We have posted several stories over the past week that make it a reasonable bet that the current economic crisis is being used by the Russian government to reassert itself in its periphery.
First, the closure …

The news came in rapidly last week: The Kazakh government first took over majority shares in BTA and Alliance Bank via its holding company Samruk-Kazyna and then proceeded to devalue the tenge by around 20%. …

[inspic=150,left,,200]In times like these, it’s appreciated when some banks do not only try to act as everything’s just fine, but also revive some of that pre-crisis extravaganza.  A diamond-encrusted credit card, targeting those earning above …

A few weeks back, just after the collapse of Lehman Brothers, I wrote here about the potential reverberations the current financial/economic crisis may have on Central Asia.  It wasn’t rocket science to predict serious problems …

The global financial crisis that has steadily evolved over the last twelve months to erupt in a full-blown crash over the past days will have consequences around the world.  Russia’s stockmarket was forcibly closed until …

Is it because of some deeply-held inferiority complex when regional leaders compete against the Middle East and other autocracies to erect the world’s tallest flagpole?  Turkmenistan will hold the official record, as certified by the …

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by Chris Ferstad

Meanwhile sources in Gori informed us that local commuters are rubbed on Gori highway by Russian, Kazakhstan and Ossetian military.
Misinformation and online propaganda have been some of the key characteristics of the latest war in …

Christoph, a photographer-friend of mine, accompanied me to Kazakhstan a few weeks back. Here are some of his impressions from Astana:
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The new Independence Monument (91m high)