Eurasia / Opinion
Perspectives | Beijing and Moscow clash over Kazakhstan’s oil
China wants Russia to stop interfering with Kazakh oil exports.
COMMENT: As geopolitical tectonic plates shift, Central Asia's getting nowhere fast on unity
Tricky relations with Moscow and Beijing, a destabilised Afghanistan below the region’s soft underbelly and intra-regional rivalries turned a summit into a curate’s egg.
NEMETHY: The riskiest macroeconomic environment of the 21st Century!
In my opinion, the macro environment is riskier than before the Dotcom Bubble and before the Great Financial Bubble. Why? A nasty cocktail of factors which may reinforce each other:
COMMENT: What Karakalpakstan Shows Us About “New Uzbekistan”
Karakalpakstan’s dramatic protests of July 1 thrusted international attention on Uzbekistan’s sole de jure autonomous territory. The publication of Tashkent’s proposed changes to the constitution prompted unprecedented popular protests.
OPINION: Russia’s need to circumvent sanctions gives new life to north-south project
China, India and Iran are pushing the International North-South Transport Corridor, INSTC, as a way to maintain trade relations with Russia.
FPRI BMB Ukraine: Central Asia surprisingly neutral on Russian war in Ukraine
To the surprise of many, each of the Central Asian Republics has maintained a neutral stance on Russia’s military operations in Ukraine.
COMMENT: Why replenished ties between Uzbekistan and Turkey suit both Tashkent and Ankara
For the Uzbeks, the strategic relationship helps with the balancing act between the big powers. For the Turks, it builds regional influence in line with the pan-Turkic agenda.
COMMENT: Georgia drops out of the Trio – why did this happen?
Georgia can become an EU candidate country, but not with Georgian Dream in power.
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Book review | China’s “detached” power
A new book exposes the hollowness of many Western assumptions about China’s role in Central Asia.
COMMENT: Fiscal challenge for Azerbaijan is to not spend the oil price boom
Counter-cyclical fiscal policy needed. Among other things, more modest budget spending would help country combat soaring inflation.
ASH: Welcome to the new age of inflation
The debate around inflation is centre-stage at present, with headline and PPI inflation soaring globally in response to a range of factors but including climate change/transition and Covid-related supply disruptions.
COMMENT: Uzbekistan’s constitutional reforms are for the people
Every modern constitution claims to speak for the public. “We the People,” the US Constitution famously begins. Uzbekistan’s own Soviet era constitution, passed in 1978, declared grandly that “all power” belonged to the people. It didn’t.
NEMETHY: The world continues to hurtle towards recession and potentially financial crisis
There is a widespread feeling of ‘business as usual’. There is very little sense of impending doom. This confidence is misplaced.
COMMENT: Russia will not tolerate the EU's new role in Nagorno-Karabakh peace process
The EU has gradually assumed a key role in the peace talks between Armenia and Azerbaijan, which has undermined the Kremlin’s longstanding dominance in the region.
