Turkmenistan is not the only source of LNG in Central Asia. Iran has long hoped to marshal its LNG resources but its central problem is the hesitancy of its neighbors to enter into a partnership to develop pipeline infrastructure. This is partially due to the harsh economic sanctions placed upon the Iranian economy on account…
Allegations of widespread corruption in Russia are not a new phenomenon. However, as Sergey Guriev, a leading Russian economist and former Rector of the New Economic School of Moscow, pointed out in a speech delivered at Columbia University this past Friday, the problems facing the Russian, while endemic and deeply ingrained, can be ascribed to…
The global shale gas boom has barely begun. It is already old news in North America, but emerging markets in Asia have found that demand consistently outstrips supply, due not only to scarcity, but also to underdevelopment of existing resources. One of the largest sources of undeveloped energy and mineral wealth lies in the Caspian…
The former Soviet Republics of Central Asia have long been a highway for the lucrative drug trade, but in recent years the routes out of the so-called Golden Crescent have been swelling with increasing traffic of opium grown in Afghanistan. Despite many efforts over the years by both Afghan and American central planners in Kabul,…
Thousands of members of India’s Armed Forces were deployed throughout Kashmir, a region in northwestern India, on the anniversary of the execution of Afzal Guru, a prominent Indian nationalist as well as the alleged mastermind behind attacks carried out against the Indian Parliament in December of 2001. Authorities are said to have instituted a curfew…
The Islamic Republic of Iran has moved part of its navy to the Atlantic Ocean, the stated goal of which is to pass by the coastline of the United States, in what many see as an aggressive tactic. The admiral in charge of the expedition has publically stated that the move should be interpreted as…
Zayd Saidov, an influential Tajik Opposition Party leader and former Minister of Industry was sentenced to 26 years in prison after being convicted on charges ranging from financial fraud and polygamy to having sexual relations with a minor. The original filing of charges in May 2013 coincided with the former Minister’s decision to break from…
The Pentagon announced that Manas Air Force base, located in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan will be closing in the next six months, with plans for total vacation of the premises by July 11, 2014. The transit center is the central hub of the supply lines going in and out of Afghanistan to support Operation Enduring Freedom. The…
President Hamid Karzai of Afghanistan has furtively engaged the Taliban in peace negotiations, thereby jeopardizing the already rocky relationship with the United States and possibly eroding the limited possibility of a long-term security agreement between the two countries. The news comes at a time when US-Afghan relations have reached their nadir, and seems to contradict…
The official beginning of the election season in Afghanistan got off to a rocky start. Two aides of presidential candidate Abdullah Abdullah were shot dead in the city of Herat in western Afghanistan on February 1. This comes days after former Minister of Water and Energy, and current running mate of candidate Abu Rasool Sayyaf, Ismail Khan, escaped a suicide…
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