The Next Round of the Great Game
The April uprising in Kyrgyzstan illuminates the latest phase of the Great Game. READ MORE
Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan: Signs of Real Rapprochement
Today the foreground of international relations includes the issues of arrangement and holding of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization Summit in Tashkent this June. The Heads of SCO member-states are constantly substantially exchanging views on the situation within Central Asian region. A significant defining factor is the relations between Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan, which gain the tendency to rapprochement. READ MORE
The Implications of UN-CSTO Cooperation
Kyrgyzstan’s recent upheaval and the war in Afghanistan have obscured the fact that other important developments are occurring in Central Asia. For example, Nikolai Bordyuzha, the secretary-general of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO), announced in March that the Russia-dominated security group and the United Nations would henceforth cooperate in countering terrorism, transnational crime (including illegal arms trafficking), and in settling conflicts. READ MORE
Forthcoming Nato Foreign Ministers Meeting Was Discussed In Riga
On 9 April in Riga, foreign ministers of the Baltic States discussed preparations for the informal meeting of NATO Foreign Ministers on 22-23 April in Tallinn and exchanged opinions regarding NATO’s new Strategic Concept. READ MORE
The UN Accepts CSTO as a Regional Security Organization
On March 18, in Moscow, United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and the Collective Security Treaty Organization’s (CSTO) Secretary-General, Nikolay Bordyuzha, signed a declaration on cooperation between the two secretariats. The document, and the UN’s steps preceding it, can be interpreted as UN recognition of this Russian-led bloc in the “post-Soviet space.” The Russian side will doubtlessly construe the UN’s blessing as a full and unambiguous recognition of the CSTO (Russia, Belarus, Armenia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan). READ MORE
Collective Defense in Central Asia Contradicted by Rising National Spending
Despite the impact of the global economic crisis on all of the economies within the former Soviet Union, averaging a 7 percent decline in GDP in 2009, defense spending has increased in each state with the exception of Belarus (which remained unchanged in 2009 year-on-year at 1.5 percent of GDP). Defense spending, according to an extensive analysis in Nezavisimaya Gazeta, witnessed the sharpest increase in Georgia (4.56 percent of GDP), Armenia (4.07 percent) and Azerbaijan (3.95 percent). In the case of Armenia, this level of defense expenditure proved surprising in the context of its 15 percent decline in GDP in 2009. READ MORE
OSCE Summit in Exchange for Water
Nursultan Nazarbayev has recently paid a visit to Tashkent. Last time in April of 2008 the similar bilateral meeting resulted in a scandal, when Islam Karimov without hesitations harshly reacted on the initiative of Nazarbayev to create the CAU: “the initiative to establish the Central Asia Union is not acceptable for Uzbekistan. I want to declare it once and for all, for there will be no speculations on this subject.” This time everything was different... READ MORE
Holbrooke’s Visit Highlights US-Uzbek Regional Dilemmas and Opportunities
Richard Holbrooke, US Special Representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan, visited Uzbekistan on February 19 as part of a series of meetings across the Central Asian capitals to boost regional support for the military campaign in Afghanistan, as well as cultivating closer collaboration with Uzbekistan. Uzbek President, Islam Karimov, and Holbrooke discussed a range of issues, emphasizing the importance of bilateral efforts aimed at bringing stability to Afghanistan. READ MORE
Tajikistan Facing Water Shortages And Climate Extremes, Report Warns
Falling supplies due to rising temperatures and retreating glaciers could spark conflict between water-stressed countries in the region, says Oxfam READ MORE
For the West, 'Game Over' in Central Asia
Last month, the West officially lost the new "Great Game." The 20-year competition for natural resources and influence in Central Asia between the United States (supported by the European Union), Russia and China has, for now, come to an end, with the outcome in favor of the latter two. Western defeat was already becoming clear with the slow progress of the Nabucco pipeline and the strategic reorientation of some Central Asian republics toward Russia and China. Two recent events, however, confirmed it. READ MORE
