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LONDON (TCA) — The latest shift in Kazakhstan’s highest echelons of state power has almost immediately led to speculations concerning the eventuality that the head of state, now 76, but apparently still in good health as opposed to his ailing peer in Uzbekistan, is preparing the ground for his succession. Continue reading
BISHKEK (TCA) — The death of President Karimov is watched by International media and all Central Asia republics, as well as such powers as Russia, China and the United States, due to the fact that what will happen next in Uzbekistan may outline a future scenario and alliance of the entire Central Asia. The following article is an excerpt from what has been written by Rene Cagnat, an expert in Central Asia, who for many years served as the military attache at the French Embassy in Tashkent. Now Mr. Cagnat is living between Paris and Bishkek, and the following excerpt was translated from French into English by The Times of Central Asia. The full article in French can be read here Continue reading
LONDON (TCA) — Will the death of Uzbekistan’s longstanding ruler cause an “Uzbek Spring” with room for more public input and a less oppressive state apparatus, without hollowing out the state itself? As things look, the disappearance of one of the last remaining “Soviet heirs” and his replacement is an affair to be settled within a very narrow circle of men-behind-the-throne. That does not mean, however, that things on a slightly longer term could not change for the better. Continue reading
ALMATY (TCA) — Kazakhstan turned out to be the last Soviet republic to formally declare its independence on December 16, 1991, almost half a year after the bell for the USSR had tolled in Moscow. Although stagnant in the political domain, Kazakhstan made spectacular economic progress into the new century. But it remains exposed to setbacks as weak spots now appear to have remained in place. Continue reading
LONDON (TCA) — Many tend to agree that the story of Kyrgyzstan in post-Soviet times is the most interesting, that of Tajikistan the most hopeless and that of Turkmenistan, “the world’s last aristocracy”, the most boring. What they have in common is historic evidence that the availability of local resources does not generate overall domestic prosperity, and that elite, clan and corruption all have their own agenda. Continue reading
OSH, Kyrgyzstan (TCA) — Early in September, Tajikistan will mark a quarter-century of independence that followed the implosion of the USSR in 1991. Regretfully, Tajikistan represents the most dramatic case, having suffered from an all-out civil war following independence that lasted for most of the decade, and wounds from it still unhealed. The country’s economy is picking up between security problems and internal opposition. Continue reading
