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BISHKEK (TCA) — All said, nothing done. Yes – the Aral Sea must be restored; no – not at our expense. This was roughly the goodbye message Kyrgyzstan gave to one of the (many) paper tigers bearing the banner of Aral preservation before slamming the door. Continue reading
ALMATY (TCA) — On the initiative of Kazakhstan’s head of state, the European Union has come to a point where it cannot rule out normal bloc-to-bloc relations with the Eurasian Economic Union. Both sides are certainly looking for a fair deal, but political reasons may also represent a barrier to be overcome. Continue reading
LONDON (TCA) — It is almost two years now that Belarus, Kazakhstan, and Russia proceeded with the formation of the Russian-led Eurasian Economic Union (EEU), a step forward from their Customs Union. Armenia and Kyrgyzstan afterwards joined the Union, and as things stand today the EEU is consolidating and trying to transform the principles that hold it together from just good will into a well-regulated system. Continue reading
URUMQI, China (TCA) — China has offered its military support to Afghanistan to combat terrorism, which may spread toward Central Asia and the western Chinese province of Xinjiang bordering Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan. This brings us back to the problem of the Uyghurs and the long list of ethnic minorities “without land” such as the Laps and the Basks in Europe, the Tamils, the Sikhs, the Kurds, and the Kashmiri in Asia. The nearly 10 million strong Uyghur nation, now mostly located within China, clash with the so-called national integrity of UN member states, with problems and solutions that not always match. Continue reading
LONDON (TCA) — Recent reports from various sides concerning the increasing lack of cash flow for Daesh (IS) in the Near East due to difficulties in its Turkish oil smuggling chain add a new dimension to the already existing threat of extremist forces’ concentration in Afghanistan bordering the southern republics of Central Asia. Ever increasing assessments of the area’s world-class gold mining reserves must have drawn the attention of gang leaders of Taliban, Al-Qaeda and Daesh looking for alternative baits and a motive behind their “spring offensive” in Afghanistan and beyond. Continue reading
OSH, Kyrgyzstan (TCA) — Precious metals and stones, along with ferrous and non-ferrous metals, worth according to some estimates up to 3 trillion dollars are waiting under Afghanistan’s soil to be exploited. But to do so appears to be a remote dream at best for mining entrepreneurs given what happens on the ground rather than beneath it, leaving mining activity to thugs and terrorists whose variety in Afghanistan is hardly less rich. Continue reading
