Instability and uncertainty could draw outside powers into a competitive struggle for influence over the region.
It is 25 years since the five Central Asian republics emerged unexpectedly, and somewhat reluctantly, from the wreckage of the Soviet Union to stake their claim as independent countries. Against the expectations of those who predicted a “Eurasian Balkans” of contested sovereignties and internal fragmentation, all five have survived. Yet states that relied on the personal authority and nation building skills of their founding fathers (they were all men) are now facing perhaps their ultimate test in the need to find a new …read more
Source: New Statesman
