Central Asia 18 - PONARS Eurasia

Russia-NIS Relations Beyond the Color Revolutions: Are the Shifts Durable?

During a short period of nine months, the joyful euphoria of many observers about the Orange Revolution in Ukraine gave way to shock and mixed emotion about the Tulip Revolution…

A Year After the Color Revolutions: Preemptive Authoritarianism and Challenges for Democratization in the Former Soviet Union

In 1989, citizens across central Europe went to the streets to bring down communist dictatorships and assert their right to live in free societies. More than a decade later, people…

Russia’s Counterrevolutionary Offensive in Central Asia

Counterterrorism has never been a convincing Russian strategy for Central Asia. At the start of Vladimir Putin’s presidency, attempts to impress upon the leaders of the five Central Asian states that only…

Difficult Engagements: Political Lessons from the K2 Experience

In July 2005, the government of Uzbekistan expelled the United States from the Karshi-Khanabad (K2) air base from which U.S. forces had conducted reconnaissance and support missions for Operation Enduring…

Understanding the Impact of the K2 Closure

On July 29, 2005, President Islam Karimov ordered the U.S. military facility at Karshi-Khanabad (K2), Uzbekistan to close down within 180 days. It now appears virtually certain that U.S. forces…

Avoiding the Great Game and Domestic Unrest in Eurasia

Central Asia’s growing instability has opened the region to a host of would-be political entrepreneurs. The March and May 2005 uprisings in Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan underscored the weakness of Eurasian…

The Not-So-Great Game in Central Asia

The recent request of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) to the United States to set deadlines for the temporary use of its bases in Central Asia, and Uzbekistan’s subsequent demand…

Is Russia Really an Ally?

U.S.-Russian relations have been strengthened considerably over the last year. Two developments led to this improvement: Russian president Vladimir Putin’s support for the United States in the aftermath of the…

Partners In Need: U.S.-Russian Cooperation on and Approaches to Anti-terrorism

Shaken to the core by the September 11 attacks, the United States naturally took the leading role in the global fight against terrorism. By demonstrating that even unprecedented military might…

U.S. Military Bases in Post-Soviet Central Asia: Economic Lessons from Okinawa

The new United States and coalition force military bases in Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan, established in 2002, have not attracted much media attention in the West. Yet as we know from cases elsewhere…

Contacts

DIGITAL RESOURCES

Knowledge Hub

RECOMMENDED

Is There More Hope or More Fear Among Russia’s Exiled Activists After the August 2024 Prisoner Swap?

‘Foreign Agent’ Laws in Georgia, Kyrgyzstan Show Pitfalls of Turning Local Governance Issues into Geopolitical Battles

Erection and Demolition of Monuments in Russian-East European Memory Wars

Where Is Russia’s ‘Military Keynesianism’ Headed?

Political Reforms for Postwar Russia: What Russian Wartime Migrants Say

PONARS Eurasia Podcast

Central Asia