Daily headlines tell the story of China’s mass internment of Uighurs in its Xinjiang province, along with the closing and destruction of Uighur mosques and the demolition of their neighborhoods. But the press largely ignores other aspects of their identity, notably their significant cultural and intellectual achievements. These details matter, because Uighurs’ resilient culture may ultimately frustrate China’s efforts to stamp them out.
Tuesday, 17 September 2019 00:00
First Glimpses of Tokayev's Kazakhstan: The Listening State?
- President Tokayev seeks to "maintain continuity" yet nonetheless calls for "systemic reforms." He appears to mean both.
- In the effort to engage society more deeply in governance, Kazakhstan will institute and seek to manage reforms from above.
- In continuing the principle of balance in its foreign policy, which Tokayev invented two decades ago, Kazakhstan will seek increased engagement and investment from the West.
By S. Frederick Starr
September 17, 2019
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Friday, 26 July 2019 00:00
China's Brutality Can't Destroy Uighur Culture
Tuesday, 02 July 2019 10:56
Turkey's Hour of Nationalism: The Deeper Sources of Political Realignment
Lost in the electoral struggle for Istanbul, the deeper lesson of Turkey’s local election is the rise of Turkish nationalism. It has weakened President Erdoğan, and it offers the United States new options in developing a coherent Turkey policy.
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Monday, 10 June 2019 00:00
US Perspectives on China's Belt and Road Initiative in Central Asia and the South Caucasus
US Perspectives on China's Belt and Road Initiative in Central Asia adn the South Caucasus
By S. Frederick Starr
Abstract
To date, the US response to the Chinese Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) in Central Asia and the Caucasus has been calm, if not tacitly supportive. Two main reasons for this are: (a) the reopening of age-old east–west trade corridors as one of the most important legacies of the collapse of the USSR and (b) it views the engage- ment of both China and Europe in east–west trade across Central Asia as fur- thering the Central Asians’ own ability to achieve balanced and positive relations between all the major powers, thereby constraining hegemonic aspirations from any quarter. Further, the United States supports the emergence of Central Asia as a defined world region akin to ASEAN or the Nordic Council and believes that reforms under way in Uzbekistan and elsewhere in the region serve that end as well as increase east–west and west–east trade across the region. Finally, the United States realizes that the ultimate judgement on the viability of BRI in Central Asia and the Caucasus will be that of the market and not geopolitics.
Monday, 08 April 2019 00:00
The Rise and Rise of the Turkish Right
The Rise and Rise of the Turkish Right
By Halil M. Karaveli
The opposition parties challenging President Recep Tayyip Erdogan offer another version of the right-wing nationalism of his party and its nationalist partner.
The New York Times, April 8, 2019
Since March 31, the defeat in Turkey of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s Islamic conservative Justice and Development Party, the A.K.P., and its ultranationalist electoral partner Nationalist Movement Party, the M.H.P., in municipal elections in Ankara, Istanbul and several others cities has led to premature commentary that Turkey is on the verge of change.
