German FM lauds Kyrgyzstan as a stable democracy in a volatile region

German Foreign Minister Steinmeier has visited the central-Asian Republic of Kyrgyzstan, praising the country as a "living democracy." However, he also highlighted the growing threat posed to the region by extremism.

Deutsche Welle, 1 April 2016

 Frank-Walter Steinmeier and Almazbek Atambayev

While touring Bishkek, the capital of the former Soviet Republic of Kyrgyzstan, German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier promised to deliver further funds in aid to help the country maintain a stable democracy. Following a meeting with President Almazbek Atambayev, Steinmeier announced that Kyrgyzstan paid an "exceedingly important contribution to guaranteeing stability in the region as a living, parliamentary democracy."

With the so-called "Islamic State" movement gaining influence in the region and recruiting a fast-growing number of locals to fight for them in Syria and Iraq, Steinmeier also stressed that a strong democracy provided a good measure to prevent "radicalism and fundamentalism from taking hold."

Kyrgyz Foreign Minister Erlan Abdyldaev said, however, that in order maintain that standard, the country needed more money.

"We also wish for our country to be open and democratic. But democracy cannot thrive in poverty," he said, according to the German DPA news agency.

A lifeline out of poverty

With the country's economy relying largely on the mining of coal and gold, 40 percent of its 5.7 million-strong population are currently living below the poverty line, according to the International Monetary Fund. But with Russia's economy dragging many of its former Soviet republics down as well, stability and safety come at a cost, which the landlocked republic can barely afford.

Kyrgyzstan was Steinmeier's second stop in a three-day-tour of the region. Having visited Uzbekistan earlier, the foreign minister prepared to head for his final stop on the itinerary, Tajikistan, where he is due to meet with authoritarian President Emomali Rahmon, who has been ruling over the impoverished mountain state since it broke off from the USSR in 1991.

ss/jr (dpa)

Xi and Putin driving Eurasia resurgence, says Duowei

Want China Times, Staff Reporter 2015-07-13

Chinese president Xi Jinping and his Russian counterpart Vladimir
Putin in the Russian city of Ufa, July 10, 2015. (Photo/Xinhua)

Chinese president Xi Jinping and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin are actively driving the resurgence of Eurasia, reports Duowei News, a US-based Chinese political news outlet.

Xi and Putin were among the leaders who attended the "dual summit" of the BRICS nations — Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa — and the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation — China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan —in the Russian city of Ufa on July 8-10.

In his speech at the BRICS summit, Xi called for the formation of a community of responsibility and common destiny based on mutual political trust, economic integration and cultural tolerance.

The importance Xi has placed on the dual summits reflects China's growing investment in diplomacy as part of the country's continuing plan to comprehensively deepen reforms, Duowei said.

Since coming to power in November 2012 as general secretary of the Communist Party, Xi has sought to strengthen ties with Africa and Latin America, as well as build a new type of "major powers" relationship with the US, Duowei said, though it is clear that his primary focus is firmly on Eurasia.

According to Duowei, China's main strategic emphasis now is Xi's ambitious "Belt and Road" initiative, which aims to boost connectivity and cooperation among countries in Eurasia. The two-tier project comprising the land-based Silk Road Economic Belt and the sea-based Maritime Silk Road is likely to be tied in with the newly formed, Beijing-led Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank and New Development Bank (NDB), formerly the BRICS Development Bank, and its US$100 billion emergency reserve fund, of which China is the largest contributor with a share of 41%.

China is not the only country aiming for a Eurasia resurgence, Duowei said, adding that Russia as well as other emerging nations have also been moving towards developing stategies of regional integration.

This is not surprising given Eurasia's strong potential, Duowei said. Eurasia accounts for 75% of the world's population and holds a significant portion of the world's mineral resources. Up to 60% of the world's gross national product is attributable to Eurasia, and three-quarters of the world's known energy resources are also found on the Eurasia mainland, Duowei added, noting that proper strategies and management will reap massive benefits for every party in the long run.

The three main powers in Eurasia are the European Union, Russia and China, Duowei said. The EU is struggling with the Greek debt crisis, while Russia is reeling from the economic sanctions imposed as a result of its annexation of the Crimean penninsula from Ukraine last year, leaving China as the most important driving force of the region, Duowei added.

The unprecendented level of cooperation and integration developing across Eurasia provides cause for optimism, notwithstanding the instability caused by sluggish economies, terrorism, religious fundamentalism, environmental pollution, territorial disputes and military conflicts, Duowei said.

For Beijing, a prosperous Eurasia is not only the key to reviving China's slowing economy, it is the road to greater international credibility and authority, Duowei said. While there is still much integration to be coordinated and many obstacles to overcome, China must face these problems head on if it intends to succeed, Duowei added.

