While international attention has focused on Russian military operations in Ukraine and Syria, Moscow has also been involved in a flurry of diplomatic and security initiatives to address the growing instability in northern Afghanistan.

Oil money is rolling into Kazakhstan, and new architectural landmarks in the capital city, Astana, reveal the country's economic aspirations. Jonathan Fryer recently visited the central Asian country and witnessed how President Nursultan Nazarbayev's ambitions are omnipresent there.
The 62m (200ft) high Palace of Peace and Harmony rises out of the stubbly grey grass of one of Astana's parks as starkly as the pyramids in the sands of Giza.

Fresh from successes on Iran and with the pope, President Barack Obama still carried heavy burdens into critical meetings this week at the U.N. General Assembly.

Kazakhstan’s diplomatic balancing act over the conflict in Ukraine has been upset by a fresh row about the status of the Russia-annexed Crimean Peninsula.

Astana: Kazakhstan is rolling out colourful pageantry to celebrate 550 years of statehood, defying an economic downturn that has battered a country viewed as a post-Soviet success story.

While the Kazakhstan national side languishes 145th in the world, the country’s leading club will become the first Kazakh side to play a Champions League group match, against Benfica on Tuesday

Nazarbayev says we should take Central Asia’s culture and history into account and quit calling him an autocrat. 

It is no secret that Central Asia’s autocratic regimes have a disdain for independent thought and criticism. While journalists have regularly been threatened, a less visible trend is the crackdown on academia, including foreign researchers and academics. With a wave of new initiatives to block and restrict academic discourse, Central Asia is displaying an alarming new trend of intensified, authoritarian consolidation.

President of Kazakhstan Nursultan Nazarbayev reiterated his suggestion that Kazakhstan brand itself “Land of the Great Steppe” during the Aug. 28 conference “Constitution: unity, stability and prosperity,” dedicated to the 20th anniversary of Kazakhstan’s constitution.