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Pakistan SCO Shanghai organization India Military Afghanistan Security Central Asia Russia Kyrgyzstan

Central Asia better protected with India and Pakistan membership to SCO

LONDON (TCA) — The Shanghai Cooperation Organization, also known as the Shanghai Six, is becoming Shanghai Eight with the now formalized entry of India and Pakistan. For Central Asia’s former Soviet republics, it means that their troublesome neighbor Afghanistan is now sealed from the south, and the two new SCO member states will have less excuses to stand by should the Afghan civil war spill over towards the north. Continue reading

10 years ago

Aral Sea Water Irrigation Uzbekistan Central Asia Kazakhstan Tajikistan Turkmenistan Hydro power Kyrgyzstan

Central Asia and the Aral Sea’s ungraceful death

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

10 years ago

Eurasian Economic Union Economy Kazakhstan European Union Trade

Kazakhstan to hold Eurasian Economic Union-European Union forum

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

10 years ago

Kyrgyzstan Trade Eurasian Economic Union Kazakhstan Russia Investments Hydro power Finance

EEU two years later: expansion and unbalance. The case of Kyrgyzstan

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

10 years ago

Uyghur Islam Xinjiang Security Terrorism China Central Asia Kazakhstan

Uyghur minorities in Central Asia: an ethnic group between hammer and anvil

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

10 years ago

Taliban Gold Central Asia Tajikistan Islamic State Kyrgyzstan Afghanistan Uzbekistan Mining

Daesh (IS) and criminal syndicates after the gold of Central Asia

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

10 years ago

Afghanistan Taliban Mining Security Terrorism Central Asia Investments

Afghanistan’s mining industry controlled by terrorists and gangs

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

10 years ago

Mining Kumtor Investments Kyrgyzstan Judiciary Gold

Mining blues in Kyrgyzstan: Kumtor, Centerra once more targeted

BISHKEK (TCA) — This time the clash between Kyrgyzstan’s authorities and the operator of the country’s largest gold mine and core moneymaker Kumtor Gold seems to be more serious than previous ones. At stake is close to $200 million in dividends paid by Kumtor to its parent company in Canada back in early 2013 and withheld by the latter to its shareholders citing a “charge” for “de-recognition” of mining assets during the summer of the previous year. Perfectly legal, the mining company argues. A corporate kickback in the eyes of the Kyrgyz prosecutors, though. Continue reading

10 years ago

Central Asia Iran Trade Transit Uzbekistan Oil & Gas Kazakhstan Transport Turkmenistan

Central Asia reviving old cooperation schemes with Iran

LONDON (TCA) — With the recent removal of the sanctions on Iran, Europe and the former Soviet republics have jumped on the platform to announce “breakthrough” deals on the occasion. Today most of those “new” deals are in fact a lot older, and it will take several years before a concrete benefit will be achieved both for Central Asia and Iran. Today Iran needs every bit of cash to cope with its huge socioeconomic problems while Central Asia access to the sea and alternative export routes has always been of high priority. Continue reading

10 years ago

Export/Import Oil & Gas China Central Asia Turkmenistan Russia Energy

Turkmenistan’s gas sales: the choice between cash and ash

ASHGABAT (TCA) — Turkmenistan’s dream to become a world energy player seems to have gone up in smoke just when it could have grasped a glimpse of reality. A trade conflict with Russia’s gas giant Gazprom has prematurely locked its gas outlet to the north, leaving only China as its customer. Ashgabat’s lack of market insight in the midst of a continental price slump appears to be the main cause of Turkmenistan’s inability to cash in on its monoculture. Continue reading

10 years ago

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