... Rosenblum signaled a shift in the direction of American policy in Central Asia, reflecting some critical economic, political and security developments in the area. The June 9th speech comes after an unprecedented five-country tour of Central Asia-- Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan-- by Secretary of State Kerry last November.
In the same address to the House Foreign Affairs Committee last year, Rosenblum detailed the usual multifold approach to Central Asia— the promotion of state sovereignty, security, economic ...
... centralized decision-making systems, etc.) mean that capitals have an excessive importance for their countries. In the post-Soviet era, no Central Asian country has seen regime change through peripheral conflicts. The partly-Islamist revolt in Andijon, Uzbekistan in May 2005 was crushed swiftly and ruthlessly, although the uprising was definitely the most powerful in the former USSR and the rebels enjoyed massive support among the local population. The December 2011 riot in Mangystaut Region, Kazakhstan’s largest oil producing territory, was quashed with similar alacrity. And on the contrary, imposed control over the capital served as a major factor in the political victory and establishment of a new regime, during the civil war in Tajikistan ...
... seriously attempt to alter the interpretation of events related to that period.
Third, reviving the memory of the Great Patriotic War is an important foreign policy element, primarily vis-à-vis Russia. With good reason, states close to Russia such as Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan celebrate Victory Day in a manner close to Russian both in content (military parade) and semantics (terminology, etc.). Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan have renamed the celebration the Day of Remembrance and Mourning, while Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan adapted to the complicated international environment by shifting the military parades from May 9 to May 7 so that their presidents ...
... to water resource management and increased water discharge in winter and the accumulation of water in reservoirs in summer. Uzbekistan is particularly concerned by the construction of the Sangtuda 2 Hydroelectric Power Plant in Tajikistan, in which Iran ... ... isolation and excessive bureaucracy. Thus, there is a
lack of an established Iranian banking system in Central Asia
(apart from Kazakhstan), which complicates servicing commercial operations.
Table 1.
Exports of Central Asian countries in 2010
Country
Exports ...
... dispositions in the region. After the withdrawal and closure of “Manas” base in Kyrgyzstan, the only country in post-soviet Central Asia with which U.S. can deal is Uzbekistan. The reasoning behind this is clear for any Central Asia observer - Uzbekistan left CSTO, doesn’t have any plans in joining Customs Union and tries to dominate regional competition. Other countries in the region are ruled out by the the very same parameters but with a different modulus sign. Russia is dealing with Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan, providing the two latter with aid and debt forgiveness. At the same time Russia is conducting a very equivocal migration policy concerning labor migrants from Central Asia, this and dubious perspectives of joining ...
... the same leaders for more than 20 years, one faced its president’s death and transition from one “cult of personality” to another. As remaining eternal leaders age, more and more rumors about their successors rise from the media.
Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan face a situation when their leaders are not young - Nursultan Nazarbaev was born in 1940, Islam Karimov - in 1938, both of them are past over their 70’s. Both of them in the past declined the idea of staying in power until the last day ...
... financial sector, the European sovereign debt situation and the Cypriot banking crisis have experts of all kinds riveted to financial issues, while the new Grand Game in Asia is attracting attention from all over. A relatively mature banking sector in Kazakhstan, attempts to overcome uncertainty in Kyrgyzstan and isolationism in Turkmenistan, the obvious dependence of credit institutions in Tajikistan and Uzbekistan on administrative interference – these are part of the diverse set of characteristics that inevitably undermine the strategic initiatives of Russian banks, driving them to clusterization in capital and caution. Are there any opportunities ...
... finally met “borders” as one of the parameters which define the State.
Today there is a big unresolved issue in the whole region - delimitation and demarcation is still unfinished. The only state that finished this process is Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan still has some arguable areas, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan have a lot of borders section to discuss - mainly in Ferghana Valley. Additionally, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan have one more complex problems concerning territories - all of them have enclaves and the juridical aspect of connection ...
