''US forces to leave Kyrgyzstan in 2014 - Kyrgyz President''

From Voice of Russia

''US servicemen will leave the Manas air base in Kyrgyzstan in 2014, Kyrgyz President Almazbek Atambayev said Tuesday after having talks with Germany’s Counselor Angela Merkel in Berlin.''

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''The people of the pipeline''

Book Review From RedPepper

''The Oil Road brings to life the story of how crude oil moves from the Caspian to northern Europe. The authors follow the route of the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan (BTC) pipeline from Azerbaijan to Turkey. But their journey does not end there as they cross the Alps, following the Transalpine Pipeline that brings Caspian oil into the heart of Europe’s refineries and cities.''

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''The Eurasian connection''

From Times of Malta
By Dmitry Medvedev

''In a few days, many heads of state and government will take part in the Asia-Europe Meeting (Asem) in Vientiane, Laos. This forum is justly called unique. Established in 1996, it brings together countries from Europe, South Asia and the Pacific region.

In essence, Asem is a platform for finding answers in a rapidly changing world. On the one hand, our world is characterised by globalisation and increasing global interdependence and, on the other, by regionalisation and the increasing significance of the most rapidly developing regions.

Due to its geographical and cultural diversity as well as its economic potential, Russia must inevitably play a key role in these processes.''

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''Russia’s new role in Central Asia''

From 'There are no Sunglasses'

''Russia’s recent striking of far-reaching deals in the energy and security spheres with Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan show Moscow’s determination to regain ground in Central Asia. Russia has ensured its continued military presence in the region as the Nato withdrawal from Afghanistan approaches, offering in return support on key economic issues – hydropower in Kyrgyzstan and fuel in Tajikistan.''

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Tajikistan: ''Potential Energy Boom Could be Geopolitical Game-Changer''

From EurasiaNet

''There’s a potentially huge story developing in Tajikistan: Central Asia’s poor cousin may be sitting atop a vast pool of oil and natural gas. Yet, no one in Dushanbe – neither government officials, nor energy company executives – seems eager to discuss the prospect of an energy boom.''

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''Russia’s Putin eyeing military dominance in Central Asia amid water quarrels''

From StratRisks

''Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan are landlocked and mountainous countries—75% and 90%, respectively—in Central Asia. The countries’ mountains provide abundance of potable water, which feed the two major rivers of Central Asia.  The scarcity of other natural resources understandably results in Bishkek’s and Dushanbe’s attempts to use the water more wisely—building hydropower plants (HPP) for generating electricity.  Dushanbe is aiming at erecting the tallest dam in the world—a 335-meter (about 1,000 feet) tall concrete wall on the Vakhsh River (turns into Amu-Darya River).  Kyrgyzstan, meanwhile, is securing Russia’s backing in building a 275-meter dam on the Naryn River (turns into Syr-Darya River).''

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''Russia’s Eurasian Union: A Bid for Hegemony?''

From GeoPolitical Monitor

''As the global competition for markets and resources has intensified in this last decade, with China recently surpassing Japan as the world’s second largest economy and the United States and EU countries struggling against the specter of recession, Moscow has manifestly set out on a course of accelerated rapprochement with its former satellites. By consolidating its ties with Belarus and Kazakhstan, and also by practicing a stick-and-carrot approach to Ukraine and Kyrgyzstan, Russia expects to strengthen its strategic neighborhood and secure access to local markets. However, Moscow also aspires to the role of a regional hegemon, decades after the collapse of the Soviet empire.''

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''IS CENTRAL ASIA ON THE VERGE OF A WATER WAR?''

From 'There are no Sunglasses'

''Whether it’s Israel maybe pre-emptively striking Iran, Afghanistan spiralling into sectarian violence, Libya becoming home base for Al-Qaeda, or Syria continuing to be the site of a government-led genocide, there’s no shortage of potential dirty wars and ominous harbingers in the Middle East and Central Asia. While everyone is focusing on the recent turmoil in Benghazi, a new kind of conflict is rising in Uzbekistan and Tajikistan that could eventually lead to the first water war of the 21st century.''

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''The CIA, 9/11, Afghanistan, and Central Asia''

From VoltaireNet.org

To mark the release of the French version of Peter Dale Scott’s latest book, "The American War Machine", we are publishing a detailed study undertaken by this Canadian diplomat on the attacks of September 11. He brings to light evidence of premeditation on the part of a faction within the U.S. military-industrial complex.

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''U.S. Military Aid To Central Asia: Who Benefits?''

From EurasiaNet

''Over the past few years, military aid has taken up an increasingly large portion of total U.S. aid to Central Asia, from around 5 percent throughout the 1990s to more than 30 percent since 2007. But that aid hasn't been closely examined, a situation I attempt to rectify in a new report (pdf), "U.S. Military Aid to Central Asia: Who Benefits?" The report focuses on aid to Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan. Among the findings:

-- U.S. training and equipping aid focuses on special forces, including OMON and Alfas, and on occasions when those forces may have acted in ways contrary to stated U.S. interests, U.S. officials have tended to not take an active role in investigating those incidents and continue to support those units.''