A limited attendance meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation Heads

of State Council in the Russian city of Ufa, July 10, 2015. (Photo/CFP)

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Beijing ratifies protocol for nuclear-weapon-free treaty in Central Asia

Want China Times, Xinhua 2015-04-25

The 14th session of the 12th NPC Standing Committee held in the Great
Hall of the People in Beijing, April 24. (File photo/Xinhua)

China's top legislature on Friday ratified the protocol to the Treaty on Nuclear-Weapon-Free Zone (NWFZ) in Central Asia.

After approving the protocol, the National People's Congress Standing Committee declared that no security protocol or treaty will undermine the status of the NWFZ, and that all explanations and applications of the clauses in the protocol shall support the goal of the building of the NWFZ in Central Asia.

The protocol was signed by representatives of China, France, Russia, the United Kingdom and the United States on May 6, 2014 in New York.

The protocol provides legally-binding assurances not to use or threaten to use nuclear weapons against parties to the NWFZ parties.

Enacted in 2009, the treaty commits the signatories, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan, to refrain from developing, acquiring or possessing nuclear weapons.

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Tajik vote overshadowed by ruble slump

Voters have cast ballots in Tajikistan for a new parliament likely to be held by President Emomali Rakhmon's secularists. Many migrant Tajiks have returned to the Central Asian nation because of Russia's economic slump.

Deutsche Welle, 1 March 2015

Ex-Soviet Tajikistan voted on Sunday with few signs of genuine parliamentary opposition to the 22-year-old rule of President Rakhmon. Election results are expected on Monday morning local time.

Campaigning had been hardly visible, said monitors of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE). They added that online news sources had been "intermittently blocked" and local journalists were practicing "self-censorship," fearing intimidation.

Rakhmon's secular government defeated Islamist rebels in a bitter 1992-97 civil war. In the last election in 2010, the Islamic Revival Party of Tajikistan (IRPT), which includes many former fighters, won only two seats.

Its leader, Muhiddin Kabiri, said the IRPT hope to win at least five seats to form its own parliamentary caucus or faction - despite what he said were attempts to "blacken" the party's reputation via social media.

Firm hold in past parliament

Rakhmon won a fourth term
as president in 2013

Since 2010, Rakhmon's People's Democratic Party has held 55 mandates in the 63-seat Assembly of Representatives, parliament's lower chamber.

The president himself was re-elected in 2013 to a fourth seven-year term.

Voters thronged to polling stations in sunny weather in the capital Dushanbe on Sunday, with some expressing fears about their economic prospects.

Extra jobs for returning migrants

During campaigning, the government promised 200,000 extra jobs for Tajiks returning from Russia, where manual jobs, such as cleaning and snow clearing, no longer generate adequate remittances given the ruble's sharp decline.

Money sent to families back home has until recently accounted for up to half of Tajikistan's gross domestic product (GDP).

Russia's economy has suffered under Western sanctions linked to the Ukraine crisis and plunging prices worldwide for oil and gas sales.

A migrant workers' association in the western Russian city of Saint Petersburg said last week that migrants from Tajikistan and Uzbekistan were increasingly adverse to "meager" pay.

Social tensions

Tajik political analysts have warned that social tensions could rise further in Tajikistan as a result.

Alexander Knyazev, a Central Asian analyst, said a return of a large number of disgruntled workers might leave President Rakhmon facing social unrest.

Tajikistan, a mountainous nation of 8.3 million people, hosts 7,000 Russian soldiers, making it the largest contingent stationed abroad outside Crimea.

ipj/gsw (dpa, Reuters, AFP)

China signs protocol to nuclear-free treaty in Central Asia

Want China Times, Xinhua 2014-05-07

Liu Jieyi, second left, and representatives of Russia, the United States,
France and Britain at the signing ceremony in New York, May 6. (Photo/Xinhua)

China on Wednesday signed a protocol to the Treaty on a Nuclear-Weapon-Free Zone in Central Asia.

"China supports the efforts of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan to establish a nuclear-weapon-free zone in Central Asia, which serves the purposes of strengthening the international non-proliferation regime, advancing the nuclear disarmament process, and promoting peace and security in the region and beyond," Chinese permanent envoy to the UN Liu Jieyi said in a statement.

China has made a solemn commitment of no-first-use of nuclear weapons at any time or under any circumstances, and promised that under no circumstances will it use or threaten to use nuclear weapons against non-nuclear-weapon states and nuclear-weapon-free zones, the statement said.

"China is committed to strictly complying with the obligations of this protocol after signing and ratification," it said. "At the same time, China believes that any security agreement or treaty will not affect the position of the nuclear-weapon-free zone, and interpretation and application of all the provisions of this protocol must comply with its aim and purpose of establishing a nuclear-weapon-free zone in Central Asia."

