It’s generally the contention among observers of Central Asia that most governments fear a spillover of violence from Afghanistan into their own territories, feeding nascent Islamist movements and causing large-scale violent disruptions in governance. This is hard to refute given the drawdown of American troops in Afghanistan and the increasing recruiting activities of ISIS among…
Tajik President Emomali Rahmon recently attended a water usage conference in Daegu, South Korea. As expected, Tajikistan’s first and only president made reference to Tajikistan’s abundant water resources, and vowed to make greater use of them in the coming years. Specifically, he called for scientists and other experts from around the world to come to…
The deals with the private sector done, Ukraine is now scrambling to renegotiate its sovereign debt with other governments, most notably Russia. Additionally, Kiev’s Finance Ministry are working to provide currency swap lines to boost the country’s emergency cash reserves for the coming months (neatly coinciding with the return of gas debt talks with Russian…
Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko categorically rejected the possibility of a federalized Ukraine when asked about the possibility. Poroshenko intimated that the plan was merely an attempt to “destroy” Ukraine and capitulate to the perceived Russian goal of breaking parts of the country apart. Nevertheless, despite his rejection of a federalized Ukraine, Poroshenko expressed support for…
Just as quickly as they began, the Ukrainian debt restructuring talks appear to be over. On Saturday, Kiev agreed to a debt restricting plan with debtholders like Franklin Templeton, PIMCO, and Blackrock as part of the $40 billion IMF bailout agreed to last month. Ukraine has agreed to a debt-swap in exchange for liquidation from…
A deal setting out the framework of a historic accord between Iran and the P5+1 has been agreed upon in Switzerland. While the final agreement has not been signed and negotiations are expected to go on until the end of June with that end in mind, the initial reaction was optimistic. The presidents of Iran…
The long-awaited deadline for the prospective nuclear deal between Iran and the P5+1 Powers has come and gone, but negotiations have continued. The US State Department reported that “enough progress” had been made to merit working through this deadline, but despite the optimism, there is no sign that the most contentious issues have been resolved.…
Russian energy giant Gazprom saw its profits drop by 70% in 2014. The drop is doubtless due to the sharp drop in the value of the Russian ruble, low oil prices and the ongoing crisis in Ukraine. Gazprom has been at the center of the conflict in the Ukraine, as its supply of natural gas…
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