... Belarus, Moldova and the Baltic states, Central Asia was not a theater of war.
Second, perceptions of the Great Patriotic War in Central Asia are prominently affected by the population’s youthfulness. The average median age there ranges from 21 in Tajikistan to 29 in Kazakhstan
[1]
. Over half of all Central Asians are under 30 years of age, while in Tajikistan youths constitute two thirds of the population. The generation of
victory grandchildren
, i.e. children under 15 years of age, ranges ...
... countries
[3]
, economic problems, corruption, cronyism, and other factors, it is difficult to seriously discuss their effective ability to counter the threats of extremism and terrorism that emanate from Afghanistan.
Of all the Central Asian states, Tajikistan and Turkmenistan appear to be the most vulnerable in this respect, due to their proximity to Afghanistan, setting aside for a moment the fact that these two former Soviet republics have porous borders open both to drug trafficking and to the ...
... ethnic and elite conflicts. The official assessments of the destabilization in Ukraine were based on the historical memory of the turbulent 1990s and the political cataclysms in the mid-2000s. Analyzing the confrontation on the Maidan, President of Tajikistan Emomali Rahmon has repeatedly referred to the national experience of “
armed conflict, which led to the most devastating social, economic and humanitarian consequences for the country
”. The public debate in Kyrgyzstan, a country ...
... damages incurred through by winning new friends and partners, and by strengthening trade and economic ties. In the early 1990s, Iran intensified its activity in the region, with an emphasis on its ethnic and linguistic affinity with the culturally close Tajikistan. However, the Central Asian geography of its ties later went beyond this narrow scope and now includes all states in the region. Iran is a welcome player in Central Asia – it helps solve transport and energy problems, provides technologies,...
Interview with Vladimir Zakharov
On September 12, 2014, the capital of Tajikistan hosted the Shanghai Cooperation Organization’s annual summit, which saw the signing of the Dushanbe Declaration, outlining the current problems the organization faces and goals set. We met former SCO Deputy Secretary General
Vladimir ...
... Russia and China, waiting to see how the withdrawal of coalition leads the players of the Central Asian “Game” to change their behaviour and bid on different CA countries. United States - focusing on Uzbekistan, Russia - on Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan and China - on everyone, but the least of all on Kyrgyzstan. Since the beginning of 2013 CA countries started to declare the willingness of their major partners, mostly Russia and China, to make huge donations to the regions economies. Although ...
... 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 ...
... tense and potentially may cause a serious conflict. If I may say, it’s already a conflict fluctuating from “latent” to “emergence” stage. We heard much on ambitious projects of new hydropower plants (HPP’s) in Rogun (Tajikistan) and Kambarata (Kyrgyzstan) and how those projects may affect the downstream countries, mainly Uzbekistan, as his concern is most vocal. The logic behind Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan desire to build huge HPP’s is simple - this countries ...
... 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 ...
... this complex, fast changing region often leave out another important issue, i.e. how the Kremlin's policies, and modern Russia as a whole, are perceived, not by political elites, but by the general public in Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan and Tajikistan.
It is critical to establish whether the perception of Russia in Central Asia is broadly similar across the entire region or country-specific.
For example, Kazakhstan, Russia's main strategic partner, is widely believed to regard the present ...