Author Archives: Central Eurasia Standard
Chechnya and Dagestan are Not the Same Thing: A Brief Look at Conflict in the Caucasus
The Boston Bomber suspects may be Chechen and lived at one time in Dagestan. These are not the same places. We don’t know anything else about the suspects, and they have/had lived in America for a very long time as well. But since Chechnya and Dagestan are all over the news now, here’s the very […]
Russia’s ‘Trial of the Century’: Who is Navalny and why is Putin afraid of him?
It’s been in almost every newspaper and Eurasia blog recently: One of the leading voices in Russia’s protest movement, Aleksei Navalny (RU), is on trial in the city of Kirov, to the northeast of Moscow. He stands accused of the theft of approximately half a million dollars from a timber firm in Kriov. He is […]
Opposition figures missing in Tajikistan
Two opposition figures, representing two separate interest groups in Tajikistan, have been reported missing since March 15. Since the violence in the remote region of Gorno-Badakhshan in July of 2012, there’s been not-so-subtle crackdown on opposition, increased restrictions of online activity and now two prominent activists disappearing within days of each other. With elections planned […]
Poor conditions & harassment common for migrant workers in Russia
Since the start of February, there’s been more coverage coming across the mainstream wires of the plight of migrant workers in Russia, who experience poor working conditions, xenophobia and low wages, much of which are sent back to their families in their home countries. Russian remittances (money sent home) prop up more than one Central […]
Central Asia’s Ambassadors to the US discuss WTO membership
On 13 February 2013, the John’s Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) Central Asia-Caucasus Institute (CACI) held a panel event on the accession of the Central Asian countries to the WTO. Ambassadors from Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan were all present: Kairat Umarov, ambassador of the Republic of Kazakhstan to the U.S.; Muktar Djumaliev, […]
What Does WTO Membership Really Mean for Tajikistan?
Tajikistan is expected to join the World Trade Organization (WTO) in spring of 2013 becoming country 159 on the list of nations in the crew. The move has some long-term positive potential for the impoverished Central Asian economy, but faces an arsenal of intractable challenges. Pascal Lamy, Chairman of the WTO said that Tajikistan accession […]
News Round Up: Tajikistan Edition
Militants, militaries and meandering borders – Tajkistan’s got ‘em all and they all made the news this week. To start, approximately ten suspected militants have been arrested in Tajikistan on suspicion of involvement with Islamic terrorist groups. Six are from a border near Afghanistan and thought to be involved with the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan, […]
AGRI LNG: From Turkmenistan to Europe
The Azerbaijan-Georgia-Romania-Hungary Natural Gas Interconnector (AGRI) plans to transport natural gas for Turkmenistan via LNG tanker across the Caspian to the Sangachal Terminal in Eastern Azerbaijan. From there the LNG will be gasified and transmitted across Azerbaijan and Georgia to the planned Kulevi Terminal on the Black Sea where it will be re-liquefied for a […]
Gangster Squad: The Caucasus
Gangsters brings to mind an age of machine guns, cigars, prohibition, bombshell damsels looking for a way out, and most recently, Emma Stone and Ryan Gosling being attractive together. There’s a vague remembrance that these are people whose lifestyles are predicated on extortion, violence, oppression, and death. But when it’s just so romanticized by Hollywood, […]
A hostage crisis in an ethnically Tajik, Uzbek-controlled exclave located entirely in Kyrgyzstan
Over the past weekend, a hostage crisis developed in the enclave of Sokh, a complex little region located inside Kyrgyzstan. The Sokh exclave (enclave versus exclave here) is part of Uzbekistan’s territory, though it is completely surrounded by Kyrgyzstan and is in one of the poorest and most underdeveloped regions in Kyrgyzstan. Sokh is also […]
