Tag: Eurasia

Iran’s admittance to the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) as a full member is a noteworthy step that has greatly impacted the geopolitical arena of the region.

The beginning of the Ukraine conflict drew a line under the development of the geopolitical situation on the Eurasian continent over the past three decades since the beginning of the 1990s.

SpecialEurasia in collaborazione con Opinio Juris – Law & Politics Review organizza il Corso online in “Geopolitica dello Spazio Post-Sovietico” il cui obiettivo è quello di fornire ai partecipanti gli strumenti teorici e pratici per comprendere le dinamiche geopolitico dello spazio post-sovietico.

The Second Caspian Sea Economic Forum highlighted regional countries’ strategies to implement their cooperation in logistics, transport corridors, tourism and energy projects.

The first “Central Asia-Russia” summit in Astana confirmed the Russian importance in the region and the Kremlin’s strategy to increase economic cooperation with Central Asian republics.

Due to the Ukraine conflict and the following Western sanctions, Russia and Belarus have increased their economic and trade cooperation by increasing joint projects in different fields.

SpecialEurasia attended the International Round Table “Caspian Economic Forum-2022” together with experts and scholars from Caspian Sea countries, NGOs, and representatives of the Chamber of Trade and Industry of the Astrakhan region, mass media and state authorities, to discuss current geopolitical and economic dynamics in the region and forecast future trends.

Recent propaganda on Telegram spread by a ‘foreign agent’ who promoted separatism in Kazakhstan highlighted possible future problems that the Central Asian republic might face since different ethnic minorities live in the country.

Russia and the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (IEA) signed the most significant deal since the Taliban movement came to power last year, confirming Kremlin’s interests in the country and Moscow’s will to become a key regional actor.

Due to the borders drawn by the former Soviet Union with no regard for ethnic, political, economic, and cultural factors, the Central Asian countries Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan have faced each other for 31 years, and the recent military escalation highlighted regional instability and geopolitical strategies promoted by Dushanbe and Bishkek.

The possibility that Donbas will soon hold a referendum to join the Russian Federation might significantly influence the Eurasian geopolitical chessboard by exacerbating the confrontation between Moscow and the West and, therefore, impacting regional and international political and socioeconomic dynamics.

The Russian Federation’s humanitarian help to Pakistan might strengthen the political and economic relations between Moscow and Islamabad and support the Russian desire to expand its influence and presence in Central and South-East Asia.

Iran signed a memorandum of commitment for its permanent membership in the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation, enhancing its role in the Eurasian chessboard and strengthening the Moscow-Beijing-Tehran axis.

Ilham Aliyev’s visit to Italy confirmed Baku’s interest in strengthening commercial and business partnerships with Rome and attracting Italian investments in the reconstruction process in the Nagorno-Karabakh territories, which are now under Azerbaijani control.

In the framework of the Eastern Economic Forum 2022, we met Dr Shoaib Khan to analyse the current state of relations between Russia and India, key areas of cooperation and expectations from the Forum.

SpecialEurasia decided to stop its online activities in August 2022 to organise next season’s projects and propose an updated website focused on geopolitical analysis, risk assessment, security monitoring and forecasting.

Tajikistan and China discussed economic, political and regional security cooperation, confirming Beijing’s rising role in Tajik local dynamics and Central Asia at the expense of Moscow’s regional strategy.

The recent phone conversation between the President of Russia and the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia might be interpreted as the Kremlin’s move to counter the recent U.S. President Joe Biden’s official visit to Riyadh.

In a world of growing polarity, Kazakhstan has been attempting to portray itself as a bridge connecting the East and the West. However, the so-called Russian “special operation” in Ukraine has forced the Central Asian nation to distance itself gradually from Moscow.

In Tajikistan, local security forces and authorities emphasised the rising threat of terrorism and extremism in the country in the last six months, confirming that terrorist organisations such as the Islamic State have been able to exploit local disappointment and the unresolved issues that in Gorno-Badakhshan.

The sixth summit of the Caspian Sea states underlined the region’s geopolitical importance and the desire of every country involved to resolve legal status and issues and promote cooperation in transport, logistics and trade.

The discovery of a massive deposit of rare earth elements in Turkey might change the geopolitical dynamics in the Eurasian chessboard since Ankara might challenge China, which has had the leading role in the market until now. Furthermore, this finding might change the domestic political scenario in Turkey and quiet doubts and disappointment about the country’s economic performance.

Protests in the autonomous Republic of Karakalpakstan against proposed amendments to the Constitution of Uzbekistan raised the question of Karakalpak’s complete independence from the Uzbek central government.

Although Russian – Iranian ties date back to the Islamic Revolution, Moscow’s ongoing conflict in Ukraine (or special military operation as the Kremlin has always declared) and Tehran’s nuclear ambitions have strengthened the cooperation and pushed these Western adversaries together.

Over the past two months, the tension in Greek-Turkish relations has reached new heights. What triggered it seemed to have been the age-old Turkish claims concerning the continental shelf delimitation and the total demilitarisation of the Greek Islands in the Eastern Aegean.

Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev’s official visit to the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF 2022) confirmed the diplomatic, economic and political partnership between Russia and Kazakhstan and the strategic role that Tatarstan and Bashkortostsn play in promoting Moscow-Nursultan relations.

The Russian Federation is not immune to jihadist propaganda and terrorist activities. Arrests in the last months of people connected to Hayat Tahrir al-Sham have demonstrated that this terrorist organisation has created or attempted to create a network in different Russian regions.