In this episode, I speak with Yan Matusevich, a migration researcher with a focus on the post-Soviet space, about how the situation for labor migrants in Russia is changing in light of the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU).

Yan and I discuss a variety of developments now affecting labor migrants in Russia, including the economic crisis of the last several years, the creation of the EAEU and its new labor regulations for member state citizens, the impact of anti-terrorism policing in Russia, and how Russia’s presidential election campaign could affect migrants.
 

In this episode, I spoke with Dr. John Heathershaw, Associate Professor in the Department of Politics at the University of Exeter about his new book with Alexander A. Cooley, Dictators without Borders: Power and Money in Central Asia, published this month by Yale University Press.

The book challenges the typical situating of post-Communist Central Asia as an isolated hinterland by illustrating the ways in which Central Asian authoritarian regimes use their “connectivity” with global financial and law enforcement mechanisms to stash national assets offshore and punish their opponents abroad. It builds its sophisticated critique of conventional wisdom on detailed and up to date case studies from Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, and Kyrgyzstan, drawing on the research compiled in the Central Asia Political Exiles database compiled by Exeter Central Asian Studies Network.

Key references:

J.C. Sharman, The Despot’s Guide to Wealth Management: On the International Campaign against Grand Corruption

Stephen Kotkin, Uncivil Society: 1989 and the Implosion of the Communist Establishment

Margaret E. Keck and Kathryn Sikkink, Activists Beyond Borders: Advocacy Networks in International Politics

Special thanks to Eurasianet for its support that has made bringing back the podcast possible.

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In this episode, I spoke with independent journalists Franco Galdini and Zukhra Iakupbaeva about “The Strange Case of Jaysh al-Mahdi and Mr. ISIS: How Kyrgyzstan’s Elites Manipulate the Threat of Terrorism for Their Own Benefit.” In this paper published by the Central Asia Program at George Washington University, Galdini and Iakupbaeva dissect in great detail a series of unusual alleged terrorist attacks in Kyrgyzstan from 2010 to 2016 that were blamed on the Islamic State and a supposed terrorist group called the Jaysh al-Mahdi.

Their paper situates these supposed terrorist attacks within a larger framework of the history of the management of Islam in Central Asia, state and elite insecurity in Kyrgyzstan, and American and Russian discourses about the war on terror.

Franco Galdini & Zukhra Iakupbaeva, The Strange Case of Jaysh al-Mahdi and Mr. ISIS: How Kyrgyzstan's Elites Manipulate the Threat of Terrorism, CAP Papers 179, October 2016

Sarah Kendzior, Inventing Akromiya: The Role of Uzbek Propagandists in the Andijon Massacre, Demokratizatsiya, September 2006

Special thanks to Eurasianet for its support that has made bringing back the podcast possible.

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For this episode, I talked with Angela Stanzel of the European Council on Foreign Relations (ECFR) about the think tank's new report, Absorb & Conquer: An EU Approach to Russian & Chinese Integration in Eurasia. This episode is a follow-up to episode 16 on the same topic.

The podcast focuses on the Chinese perspective on OBOR and on Central Asia. Near the end, we get to the nub of what worries me about the plan--whether it is actually premised on economic development beyond China, or if it is just an outlet for Chinese overcapacity and excess foreign exchange reserves.

ECFR, Absorb & Conquer: An EU Approach to Russian & Chinese Integration in Eurasia, June 2016

World Bank, The Impact of China on Europe and Central Asia, April 2016

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For this episode, I spoke with Sarah Lain of the Royal United Services Institute about China's One Belt One Road (OBOR) plans in Central Asia--what they are and aren't, the assumptions behind them, and how different Central Asian countries have responded to them. This is the first of two consecutive episodes on OBOR and Central Asia. 

Sarah Lain, China's Silk Road in Central Asia: Transformative or Exploitative, Financial Times, 27 April 2016 

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In this episode, I spoke with Rilka Dragneva-Lewers of the University of Birmingham about the Eurasian Economic Union: what it really is, how it is developing, and whether the recent European Commission plan to use it as a tool of engagement with Russia makes sense. Rilka is the author of a new book with Kataryna Wolczuk, Ukraine Between the EU and Russia: The Integration Challenge.

Resources:

EU's Juncker Dangles Trade Ties with Russia-led Bloc to Putin, Reuters, November 19, 2015.

Overview of Kazakhstan's Commitments to the WTO (Annex E)

Dragneva-Lewers and Wolczuk, "Trade and geopolitics: Should the EU engage with the Eurasian Economic Union?" European Policy Center, April 2, 2015.

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For this episode, I talked with Hélène Thibault, post-doctoral researcher at the Center for International Studies at the University of Montreal, about the crackdown on the Islamic Renaissance Party of Tajikistan (IRPT), which the government banned in late August. In my opinion, the ban on the IRPT marks the complete consolidation of a one-party state in Tajikistan.

Hélène gave a thorough background on the evolution of the IRPT as well as her firsthand knowledge of the party in its current state, and we talked a little about what this means for what comes next in Tajikistan.

Resources:

Hélène Thibault, The Islamic Renaissance Party's Downfall and Its Consequences for Tajikistan's Stability, Registan.net

--, "The Soviet Secularization Project in Central Asia: Accommodation and Institutional Legacies," Eurostudia, V.10, n1, 2015, p. 11-31

In this episode, I spoke with Obaid Ali, assistant country director & researcher at the Afghanistan Analysts Network. Obaid just returned from a research trip through northeastern Afghanistan, including Badakshan and Kunduz provinces on the border with Tajikistan, and we talked about his observations of the state of the insurgency in the north. The Taliban have pressed an offensive across the north this year in provinces traditionally thought outside of their main area of influence. Some reports stress their support from foreign fighter groups driven from Pakistan's tribal territories since June 2014 ("the North Waziristan operation").

Questions in this episode include: What is behind the success of the northern insurgency this year? How important are foreign fighters in the insurgency? How much are the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan and other groups of foreign fighters dependent on the Taliban in northern Afghanistan? What is the prognosis for the northern insurgency this year? Will the insurgency take Kunduz city? 

PS - Apologies for some audio issues in this episode. It's been a couple months and I'm a little rusty.

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This is a follow-up to Episode 1 that I originally recorded thinking they would go together, then decided should appear as separate episodes. I spoke with John Heathershaw of Exeter University about his recent paper with David W. Montgomery The Myth of Post-Soviet Muslim Radicalization in the Central Asian Republics. We discussed what we do and don’t know about radicalization, Islamic revival in Central Asia, and the use of Islam in the political sphere in the region by state and non-state actors.

See resources from Episode 1 for links. 

Audio for this episode may be a little rockier - I’m still learning the editing, and we did have some connection problems during the call. Bear with me as I learn the ropes of podcasting.

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We talk with expert Noah Tucker about how ISIS recruitment of Central Asians works online, and what ISIS means for Central Asians.