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This paper provides a historical overview of religious education in Central Asia, and assesses the efforts of the Uzbek government to define the content of Islam that has been presented in public life since independence was obtained in 1991.
There are six lessons of the Russia–Georgia crisis for Taiwan: (1) Be careful about security commitments; (2) Don’t provoke an antagonist and expect to be rescued; (3) A constructive relationship between America and major powers is essential to the security of vulnerable states; (4) Geography matters; (5) Speak softly when you don’t plan to carry a big stick; and (6) Credibility is global.
The nature of nations, like people, never changes. Today's political realists say economics rather than military might has become the guiding principle of countries, but the conflict in Georgia shows otherwise.
Although U.S.-Russia relations have deteriorated, options for cooperation still exist. Particularly in the area of nuclear nonproliferation, collaboration is essential and may be the best way to ameliorate relations. Russia, the U.S., and Europe should start with negotiating the Treaty on Conventional Armed Forces in Europe (CFE), which will provide a starting point for brokering a new consensus.
The collapse of the Soviet Union resulted not only in new borders for Russia, but left millions of ethnic Russians in former Soviet republics. For these people, the Russian language remains a defining influence in their lives, even where local nationalist agendas seek to downplay and underestimate its prevalence.
Although a ceasefire has been called by Russia and Georgia, the crisis is far from over. The U.S. could have prevented the conflict had it proactively sought out a solution for Abkhazia and South Ossetia months or years before. In addition, the U.S. should have strengthened its diplomatic relationship with Russia rather than allowing it to deteriorate.
As the security situation in Afghanistan worsens, the international community has overlooked signs of political instability throughout Central Asia that could render Afghanistan even more unstable.
None of the Central Asian leaders like the idea of Russian hegemony, but the risk of anarchy and war in the border regions of Russia frighten them even more. They might not like the idea of Moscow as regional policeman, but in the absence of a viable alternative, they might swallow it more easily if Moscow turns into an effective one.
Robert Kagan argues that the Russian-Georgian conflict over the South Ossetia marks the official return of history to an almost 19th-century style of great-power competition, where military power is used to obtain geopolitical objectives.
Russia’s aggressive behavior in Georgia will have implications throughout the Caspian Sea Region, forcing Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan and Kazakhstan to rethink their strategic priorities with the West. Russia has reasserted itself as the dominant player in the region and revealed how difficult it is for the U.S. to maintain a strategic position around the Caspian.