In November President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev of Kazakhstan won re-election with over 80% of the vote. As he was the official candidate of every party represented in parliament, this was not surprising. It is this sort of thing which has given Central Asian states in general a bad name. Even though they may be democracies in…
The western assault on Russia and other rivals is economic. The military conflicts in Ukraine and elsewhere are only symptoms of the competition for the remaining resources that power world economies. This, as well all know, is abundantly clear. A perfect example of how the world is reeling energy-wise can be seen in Kazakhstan’s natural…
Amidst serious tremors in the world of geopolitics, it is so fitting that this year’s Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) heads of state summit should have taken place in Samarkand – the ultimate Silk Road crossroads for 2,500 years. When in 329 BC Alexander the Great reached the then Sogdian city of Marakanda, part of the…
One year after the astounding US humiliation in Kabul – and on the verge of another serious comeuppance in Donbass – there is reason to believe Moscow is wary of Washington seeking vengeance: in the form of the ‘Afghanization’ of Ukraine. With no end in sight to western weapons and finance flowing into Kiev, it…
The very fact that three of Russia’s CSTO military allies – one of whom Russian National Security Council Secretary Nikolay Patrushev just claimed had survived a US-backed Color Revolution plot – are participating in multilateral military drills in the part of the world that the US-led West misleadingly describes as Moscow’s “sphere of influence” discredits…
Nobody in good conscience could endorse anyone else gleefully talking about committing genocide like Vrublevsky just shamelessly did. If there’s any silver lining to this scandal, however, it’s that it showed just how comfortable that regime’s representatives are talking about the plans that they have for their country’s Russian minority. Ukrainian Ambassador to Kazakhstan Pyotr…