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''Why Exxon Is More Interested In The Caspian Than The Gulf Of Mexico''

From StratRisks

''We all know the story. Analyst goes to a far flung location; said analyst gets told farfetched stories about potential investors coming into the region. ‘Take it as gospel, honest guv. It’s a dead cert’. Normally you forget this stuff 10,000 feet above sea level on your flight back home. By the time you’re a couple of G&T’s down, it’s all a distant memory. That was my first hunch after hearing interesting stories in Azerbaijan for the past few days, but the rumours might have some credible clout given they are coming directly from SOCAR, the State Oil Company of Azerbaijan.

The assertion: Exxon is coming into Azerbaijan, and expect it to be big in Baku.''

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''Russia strengthens its hand in Central Asia''

From The Hindu via 'There are no Sunglasses'

''Russia has consolidated its strategic positions in Central Asia by extending the long-term lease on its military facilities in Kyrgyzstan and securing the shutdown of a United States base in the former Soviet republic.

In exchange, Russia agreed to write off nearly $500 million in Kyrgyzstan’s debt and pledged to uplift its near bankrupt economy.''

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''Russia's 'big bang' in Central Asia''

From Asia Times Online
By MK Bhadrakumar

''A period of intense high-level exchange is commencing this week between Russia and its Central Asian allies - and Pakistan. What characterizes the Russian strategy is a robust attempt to develop comprehensive partnerships with these countries in preparation of the post-2014 scenario in Afghanistan with the expected withdrawal of the troops of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO).''

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''Belarus to Go Nuclear as It Allies With China and Russia''

From The New American

''Europe’s last dictatorship may soon go nuclear as it announces major construction of its first nuclear power plant while at the same time it is apparently aiding Communist China with its mobile launchers for intercontinental ballistic missiles.''

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''Silk Road nears historic opening''

From Asia Times Online

''On the sidelines of the 16th Non-Aligned Movement Summit in Tehran, Iran, two significant meetings took place. Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari met with the Iranian President Mahmud Ahmedinejad to review the relations between their countries.

The second meeting was a trilateral discussion between senior foreign ministry officials from Afghanistan, India and Iran. Productive discussions in both sessions furthered the attempt to create a new "Southern Silk Road" connecting Iran to Central and South Asia through rail-lines and roads, and of course two major ports in the Gulf of Oman.'' 

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F. William Engdahl - ''Dagestan: ’Syria comes to Russia...''

an absolute must read...............From VoltaireNet.org

''The assassination of the most respected Sufi religious leader in Dagestan, Russia’s volatile Caucasus, comes as Salafist jihadists in Libya murder a US Ambassador who was actually a key player in ousting Gaddafi and bringing the Salafist Muslim Brotherhood and Jihadists into power. Throughout the entire Islamic world today, a wave of hate is being unleashed in the name of Islamic fundamentalism that could bring a new world war. This is the consequence of the Greater Middle East Project put in play in 2010 and earlier by circles in Washington, London and Tel Aviv. Manipulating religious fervor is an explosive cocktail as F. William Engdahl shows here.''

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''China to accelerate China-Kyrgyzstan-Uzbekistan railway project''

From Trend

''China will accelerate the China-Kyrgyzstan-Uzbekistan railway project, Chinese Vice Premier Hui Liangyu said at a meeting with Prime Minister of Kyrgyzstan Zhantoro Satybaldiyev in Ala-Archa state residence on Monday, KyrTAG reports.

"The construction of the railway from China to Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan will lead to the intensification of trade and economic relations. Several rounds of discussions at the expert level have already been held, and we hope after agreeing a feasibility study in the near future to start construction," Liangyu said.''

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''US risks chaos on ''new Silk Road''

From Asia Times

''Since the fall of the USSR, the United States has striven to establish its geopolitical presence in Central Asia, underpinning its efforts with the imaginative concepts of a "New Silk Road" [1].

Reformulated in July 2011, the idea promotes free trade and regional development joining the potential of the Central Asia Republics (CARs) with those of South Asia and the Middle East, especially through the construction of communication networks and, especially, energy infrastructure.''

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''China unveils grand Eurasian strategy''

From Indian Punchline
By MK Bhadrakumar

''The meeting of the China-Eurasian Forum in Urumqi, Xinjiang, on Sunday makes an interesting move in regional cooperation on the part of Beijing. The presence of Premier Wen Jiabao at the meeting signified the high importance that Beijing attaches to this initiative. In sum, China is directly wooing its Eurasian allies with audacious offers of building a New Silk Road.

Clearly, the Chinese initiative outstrips Russia’s “Eurasian Union” project , which is yet to be kickstarted. Indeed, China is outstripping both the US and Russia. While the New Silk Road Initiative is predicated on the stabilization of Afghanistan, Russia’s Eurasian Union project has got hopelessly entangled with Moscow’s changing equations with the Central Asian countries. 

For the world at large, the clash of the three grand Eurasian strategies – mooted by Washington, Moscow and Beijing — now becomes yet another fascinating spectacle of the Great Game.''

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''US Plan for a Base in Uzbekistan to Materialize?''

From Strategic Culture

''Geopolitically, the dust is settling in Central Asia in the wake of the noisy Arab Spring. Part of the outcome is likely to be Uzbekistan's policy swing that would place it solidly in the camp of the US military allies as the next leap after the republic put on hold its membership in the Collective Security Treaty Organization. In the meantime, Washington is making vigorous efforts to reset to zero the Russian influence over Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan, the two Central Asian republics where Russia currently maintains military bases.''

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