan and Environs

MOSCOW, February 19 (RIA Novosti) – Russia has no plans to end US cargo traffic to Afghanistan via its territory despite differences in relations between the two states, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Gennady Gatilov said on Tuesday. “Cargo transit [to Afghanistan] via Russian territory is an important aspect of our cooperation, and we have no plans to end it,” Gatilov […]

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Afghanistan may be threat to Russia’s security after 2014 – analyst

Afghanistan, Central Asia, Terrorism, United States, U.S.-Russian Relations
Allied Troops on High Ground Overlooking Afghan Valley

(Russia Beyond the Headlines – rbth.ru – Interfax – interfax.ru – February 14, 2013) After the planned withdrawal of U.S. forces and the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) from Afghanistan, this country could become a source of a terrorist threat for Russia and the countries of the region, Army Gen. Anatoly Kulikov, the president of the Club of Commanders, told […]

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NATO pullout from Afghanistan to change Central Asian strategic configuration – CIS ATC

Afghanistan, Central Asia, CIS, Customs Union, Eurasian Union, Terrorism
Map of Afghanistan and Environs

(February 12, 2013 – Interfax) The terrorist activity level on the space around CIS member states is the highest in Afghanistan, CIS Anti-Terrorist Center Head Andrei Novikov said at the sixth meeting of center senior officials. “Afghanistan, a country bordering on CIS member countries, has the highest level of terrorist activity,” he said. The decision to pull out NATO forces […]

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Eurasian Integration No ‘Reincarnation of USSR’ – Nazarbayev

Central Asia, CIS, Customs Union, Eurasian Union, History, Soviet Union
File Photo of Hillary Rodham Clinton with Nazarbayev

ASTANA, January 18 (RIA Novosti) – Former Soviet states’ involvement in Eurasian integration does not herald a return to the Soviet Union, Kazakhstan’s President Nursultan Nazarbayev said on Friday. “We will continue to strive toward our common goal, and I want to stress once again that Eurasian integration, which is proceeding under my personal initiative, has never been, and never […]

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Domestic Stability to Remain Kazakhstan’s Main Priority in 2013

Central Asia
File Photo of Hillary Rodham Clinton with Nazarbayev

(Eurasia Daily Monitor: Volume 10, Issue 8 – Jamestown Foundation – jamestown.org – Georgiy Voloshin – January 16, 2013) The year 2012 was certainly rich in events for Kazakhstan. In mid-January, the early parliamentary elections brought two more parties to the country’s legislative body, although none of them gained enough seats to break Nur Otan’s monopoly. While the diversity of […]

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“The Central Asian countries have problems with Russia, but they can be solved”

Central Asia
Map of Central Asia, Including Commonwealth of Independent States Members

(Vestnik Kavkaza – January 10, 2013 – http://vestnikkavkaza.net/articles/politics/35648.html) Interview by Maria Sidelnikova. Exclusively to Vestnik Kavkaza The head of the Socio-Political Studies Center, Vladimir Yevseyev, told Vestnik Kavkaza about prospects of development of the situation in Central Asia. –    If anything scary happens in Central Asia, should Russia expect a new wave of migrants? –    I don’t think we should […]

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Russian NATO Rep Denies ‘Re-Sovietization’

Central Asia, Europe, EU, History, Soviet Union, Politics, Government, Protests, Elections, United States, U.S.-Russian Relations
Map of Russia and European Region of Former Soviet Union or Commonwealth of Independent States

MOSCOW, December 7 (RIA Novosti) ­ Russian NATO envoy Alexander Grushko refuted on Friday claims by US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton that Russia is aiming to “re-Sovietize” Eastern Europe and Central Asia. “Sovietization is a cliché which, in my opinion, is absolutely incongruous with the actual processes that are taking place throughout the former USSR,” Grushko said during a […]

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Central Asia, the Power-Contest

Afghanistan, Central Asia
U.S. Troops Atop High Ridge in Afghanistan Looking Over Valley

Paul Rogers – www.opendemocracy.net – October 4, 2012 Paul Rogers is professor in the department of peace studies at Bradford University, northern England. He is openDemocracy’s international-security editor, and has been writing a weekly column on global security since 28 September 2001; he also writes a monthly briefing for the Oxford Research Group. His books include Why We’re Losing the […]

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