Category: Volume 1, Issue 7

THE PASHTUN: WHO ARE THEY?

Rustam MAKHMOUDOV Rustam Makhmoudov, research associate, Institute of Strategic Research at the President of the Republic of Uzbekistan. The Taliban’s military victories and political successes have stirred up an interest in the Pashtun, the core of the movement. It should be said in all justice that at all times the people has been exerting a…

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JEWS IN CENTRAL ASIA: THE PAST FOR THE PRESENT

Michael V. SHTERENSHIS Dr. Michael V. Shterenshis, research fellow, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem. How Did the Jews Spread over Asia Jews are Asians. They have their roots in Asia, they flourished in Asia, and they dispersed mostly in Asia. It is possible that already in the 1st century B.C. the number of Jews outside Palestine…

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AFGHANISTAN AND CHECHNIA: A VERY SPECIFIC ALLIANCE

Alexander KHAMAGAEV Alexander Khamagaev, Editor, Afghan Service, Taskent Radio International (Uzbekistan). One can describe Afghanistan and Chechnia as two main pillars of the so-called “independence salient” stretching, as Russian President Putin put it, from Malaysia to the Balkans. The resultant high tension has forced the post-Soviet independent states look for more options of defending their…

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CHECHNIA’S CONSTITUENCY – THE PROBLEM OF RUSSIAN FEDERALISM

Musa BASNUKAEV Musa Basnukaev, Ph.D. (Econ.), senior scientific fellow, Center of Socioeconomic Problems of Federalism, Institute of Economics, Russian Academy of Sciences (RF). In 1990, the Checheno-Ingush Republic adopted its Declaration of State Sovereignty. But as early as 1 November, 1991, Chechnia declared itself an independent state and announced its desire to secede from the…

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KABARDINO-BALKARIA: THREATS TO STABILITY

Alexander SKAKOV Alexander Skakov, Ph.D. (Hist.), scientific fellow, Russian Institute of Strategic Stidies. I. Ethnopolitical Problems The main factors influencing the situation in Kabardino-Balkaria are its dual constituency and the political, economic and psychological consequences wrought by the deportation of the Balkars in 1944, which are still having repercussions today. Dual constituency is stirring up…

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THE HOLLOWS AND PITFALLS BEHIND BIG OIL PROSPECTS IN AZERBAIJAN

Alec RASIZADE Dr. Alec Rasizade, senior associate at the Historical Research Center in Washington (U.S.A.). In his last government purge, president Heidar Aliev reshuffled the entire cabinet of ministers including its chief Fuad Guliev, followed later by resignation of the outspoken parliament speaker Rasul Guliev. Vice premier Artur Rasizade took over as prime minister at the…

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BELARUS: ECONOMIC POTENTIAL AND STRATEGIC INTERESTS IN THE EURASIAN ECONOMIC COMMUNITY

Alexander ZAITSEV Alexander Zaitsev, deputy director, Institute of Human Problems (Minsk, Republic of Belarus). The disintegration of the post-Soviet space and the shortage of investments (one could even say investments famine) do not allow Belarus and the countries of Central Asia to overcome all the crisis phenomena in their economy. These states have a number…

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BASIC SOCIODEMOGRAPHIC TRENDS IN THE EURASIAN ECONOMIC COMMUNITY COUNTRIES

Rosa ZHALIMBETOVA Rosa Zhalimbetova, Ph.D. (Econ.), adviser to the Central Social and Labor Relations Board, Integration Committee (Almaty, Kazakhstan). The sociodemographic situation reflects economic, political, ecological and other changes in the life of a country. A true picture of this situation may be obtained from population censuses, taken every ten years or so on UN…

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EURASIAN ECONOMIC COMMUNITY: PURPOSES, CHALLENGES AND PROSPECTS

Galina ISLAMOVA Galina Islamova, Ph.D. (Tech.), deputy head of the Central Economic Cooperation Board, Integration Committee of the Republic of Belarus, Republic of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyz Republic, Russian Federation and Republic of Tajikistan (Kazakhstan). On 10 October, 2000, a new integration entity, the Eurasian Economic Community (EurAsEC), appeared in the post-Soviet space. From the very outset,…

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RELIGION IN PRESENT-DAY UZBEKISTAN

Asal ABBASOVA Asal Abbasova, leading specialist, International Imam al-Bukhari Foundation (Uzbekistan). The last decade has demonstrated that the Islamic factor in Central Asia is anything but passive. In the seventies and eighties religion that seemed to be safely shelved by Soviet power as a throwback from the past got a second wind. Another decade brought…

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