From the category archives:

Central Asia

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Thumbnail image for Subscribe to Steppe Magazine by Joshua Foust

I know we issue this call periodically, but I just recently bought a subscription to Steppe Magazine and back ordered an issue I wanted to see. It is everything I hoped it would be—solid design, wonderful travelogues from the area, genuinely skilled photography (Chris Herwig is really good), and pretty decent writing on top of [...]

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Tajikistan’s Islamic Triangle: Acute or Obtuse Analysis?

by Mark

Digging around the archives of Asia-Plus the other day (probably Tajikistan’s best, albeit embattled news outlet). I found an informative discussion related to the existence of an “Islamic Triangle” in Tajikistan.
The dialogue featured input from three Tajik political scientists about the trifecta of the Rasht Valley, Isfara districts, Kuhistoni Maschoh (not to be confused [...]

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Back to Central Asia to Start

by Asher Kohn

I had the opportunity to have a long talk (or to be technical, listen to three different talks) with a woman who does Law and Central Asia stuff for the US Government. I’m not going to get into specifics because I haven’t asked her if I can get into specifics on an internet forum, and [...]

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Did You Know Muslims Are Still Scary?

by Joshua Foust

Reuters is worried you might forget.
Long ignored as a myth whipped up by the authorities to justify political repression, a surge in radical Islam in the former Soviet region has become a reality for the West fighting an increasingly tough war in next-door Afghanistan.
Analysts say long-defunct groups like the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan are regaining [...]

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Holiday Reading Open Thread

by Matthew Kuhl

The semester is winding down here in middle Georgia, and that, of course, means that I have about a month’s worth of not much to do. Therefore, I turn to you good folks here for some suggestions on what to read. I’m looking for some papers/articles/books about Central Asia. What have you read recently that [...]

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Always On The Brink

by Nathan Hamm

This week has seen the production of a lot of straight-up BS on Central Asia. Christian has posts going after things reported about Tajikistan and Uzbekistan that don’t pass the whiff test. In both cases, stereotypes of Central Asia as a mysterious land of danger offer the tiny gloss of plausibility needed to get downright [...]

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Water Management in Central Asia

by Misha

The recent post on Jatrophetic prompted me to post this news about glacial retreat in Kyrgyzstan. Geologists have recently brought to attention the significant melting of Kyrgyz glaciers Adigene and Petrova. This story is only one in a series of warnings surrounding global glacial retreat in countries around the world. From Kilamanjaro to the Himalayas, [...]

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Is Central Asia post-colonial or not?

by Ahad_Abdurahmon

Is Central Asia post-colonial or not?
Can post-colonial theory be applied to post-Soviet region?
Laura Adams raises this question and generally comes up with a positive answer here (PDF pp 2-7).
The current CESS President Edward Lazzerini responds with an interesting approach. I learned from his response was that the Sankt Peterburg library contains a catalogue of all [...]

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Look Out Kid, It’s Something You Did

by Asher Kohn

Let’s try something different today. A big part of some folks’ frustration with getting involved in Central Asian happenings is that they have a difficult time jumping in to the deep-end of the subject matter that gets covered here. To remedy that, I’m going to try to explain some trends in energy policies within Central [...]

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Fethullahcilar Education and the Future of Central Asia

by Asher Kohn

The Fethullahcilar education movement has become the target of think-tank consternation and governmental distrust (re: Islam Karimov) mostly for being difficult to pin down. Nurculuk is a far cry from Salafi Islam, as it is Islamicist and futurist at the same time. It has its roots in Sufism, which otherwise sober-faced experts are deeming Happy [...]

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