Two Central Asian leaders recently secured comprehensive victories in presidential elections, cementing them in power until the end of the decade. But with the falling price of oil and a regional economic downturn emanating out of Russia, as well as the crisis in Ukraine, the future of both resource-rich countries is now less certain.
Rakhat Aliyev, the Kazakh president's former son-in-law turned political foe, was found hanging in an Austrian jail on Tuesday while awaiting trial for murder, but his lawyers doubted the official explanation that he had killed himself.
The crisis in Ukraine has prompted many in Kazakhstan to ask whether it will be next to be targeted by Russia - and which way the Central Asian country's Russian community would turn if relations with its neighbour turn sour - reports the BBC's Abdujalil Abdurasulov.
The Islamic State, the jihadist group better known as ISIS, was said to have allocated US$70 million in an attempt to destabilize Central Asia, posing significant threats to China's borders, reports nationalistic tabloid Global Times.
The biggest headline to come out of the weekend's Caspian Sea summit in Astrakhan, Russia, was that the five countries along the sea agreed to prevent any outside military presence from the sea. This has been a longstanding goal of the sea's two biggest powers, Russia and Iran, the result of worries that the U.S. and/or NATO would somehow gain a military foothold on the sea via security cooperation programs with Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, or Turkmenistan.
Glover Park Group has picked up a three-month $160K representation contract from energy-rich and human rights-poor Kazakhstan.
Russia intends to build the first thermal nuclear power plant in Kazakhstan, the world's largest uranium producer. But where it will be in that vast country and who will own it remain unclear.
