On Monday, the United States and Britain announced it would be excluding Russia from the G8 and boycotting the planned summit in Sochi in protest of the invasion of Crimea. The cancellation of the planned June summit was declared by UK Prime Minister David Cameron and US President Barack Obama while they met at the…
India’s northwestern region of Jammu and Kashmir is home to more than 50,000 unemployed college graduates, 11,000 of which have already completed graduate or postdoctoral work. According to India’s National Conference and Congress, there has been little change since a 2008 report was released detailing the crisis and establishing a blue print for the alleged…
In January, Prime Minister of Pakistan Nawaz Sharif reached out to one of the most well-organized Pakistani Taliban groups, the Tehrik-i-Taliban (or TTP) to begin peace dialogues. Calling for a ceasefire between the near-daily clashes with government forces in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas of Pakistan (FATA), the talks were quickly derailed after TTP spokesman…
The Kazakh tenge has fallen to a degree that threatens the viability of a theoretical Russian-led “ruble zone.” The monetary project, which has come under increased scrutiny in light of recent events in Crimea, has been championed by Russian President Vladimir Putin along with his contemporaries in both Belarus and Kazakhstan as the economic accompaniments…
In the past week, Russian borders have been redrawn. The Duma and the Crimean Parliament have approved annexation, and fears of war have escalated as the US and EU have slapped sanctions on members of Putin’s inner circle. Arseniy Yatsenyuk, the current Prime Minister of Ukraine, declared yesterday that “the conflict is shifting from a…
Russian occupation and eventual annexation of Crimea has provoked strong condemnation from officials in Washington, Brussels and Berlin, and generated a wave of economic and visa-related sanctions doled out by the US government with the goal of restricting members of Vladimir Putin’s inner circle. Actions taken by individual nation states were coupled with a resolution…
The Crimean referendum election on Russian annexation took place yesterday. With more than 50% of the vote accounted for, exit polls demonstrate that an overwhelming majority (close to 95%) of Crimeans supports the secession from Ukraine, as reported by the head of referendum committee Mikhail Malishev However, instead of defusing tensions, the referendum has merely…
The Taliban has increased the frequency of its attacks ahead of the national elections on April 5. With election workers being kidnapped, would-be suicide bombers being shot in the streets, and journalists being killed – the future is not looking particularly bright for Afghanistan. The election will mark the first time in the country’s history…
The role of Germany in resolving the Ukraine crisis seems to be increasing, as Berlin inveighed strongly against Russian actions within the Ukrainian Crimea in threatening “massive” political and economic sanctions should Moscow continue to refuse to negotiate with its counterparts in Kiev. German Chancellor Angela Merkel admonished that an increasing number of asset freezes…
Recent events in Ukraine have made the aging crop of Central Asian dictators and presidents uneasy for a number of reasons. Ukraine’s anti-government protests flared up suddenly and toppled a notable strongman among strongmen, Viktor Yanukovych. And the Russian government’s invasion of Crimea may have set a dangerous precedent for future interventions in its former…
STEPPE DISPATCHES 