The collapse of the Soviet Union, the rise of political Islam, and pervasive corruption are the defining factors in the Central Asian arms trade. Countries in the region are actively selling and buying arms, and they are also potential sources for the proliferation of nuclear, chemical and biological weapons.
In the early years of independence, Kyrgyzstan gained a reputation as an "island of democracy" in Central Asia. During the past several years, however, Kyrgyzstan's image has suffered, as the government has cracked down on political opposition and freedom of expression.
Last month, Central Asian states signed a treaty forming a regional energy grid, rewarding lengthy international efforts to foster such cooperation. The states with abundant water have few energy resources; states with strong energy infrastructure starve for water. If it works, this grid may help harmonize Central Asian power interests. It will be harder to share water fairly.
When the then colonies of European powers gained their independence in the decades after World War II, hopes were high that freed from the imperial yoke, they would rapidly achieve impressive social, economic and political progress and "modernization." These hopes were high not only in the former colonies themselves, but among sympathetic intellectuals in the "First World." They were especially
Since the collapse of the USSR, there have been many achievements in the twelve states of Eurasia that were once Soviet republics (Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, Moldova, the three South Caucasus, and the five Central Asian states). Parliaments and political parties have been created and elections held.
Ten years after the collapse of the Soviet Union, the economies in Central Asia and the Caucasus are still defined more by potential than by achievement. Lacking a blueprint for the transformation of centrally planned communist systems into sound market frameworks, states have struggled to find the balancing point between social stability and economic necessity.
The failed August 1991 putsch against former Communist Party leader Mikhail Gorbachev marked the coup de grace for the Soviet Union. After the collapse, an atmosphere of naìve hope and inflated expectations prevailed in both the East and the West. In the former Soviet Union, people believed that prosperity and freedom could be quickly achieved following the removal of the Communist system.
Despite their state-building efforts, the states of Central Asia have not completely shed their Soviet identity. One of the starkest reminders of the Soviet legacy is the many statues of Bolshevik leader Vladimir Lenin that still stand in the region.
Though geographically distant from Central Asia, Israel is playing an increasingly significant economic role in the region. In early July, Israel's Minister of Infrastructure Avigdor Lieberman led a delegation of business leaders on a seven-day visit to Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan.
