Monthly Archive

Accused of involvement in stealing billions from Malaysia’s sovereign wealth fund, Prime Minister Najib Razak did what autocratic leaders around the world do when scandal is in the air. He cleare... read more..

Tony Blair’s most famous catchphrase was ‘Education, education, education’. Now, it really ought to be ‘Money, money, money’. Ever since he stood down as Prime Minister in 2007, he and Cherie Blair... read more..

Mortgage holders picket a bank in Almaty, Kazakhstan, in a demand for their loans to be refinanced following the dramatic fall in value of the national currency, the tenge.In a reprisal of impromptu r... read more..

Central Asia is endowed with water and an abundance of rich and varied energy resources — hydropower, oil, gas, and coal. These resources can support increased agricultural production and have the pot... read more..

KAZAKHSTAN is a country with two capitals—one political, one cultural. This dichotomy was born of the president’s sudden decision a generation ago to up and move the capital from the ancient city of A... read more..

Joanna Lillis is a freelance journalist specializing in Central Asian affairs who has been based in Kazakhstan since 2005. In 2015, Kazakhstan remained a consolidated authoritarian regime. The im... read more..

According to various estimates, there are 4,000 Central Asians fighting with various groups in Iraq and Syria Following a series of defeats on the battlefield and a loss of control over strategic cit... read more..

As he laid flowers recently at the grave of Uzbek strongman Islam Karimov, neighbouring Kazakhstan's President Nursultan Nazarbayev could have been forgiven an extra pause for thought. After Uzbekist... read more..

US and Dutch authorities are seeking a record US$ 1.4 billion settlement from Nordic telecommunications firm Telia Company to resolve allegations of large-scale bribery during the company’s entry into... read more..

ISIS often features Central Asia’s children in its propaganda videos, labeling them “Cubs of the Caliphate.” Following a series of defeats on the battlefield and a loss of control over strategic citi... read more..

Tony Blair set the stage for a potential political comeback last night with the shock announcement that he is shutting down his secretive money-making empire. After nine years of raking in millions o... read more..

There is nothing special about Taraz, who runs in a 0-80 handicap at Pontefract (5.40) but there's plenty out of the ordinary about the four-year-old's owner, Nurlan Bizakov, all the way from Kazakhst... read more..

The Opec and IEA reports this week pretty much buried any remaining hopes of substantial market rebalancing this year. Opec knocked some 200,000 b/d off the forecast fall in 2016 non-Opec productio... read more..

Prime Minister Karim Massimov has been ousted by Kazakhstan’s leader after a flurry of social media activity. There is more to this than meets the eye. Kazakhstan has seen a political upset at the hi... read more..

A weakening economy has triggered top-level changes in oil-rich Kazakhstan by President Nursultan Nazarbayev. Kazakhstan President Nursultan Nazarbayev is apparently planning "transition" of power th... read more..

The latest shift in Kazakhstan’s highest echelons of state power has almost immediately led to speculations concerning the eventuality that the head of state, now 76, but apparently still in good heal... read more..

Succession plans are a serious political vulnerability for the ageing leaders of Central Asia. With the death of President Islam Karimov announced in Uzbekistan on 2 September, cloak-and-dagger intrig... read more..

A Series of five articles covers 25 years of independence of all Central Asian republics. All five articles are included in this one piece of writing to give a background of Soviet Socialist Republics... read more..

Middle Ages in Central Asia - it's not the Middle Ages in Europe. While in Europe, blaming the Inquisition, burned at the stake scholars and their books in the quiet of the Asian palaces worked hundre... read more..

After months of media silence, Kazakh Prime Minister Karim Masimov recently launched a major PR drive. Many analysts are linking the PM's move to the government's new media policy - and a strategy to ... read more..