18+ 
For the former Soviet republics of Central Asia, as well as Afghanistan, Iran and Xinjiang, the availability of water has always been a guarantee of prosperity and a comfortable existence; after all, agriculture in the region depends almost entirely on irrigation during the active growing season of crops. That is why disputes, and sometimes armed conflicts, flare up here precisely because of the “life-giving moisture.”
An informal meeting of CIS heads of state was held in St. Petersburg on December 26 and 27, 2022. Russian President Vladimir Putin, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, Kyrgyz President Sadyr Zhaparov, Tajik President Emomali Rakhmon, Turkmen President Serdar Berdymukhamedov, and Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoyev attended. That is, the leaders of the nine states that were part of the USSR. Among those absent were the Baltic states, Georgia, Moldova, and Ukraine. For Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia the situation is clear:
Amidst serious tremors in the world of geopolitics, it is so fitting that this year’s Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) heads of state summit should have taken place in Samarkand – the ultimate Silk Road crossroads for 2,500 years.
Interconnecting Inner Eurasia is an exercise in Taoist equilibrium: adding piece by piece, patiently, to a gigantic jigsaw puzzle. It takes time, skill, vision, and of course major breakthroughs.
The ultimate Silk Road city, set at an unrivaled Eurasian trade crossroads, is the ideal spot from which to examine where the New Silk Roads adventure is heading next. For starters, the upcoming summit of heads of state of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) will take place in Samarkand in mid-September.
The speaker of the Duma, Vyacheslav Volodin, may have created the defining acronym for the emerging multipolar world: “the new G8”.
The Middle Corridor (MC) between China and Turkey via Central Asia, the Caspian Sea, and the South Caucasus has emerged as one of the most pivotal
In the new age, as in the past, states and peoples are in search of their identities. Depending on the identity, groups, blocs, organizations are formed. But the important thing is which of these identities is sincere.
©2024
18+