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ALMATY/BISHKEK (TCA) — Language is one of those issues over which emotions often prevail over the voice of reason. Yet, coexistence of more than one language on a single national territory is far more common than many people seem to think. Continue reading
LONDON (TCA) — All eyes of the world seem to be focused on Kazakhstan and its less known capital of Astana for once. The coincidence is the opening of the World Exhibition EXPO-2017 and a quite unique political summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) which strikes attention by the absence of any western “leader” – no Trump, no May, no Merkel, no Macron here, and even Erdogan is staying home. Continue reading
LONDON (TCA) — A fair division of the Caspian seabed including exploitation rights has been subject to debate for a quarter of a century now, with time and again the governments of littoral states — Azerbaijan, Iran, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, and Russia — assuring that they were on the brink of clinching a comprehensive agreement. At the bottom of the dispute is the question whether or not the Caspian waters should be seen as a lake or a sea. In the former case, international law requires a convention signed by all littoral states, dividing the entire waterbed into sections. The sea-option prescribes that each coastal state has authority over the waters down to 20 nautical miles from the shore, beyond which navigation is free and fishing and other exploitation rights should be either unlimited or defined by either bi- or multilateral agreements. Continue reading
ALMATY (TCA) — Following the so-called People’s IPO campaign, which is now widely considered to have been disappointing, a new “privatisation” scheme has been announced by the Kazakh government earlier this year. But as time goes by and timing remains uncertain, many insiders and sideliners start casting doubts on whether either domestic or foreign investors see any point of purchasing stock in companies due to remain out of their control. In other words: rather than contributing to structural economic reform this is considered just one more attempt to fill the dwindling reserves in the state coffers without giving much in return. Continue reading
BISHKEK (TCA) — Following the recent summit in China about the One Belt, One Road (OBOR) initiative, new plans are emerging showing a clear discomfort from several countries and some popular opposition from various local communities in countries involved in the Chinese plan. If stability and security remain the pre-condition for a successful implementation of any project the present situation of conflict and competition toward OBOR does not augur well (see One Belt, One Road: A plan for Chinese dominance and authoritarianism, TCA, 20 May 2017). Continue reading
BISHKEK (TCA) — As the fighting between the Taliban and government forces continues in Afghanistan, and the situation in the country is in a “stalemate”, with Russia using contacts with the militant group for its political purposes in the Central Asia region, we are republishing this article by Abubakar Siddique, originally published by The Jamestown Foundation’s Terrorism Monitor: Continue reading
