Christopher Weafer is the founder of Macro-Advisory, a research consulting company focusing on Russia, the CIS, and macro oil trends and was recently in 2013 voted the best Russian investment strategist in a poll by Thomas Reuters Extel. Before becoming a consultant, Chris was Chief Strategist at Sberbank-CIB, Russia’s largest bank. He also writes extensively…
In late March we had the chance to sit down with Marlene Laruelle, Director of the Central Asia Program at The George Washington University. Dr. Laruelle is also Research Professor of International Affairs at the Elliott School of International Relations, Associate Director of the Institute for European, Russian, and Eurasian Studies and the editor-in-chief of Central Asian Affairs. She has authored and…
The battle between Afghan security forces and the Taliban still rages in Kunduz, a province of northern Afghanistan – all while Taliban representatives met with Afghan political figures in Qatar to discuss possible ceasefires. The major source of disagreement was the continued presence of US troops in the country. The Afghan government has made no…
Russia cut its key interest rate to 12.5% from 14%, in a bid to mildly boost inflation to keep up the slight build in momentum the economy has gained over the past quarter. This is the third movement by the Russian Central Bank in the past six months, beginning with the controversial and unexpected raising…
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…
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…
Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif and lead negotiator Abbas Araqchi have dismissed the likelihood for a signed deal this week, citing more issues to be hammered out before all necessary signatories will be gathered to formalize the deal. The key item to look for, according to Zarif, was when all foreign ministers of the P5+1…
Senior officials from the Pakistani army and Afghan government will be holding open peace talks with the Taliban, marking the first joint effort towards a diplomatic by the two countries simultaneously. Ashraf Ghani’s government is under fire by the new Parliament for negotiating with Pakistan to the degree it has – even former President Hamid…
Chinese officials announced yesterday that they will buy new natural gas reserves piped in from Western Siberia, another move suggesting Russia’s pivot to the east in reaction to sanctions that cut its economy off from Western capital and retail markets. The agreement specifically is between Gazprom and CNPC (both state-owned oil and gas entities) to…
China officially launched a behemoth $79.8 billion infrastructure project in its northwestern province of Gansu. The project, while beginning in Gansu, a region of China that shares no land borders with any Central Asian nation, is merely the starting point for a series of large infrastructure development projects which will encompass much of Central Asia.…
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