Former U.S. Congressman Dan Burton, a Republican from Indiana’s 5th congressional district, has drawn controversy over his efforts to promote the Rogun Hydroelectric Dam project in Tajikistan that, if completed, would surpass China’s Three Gorges Dam as the largest dam in the world. The hydroelectric dam, which in spite of decades of planning has only…
To compound already-bursting tensions between Ukraine and Russia, the Russian oil and gas company Gazprom has raised prices to the country by 37% by cancelling a discount and even threatening to cut supplies entirely. This, according to a statement delivered by Ukrainian Energy Minister Yuri Prodan, means that Ukraine will be forced to pay $368.50…
Negotiations on the CASA-1000 Power Supply Program have continued today in Istanbul. The proposed transmission project will transmit 1300 MW of surplus electricity from existing hydroelectric power sources in Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan through Afghanistan to power-starved end markets in Pakistan and India. Details over the Power Purchase agreement are still being hotly debated, especially as…
Iran’s Anti-Narcotics Headquarters for International Relations has issued a statement condemning the traffic of heroin through Iranian territory. Deputy General Mahmoud Bayat took advantage of a meeting with Sweden’s Foreign Ministry to underline Iranian discontent with the increasingly voluminous quantity of heroin trafficked both into Iranian drug markets and through Iran destined for markets in…
Knife-wielding assailants stormed the Kunming railway station in southeastern China on Saturday, resulting in almost 200 casualties. According to Chinese state media, there were more than ten assailants who were dressed in black and were both men and women. The attack is said to be the most sophisticated yet that has ever occurred outside of…
More than 6,000 Russian forces flowed into the Ukrainian region of Crimea on Saturday, generating strong fervent criticism from Western powers and placing Ukraine in an uncertain situation. The maneuvers engaged in by the Russian forces began Friday with the arrival of armed men to the southeastern Ukrainian region, but the incursion into Ukrainian territory…
In a move sure to increase the already-smoldering tensions within Ukraine, two airports in Crimea, a staunchly pro-Russian zone, have been occupied by Russian troops. The troops, who were not wearing insignias, secured the civilian airport in Crimea’s regional capital of Simferopol early this morning. The Russian navy also secured the Belbek military airport near…
Construction of a new route linking oil and gas giants Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan and Iran is grinding slowly towards completion. Though initial estimates on project had it fully operational as early as 2011, recent headway on the project in Turkmenistan, the last remaining 90 kilometer stretch of the nearly 900 kilometer (559 miles) railway, is expected…
While South Asia struggles with developing LNG midstream infrastructure under the watchful eye of the US, the rest of Central Asia is quickly being divided between Chinese and Russian interests. What might have been considered only twenty years ago safely Russian-influenced territory is now the site of the CACP (Central Asia – China Pipeline), which…
Ukrainian President Victor Yanukovych has been impeached by more than two thirds of the Ukrainian parliament, capping off a series of events that did away with the controversial president in a matter of days. The impeachment, however, was soon followed up by an even greater indictment of the president’s actions towards the outraged Ukrainian populace,…
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