China hopes the protocol will enter into force at an early date and is willing to make joint efforts with the Central Asian countries to achieve the goal of the complete prohibition and thorough destruction of nuclear weapons in the world, said the statement.

China signed the protocol with the five Central Asian countries at the UN headquarters together with Russia, the United States, France and Britain.

Bikini Atoll, Marshall Islands, where a 15-megaton device equivalent to a thousand

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Putin's power play jeopardizes Eurasian Union plans

Deutsche Welle, 15 March 2014

President Vladimir Putin aims to create an Eurasian Union where the Soviet Union once reigned. But Moscow's intervention in Crimea could make former Soviet republics think twice about deeper integration with Russia.

During his annual address to the Russian parliament back in 2005, President Putin publicly lamented the collapse of the Soviet Union, calling it "a major geopolitical disaster of the century." The former KGB man laid out his solution to this "disaster" in a 2011 newspaper editorial, in which he called for the creation of an Eurasian Union.

"First, none of this entails any kind of revival of the Soviet Union," Putin wrote in the daily Izvestia. "It would be naïve to revive or emulate something that has been consigned to history. But these times call for a close integration based on new values and a new political and economic foundation."

"We suggest a powerful supranational association capable of becoming one of the poles in the modern world and serving as an efficient bridge between Europe and the dynamic Asia-Pacific region," he continued.

Neighboring Belarus and Kazakhstan have signed up to join Russia in this integration project. In 2010, the three ex-Soviet republics formed a common customs union. Meanwhile, they have agreed to make the Eurasian Economic Union a reality by January 1, 2015.

Close, but not too close?

"According to Putin, it has to be a political alliance, not only the customs union, with supranational institutions that will be hosted by Moscow and apparently dominated by Russia," Lilia Shevtsova, a Russia expert with CarnegieMoscow, told DW.

'Anti-thesis to the West'

While Shevtsova described the Eurasian Union as Putin's "pet project," she said that the concept of Eurasianism as an ideology developed in early 20th century Russia as an "antithesis to the West."

"The major principle of Eurasianism is that Russia has to be the pole of a new civilization, which is situated on the huge Eurasian territory that includes a European part and an Asian part," Shevtsova said. "Russia is unique and Russia is not Europe."

"The Eurasian concept is based on such values as the Orthodox Church and the strength of the state," she said. "The state is much more important than individuals."

'EU without democracy'

In terms of its structure, the Eurasian Union is modeled on the European Union's political integration project, but without the emphasis on democracy and human rights, according to Amanda Paul, an expert on the Eurasian region at the in Brussels.

A handful of former Soviet republics, led by Russia, created the Eurasian Economic

Community (EAEC or Eurasec) in 2000 to serve as the motor of integration in the former Soviet space. The organization's institutional structure is similar to the defunct European Economic Community, the forerunner of the European Union. Eurasec has an interstate council, a permanent committee, an inter-parliamentary assembly and a court.

The interstate council consists of the Eurasec members' heads of state and makes decisions by consensus, while the permanent committee requires a two-thirds majority vote. Voting power in the committee is based on financial contributions. Russia wields 40 votes while Belarus and Kazakhstan each hold 20. Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan possess 10 votes respectively.

Driven by realpolitik

According to Shevtsova, Belarusian strongman Alexander Lukashenko opted to join because he "cannot go to Europe" due to his repressive policies, and "he cannot survive by himself" because of the country's economic problems. Meanwhile, Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev hopes to use Russia to balance out China's economic influence in the Central Asian country, she said.

Last September, Armenia turned down an association agreement with the European Union, opting instead for the customs union with Belarus, Russia and Kazakhstan. The Armenian deputy foreign minister, Shavarsh Kocharian, has said that Yerevan will be ready to join the customs union by mid-April.

Armenia has "chosen" to go
along with Russia's plan

"They basically didn't have any option but to ditch their agreement with the EU because of their reliance on Russia in many different sectors, obviously including energy security, economics and trade," Paul said.

"In the shared neighborhood with the EU, none of the countries want to join," she continued. "Russia is having to force them in there with all the sticks and whips it's got."

'Pop-up war syndrome'

According to Shevtsova, Kyiv is the "crown jewel" in Russia's Eurasian ambitions. A country of 45 million people, Ukraine has fertile agricultural land, an industrial base and lies right on Central Europe's doorstep.

"It was one of the key goals of Putin to get Ukraine into the orbit because a Eurasian Union…without Ukraine would have a very strong Asian face," she said.

But Moscow's intervention in Crimea could jeopardize the entire integration project. Ukraine has been driven even further into the West's arms by the de-facto Russian annexation of the Black Sea peninsula. The EU could sign the political chapters of an association agreement with Kyiv as early as March 20th.

