Plans to officially sign documents that would welcome Kyrgyzstan back into the tight embrace of its former Soviet countries are set to be signed on December 23, when Prime Minister Joomart Otorbayev will officially join the Customs Union, which will be renamed starting next year as the Eurasian Economic Union, comprising Kazakhstan, Belarus, and Russia.…
The ruble, not faring well for months now, plunged to new depths once again earlier today. This newest nosedive takes it down to levels unseen since the 1998 financial crisis. The currency’s problems are believed to stem mostly from tumbling oil prices (currently flooring at a little less than $80 for the Brent Crude benchmark).…
Kazakhstan and Afghanistan are participating in active discussions to enter the World Trade Organization, said Director General Roberto Azevedo. The accession negotiations of Kazakhstan in particular are now “at an advanced stage of maturity and on the threshold of conclusion,” according to Azevedo’s statement. The expected date of matriculation will be early next year. Afghanistan…
Russian President Vladimir Putin is assuring the world that he does not want to run the Russian state for life, but is openly considering running for another six-year term in 2018, according to a new interview with ITAR-TASS. The interview, while never asking direct and hard-hitting questions, does touch on the political cult that has…
With the deadline for the Iranian nuclear deal approaching on Monday, negotiators are scrambling to keep up the pressure on the regime to accede to concessions now rather than parley for another extension. US Secretary of State John Kerry insisted that negotiators push for a deal by Monday and to refuse talks of yet another…
The intelligence agency of Kazakhstan has provided an estimate for how many Kazakh nationals are fighting with the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, and apparently, half of them are women. Nurtai Abykayev, chairman of the Kazakh National Security Committee (NSC), reported that a new fighting unit or “jamaat” was created by these nationals. These…
On Saturday, Afghan president Ashraf Ghani and Pakistani president Nawaz Sharif met for a conference in Islamabad, marking a rekindling of relations between the two adversarial countries. Sharif pledged that he would support President Ghani to bring peace to Afghanistan. Former President Hamid Karzai notoriously blamed Pakistani policy and leaders for the entirety of Afghanistan’s…
India, Turkmenistan, Pakistan and Afghanistan have incorporated a new, joint company that will be used to commission the construction of the TAPI pipeline. The joint company will be owned in equal 25% shares by the four interested parties and will consult with the Asian Development Bank on the pipeline’s eventual development. The TAPI pipeline will…
President Almazbek Atambayev, after completing a tour of his neighboring countries in Central Asia, announced a deal on Tuesday with neighboring Kazakhstan that would supply some 1,400 kilowatt hours of electricity to power-starved Kyrgyzstan. Atambayev has been on a tour around Central Asia courting power agreements, and has been able to ink key agreements with…
Representatives from Iran, the US, and the EU began an unscheduled day of talks after reported unresolved disagreements threatened to overturn the framework before deadline, which is looming in just two weeks. Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif, US Secretary of State John Kerry, and EU envoy and former foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton met in…
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