Russia in Global Affairs

Uzbekistan’s withdrawal makes one think of a more general problem – the artificiality of the entire structure of military-political security, built around Russia. In fact, the CSTO is now a mechanical combination of three security systems, each based on Russian participation.

References to the Moslem periphery of the former Soviet empire sprang up during the peak of events in Tunisia and Egypt. All of the characteristics of North African countries – authoritarian (at best, but in most cases totalitarian) regimes that have ruled for decades; nepotism, corruption and contempt for human rights; extreme poverty, unemployment and the lack of a social security net – can be easily applied to Central Asian reality.

Islam Karimov has never made a secret of the fact that he does not separate the notions of ‘Uzbekistan’ and ‘President.’ Karimov’s brainchild has gone through numerous harsh tests over the past two decades but now it is facing the harshest one. The challenges are too momentous to be matched by the experience of Soviet-era nomenklatura, even the one bolstered by the nationalistic aspirations that always go hand-in-glove with the construction of a new statehood.

The Kazakh path toward chairmanship of the largest European organization has been full of twists and turns and it reflects not so much the rise of the country’s national statehood, as the rivalry between Russia and the West for energy resources in the Caspian basin and Central Asia, plus the competition between Moscow and the Kazakh government for positions in energy markets and in the territory of the former Soviet Union.

The Americans had no illusions about the Afghan mojaheds from the very start, and extremely simplistic people only could hope in earnest that they could become the heralds of Afghan democracy. As an Afghan once formulated: "One cannot buy us out, one can only lease us for a while".