| |
|
| |
|
This month Washington whose commitment to fighting drug production in the US occupied Afghanistan is widely called into question rolled out a new plan of coordinating the activities of Central Asian republic's anti-narcotic agencies. The initiative was, however, promptly blocked as potentially counterproductive by Russia, the country hit hardest by the Afghan drug output... The US agenda behind the initiative is to gain stronger political and military positions in Central Asia, while Washington actually lacks the resolve to take practical steps towards suppressing Afghan drug production and trafficking...
Aleksandr SHUSTOV | 26.02.2012 |
|
| |
|
Russia can't realistically hope to achieve geostrategic stability unless it manages to entrain Ukraine. As a result, the task of precluding synergies between the two countries occupies a significant line on the US and EU foreign-policy agendas. Russian premier Vladimir Putin's opinion piece published in Izvestia in 2011 - "A new integration project for Eurasia: The future in the making" – where he puts forward a case for building a Eurasian union in the post-Soviet space, simply had to come under fire in the West...
Yuri ANDREEV | 19.01.2012 |
|
| |
|
The United States’ defence strategy unveiled by President Barack Obama in Washington on January 5 has been occasioned by the need to slash the spending of the Pentagon by nearly half a trillion dollars over the next decade... So, is this the end of history? Is the US imperialism on retreat on the world arena? Are the Marines packing bags and returning home for family reunion and for a life happily ever after? Actually, the defence strategy document is deceptive. The more things seemed to change, the more they would remain the same. The heart of the matter is that the United States is making adjustments by way of preparing for another Cold War, and unlike Cold War I against the Soviet Union, this will be primarily fought in the Asia-Pacific...
Melkulangara BHADRAKUMAR | 13.01.2012 |
|
| |
|
In the past few months Kazakhstan, once the quietest country in Central Asia, has turned into a hotbed of extremism... Unrest in Kazakh cities is gaining pace ahead of next month`s parliamentary elections in the country and presidential elections in the years to come. Terror threat has long become a major issue of concern in the country`s domestic policy. And one should not ignore that in the north Kazakhstan has the world`s longest 7,000 km and poorly guarded border with the Russian Federation...
Aleksandr SHUSTOV | 18.12.2011 |
|
| |
|
One might be tempted to regard Russian premier V. Putin's paper “A new integration project for Eurasia: The future in the making”, which saw the light of day in Izvestia on October 3, 2011, as the presidential front-runner's sketchily laid out program, but upon scrutiny that appears to be only one part of a wider picture. The opinion piece momentarily ignited wide-scale controversy in and outside of Russia and highlighted the ongoing clash of positions on global development...
Elena PONOMAREVA | 09.10.2011 |
|
| |
|
Russian general staff chief Gen. N. Makarov warned at a media briefing in Moscow on September 12 that revolutions patterned on the Libyan one can recur in Central Asia... Lack of direct access to Central Asia from the traditional NATO responsibility zone would put serious obstacles in the way of an intervention comparable to the one recently launched against Libya. At the moment the transit routes used to supply NATO bases in Afghanistan and Kyrgyzstan are entirely dependent on Russia, Kazakhstan, and Uzbekistan...
Aleksandr SHUSTOV | 19.09.2011 |
|
| |
|
A wave of anti-government protests in the Arab world has made us think about whether such events are possible in other parts of the planet... Taking into account geographical location of Afghanistan, Pakistan, the Xinjiang autonomous district of China and other hotbeds of instability, as well as geopolitics of the Central Asian region which has common borders with Russia, China, India and Iran, the consequences of possible unrest will do the former Soviet republics more harm than to Libya.
Aleksandr SHUSTOV | 16.03.2011 |
|
| |
|
In terms of time in power Nazarbayev is the absolute leader among the heads of the states of the former USSR... The repetition of the “Tunisian-Egyptian scenario” in Kazakhstan, which seems unbelievable to many people, has been regularly mentioned in the commentaries of the experts and statements of the officials in Astana...
Aleksandr SHUSTOV | 06.02.2011 |
|
| |
|
The present list of top 10 developments in Central Asia in 2010 was compiled on the basis of the author's assessment of their impact on the region's political and socioeconomic landscape. In any case, the developments surveyed below will likely have enduring repercussions for Central Asia...
Aleksandr SHUSTOV | 18.01.2011 |
|
| |
|
The beginning of a new political season in Kazakhstan has been marked by a growing tensions between clans.This time the defeat was faced by powefrul 'southern' clans who for quite a long time had been enjoying leading positions in the country`s governing bodies.It may be that external manifestations of this confronation are nothing more but an echo of fierce fight for the post of Nursultan Nazarbayev`s successor...
Aleksandr SHUSTOV | 26.10.2010 |
|
