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Editors' Note - SCO and the Bishkek Summit
Nicklas Norling and Niklas Swanstrom
A number of important events with direct implications for China’s engagement in Central Asia have occurred since our last issue in May 2007. China seems to be stepping up its activity in the region and this was seen not least in the events surrounding the annual Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) heads of state summit in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan on August 16. The attendees to this summit included the six heads of state of the SCO member states as well as the heads of state of Mongolia and Iran, while Pakistan was represented by its Foreign Minister and India by its Minister of Oil and Gas. More significantly, both Afghan President Hamid Karzai and Turkmen President Gurbanguly Berdimukhamedov also attended the summit while the UN was represented by Under-Secretary General Lynn Pascoe. This could indicate a more active role for these two former actors in SCO in the future (...)
Central Asia—National Interests and Regional Prospects
Johannes F. Linn
Central Asia is one of the pivotal regions of the world. It is located at the core of the Eurasian continental space and represents a critical connection between the large and dynamic continental economies – China, the European Union, India, Japan and Russia. The Central Asian countries with their large natural and human resources face both an opportunity and a challenge as the Eurasian economic space is now rapidly integrating as part of a new phase of global integration. This note reviews the national interests of key countries inside and outside the region and how they determine the prospects of Central Asia in successfully integrating into the Eurasian and world economy (...)
The Shanghai Cooperation Organization and Europe
Alyson J.K. Bailes
The Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) has never claimed a European model and analogue, in the way that the Russia-led Cooperative Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) likes to profile itself as an equivalent to NATO. If the SCO has any substantial European antecedents they are most easily found in the CSCE/OSCE, where the ideas of mutual confidence building and border management – the cornerstone of Beijing’s and Moscow’s original ”Shanghai process”-were elaborated from the 80’s onwards (...)
The Russian Resurgence in the Middle East
Robert O. Freedman
The recent visit to Moscow of Hamas leader Khaled Mashal, which came soon after Russian President Vladimir Putin's trip to Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Jordan, has underscored the resurgence of Russian interest in the Middle East. Under Russian President Vladimir Putin, Russia has sought to achieve three major goals in the region. The first is to demonstrate Russia's renewed power and influence in a region where American influence is on the decline. The second is to increase trade with the nations of the region, so as to buttress to Russian economy, especially its non-energy sectors. The third goal is to minimize Arab, Turkish and Iranian support for the Chechen rebellion against Russian control, which the rebels are carrying out in the name of Islam (...)
Enkhsaikhan Jargalsaikhan
The 21st century is in many ways a nuclear century since international security, development and progress depends to a certain extent on how we deal with nuclear issues. Mongolia, as a member of the worldwide family of nations, and sandwiched as it is between two nuclear-weapon powers, is directly affected by nuclear issues. As such Mongolia must decide either to be passively affected by the perils of the nuclear age or play an active role, to the extent possible, in shaping its own future. The outcome of this decision depends a great deal on the Mongolian people themselves (...)
HIV/AIDS: Security Threat in Central Asia?
Svetlana Ancker
Today, Central Asian states are facing a number of security threats, including HIV/AIDS and related infections. International experience demonstrates that HIV/AIDS presents a clear danger to states, their citizens and institutions. With its proximity to drug-trafficking routes, poverty and deteriorated healthcare systems, Central Asia is at risk of the HIV/AIDS epidemic. The potential consequences are so devastating that the Central Asian states should have no doubt as to the need to take adequate actions before the situation spin out of control and the epidemic explodes (...)
The Taliban and the Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal
Magnus Norell
This study sheds light on the issue of Pakistani support for the insurgency in Afghanistan, mainly the Taliban, who, by way of being the most active, have been – for all intents and purposes – able to direct much of the insurgency in Afghanistan. In the study, it will be argued that without Pakistani support, the Afghan insurgency would not be able to keep up the level of attacks that they have, so far, been able to muster. The study will concentrate on the key political player when it comes to Pakistani support for the Taliban, the Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA) (...)
Energy Cooperation in the SCO: Club or Gathering?
Artyom Matusov
The following analysis will examine concrete events, deals and disagreements that have taken place over the last year which point to certain trends in the area of energy cooperation within the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO). The conclusion is that the SCO will likely not play a significant role in instituting greater energy cooperation or coordination in the region. Moreover, progress in this direction will be slow, unsteady and uncertain (...)
Central Asian Labor Migrants in Russia: The "Diasporization" of the Central Asian States?
Marlène Laruelle
At the turn of the 2000s, the emigration of Russians from Central Asia to Russia began to lose its relevance in comparison with the rapid development of migratory flows of Tajiks, Kyrgyz and Uzbeks. These migratory flows have complex repercussions on the societies in question, both in Russia and in Central Asia. In Central Asia’s impoverished societies, the possibility to migrate and try to find a job represents a real "safety valve." Indeed, labor out-migration postpones unemployment-fueled social tension and socio-political instability. In any case, these flows will have positive as well as negative consequences for the Central Asian economies and societies. They could also have a political impact. Despite their double edge nature, these migrations confirm the emergence of new interactions between Russia and Central Asia. Their consequences could include the risk of confrontation, but also the continuation of cultural exchanges and the preservation of ethnic diversity (...)
