The State Department released its updated strategy for Central Asia last month, a relatively short document that is mostly taken up with reiterating traditional U.S. priorities in the region.

The oil price crash is an existential threat to petrostates from Nigeria to Iran, where governments rely on oil wealth to stabilize power and pay off competing interests.

 Russia’s invitation for India to link up with Eurasian Economic Union recalls the SCO expansion saga.

Three decades after gaining independence, Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan face a growing struggle convincing investors and markets of the potential for significant new oil opportunities in the Caspian region.

Tajikistan spent all the proceeds from its first ever eurobond on the giant Rogun hydropower dam. It is still consuming a quarter of the budget each year.

Central Asia needs more 500kV loops in order to share power between the countries of the region.

 The EAEU is shopping for partners in Asia. Middle finger to the West or sound trade policy?

One of the more remarkable occurrences in Central Asian politics this year was the sight of thousands of Kazakhs taking to the streets to protest at the shoo-in, far from democratic election of longtime president Nursultan Nazarbayev’s handpicked successor Kasym-Zhomart Tokayev in early June.

Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev on Tuesday ordered an investigation into former senior officials who initiated a struggling $1.5 billion Chinese-led project to build a light rail network in the capital.