Meanwhile, Belarus and Kazakhstan have failed to express strong public support for Moscow's position in Ukraine. Putin's doctrine of reserving the right to use military force to protect ethnic Russians might have Minsk and Astana worried. Nearly a quarter of Kazakhstan's population and eight percent of Belarus claim Russian ethnicity.

"If the Russians are allowed to get away with what they're doing in Crimea it sets a precedent to repeat this sort of behavior elsewhere," Paul said. "Russia is creating a sort of pop-up war syndrome. It doesn't like something so it creates a military confrontation."

Tajikistan orders Twitter ban

Yahoo – AFP,  22 December 2012

Tajikistan has ordered local Internet providers to block Twitter, one
 of more than 100 sites including popular Russian-language social
 networks starting next week, an industry representative told
 AFP Saturday.

"The (government) communications service has sent Internet companies a huge list of 131 sites that must be blocked in the country from Monday," said Asomiddin Atoyev, the head of the Tajik association of Internet providers.

"The list includes social networking sites that are actively used by Tajik Internet users including government officials," Atoyev said.

Among the blocked sites are Vkontakte, or In Touch, and Odnoklassniki, or Classmates, the most popular social networking sites in Russia with many users in the ex-Soviet Union, and Mail.ru, an email service.

"We don't understand the criteria for drawing up the list and what they are pursuing. The communications service does not give reasons in its letter for blocking the sites," Atoyev said.

No official at the communications service was available for comment on Saturday.

The Central Asian country bordering Afghanistan lifted only this month a ban on Facebook, which was blocked from late November for almost two weeks on the order of the same state-run communications service.

The service said it blocked Facebook because of a "deluge of lies" and "insults to the head of state and government members."

But after urging from the United States, the authorities unblocked Facebook in December, saying they had been carrying out "preventative technical" work.

Several news sites, including regional portals Fergana.ru and Centrasia.ru and Russia's state-owned news agency RIA Novosti, have been blocked in Tajikistan for months.

Local media in Tajikistan avoids criticising President Emomali Rahmon, who has led the country since 1992, fearing government checks and closure of their publications.

Tajikistan, the poorest ex-Soviet country, has a population of around eight million people, of whom around one million work in Russia, often as labourers. The money they send back home accounts for 40 percent of the country's GDP.

The country will hold presidential elections next year and many fear the authorities will tighten control on the Internet.

"The next presidential elections will be held in Tajikistan in November 2013, and this will bring even more harsh control of Internet resources and independent media," predicted the head of the National Association of Independent Media of Tajikistan, Nuriddin Karshiboyev.

US urges Tajikistan to lift media, Facebook web bans

The Daily Star, December 01, 2012

Tajikistan's President Emomali Rakhmon (R) shakes hands with General James
 Mattis, Commander, U.S. Central Command, during a meeting at the Palace
of Nations in Dushanbe March 31, 2012. (REUTERS/Nozim Kalandarov)

                              

DUSHANBE: The United States on Saturday urged Tajikistan to lift a ban on news websites and Facebook after the local branch of a US-funded radio also found its site blocked.

"The US Embassy is concerned with the apparent decision by the Communication Service of the Republic of Tajikistan to block access to Facebook, Radio Ozodi and other Internet news sites," the US embassy in Dushanbe said in a statement.

Radio Ozodi, the Tajik service of Radio Liberty, confirmed to AFP that Internet providers had blocked their popular website.

"The United States believes that the right of individuals to express their views freely is universal, whether exercised in a public square or on the Internet," the embassy statement said.

"We urge the government of Tajikistan to respect individual rights to freedom of expression and lift its restriction" on the banned sites, it said.

"This is censorship, clear and simple," president of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty Steven Korn was quoted as saying in a company statement about the blockage of its Tajik service.

"Several Internet providers in Tajikistan told Ozodi that they received SMS text messages from the Communications Service Thursday evening instructing them to block access to Ozodi," the statement said.

Several news sites, including regional portals Fergana.ru and Centrasia.ru, have been blocked in Tajikistan for months, along with Russia's state-owned news agency RIA Novosti.

About 40,000 people used Facebook in the Central Asian country when the government ordered access to it blocked this week, saying it was responding to concerns of upset citizens about "insults" and "lies" posted on the social network.

Communications service chief Beg Zukhurov was quoted by Russian news agencies as saying that Facebook access may be restored after unspecified technical issues are resolved.

Tajikistan, a former Soviet republic in Central Asia ruled by Emomali Rakhmon since 1992, will hold presidential elections next year, and many fear the authorities may further tighten control of the Internet in the coming months.

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