Dr. Alexander Cooley is Professor of Political Science at Barnard College, as well as Deputy Director for Social Sciences Programming at Columbia University’s Harriman Institute. Professor Cooley has researched and written extensively on the impact of external actors on the Former Soviet Union, and is the author of Great Games, Local Rules: The New Great…
The gas crisis in Ukraine is heating up again as CEO of Gazprom Alexei Miller reminded his Ukrainian counterparts at Naftogaz that Russia can shut off natural gas within two days due to a dispute over payments. These disputes have stretched into the past long before the conflict in Ukraine even began, but their renewed…
Kazakh Oil Minister Vladimir Shkolnik has announced that it has no plans to cut oil production, despite the over 50% decline in the prices of common oil benchmark indices like Brent Crude and West Texas Intermediate. Shkolnik said that no production decreases were planned for 2015, despite the very clear warnings about lower profits and…
Fighting in the eastern Ukrainian town of Debaltseve has raged on despite a tenuous cease fire agreement struck in Minsk last week. The New York Times reports that up to 8,000 Ukrainian forces currently find themselves trapped in the area surrounding Debaltseve. Reports describing the area as lost to the Ukrainian military were seemingly substantiated…
The Asian Development Bank, a regional financial organization whose investment goals include regional infrastructure, transport and energy projects, has given the green light to its first private sector loan in Tajikistan. The regional body will allocate more than $11mn USD to acquire a ten percent share in Access Bank Tajikistan, a local financial institution that…
Dr. John Heathershaw is currently Associate Professor in International Relations at the University of Exeter’s Centre of Advanced International Studies. He received his Ph.D. from the London School of Economics and has held teaching or research positions at LSE, the American University in Central Asia, and King’s College London. Professor Heathershaw has conducted extensive research on Tajikistan as…
Chinese President Xi Jinping has announced the planned investment of $16.3 billion USD in a New Silk Road policy championed by Beijing. The intention of reviving the old route is historically significant for China, as it did and will serve as the linchpin of the route upon its completion. The vast majority of the funds will be…
Chinese investment in Tajikistan over the next three years will be equivalent to nearly two thirds of the Central Asian nation’s total GDP in 2013. Chinese presence in Central Asia has grown in stride with China’s own economic growth, though ties with Tajikistan in particular have strengthened as Beijing sees an opportunity to capitalize on…
On Monday, the Kazakh government announced its intention to sell 10-year and 30-year bonds in US dollars to international investors after more than 14 years of absence from allowing public investment in government debt. Intended to avoid an expensive and potentially politically divisive battle over debt restructuring (such as the one in Argentina in 2001…
Tajik national and Ph.D. student at the University of Exeter Alexander Sodiqov was recently released by Tajik authorities and has successfully returned to Canada, where he is expected to continue his doctoral studies. Sodiqov, who had been researching separatist groups in the restive Tajik autonomous region of Gomo-Badakhstan, was detained on charges of sedition and…
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