Silk Road

Darius Shahtahmasebi is a New Zealand-based legal and political analyst who focuses on US foreign policy in the Middle East, Asia and Pacific region. He is fully qualified as a lawyer in two international jurisdictions.is a New Zealand-based legal and political analyst who focuses on US foreign policy in the…

The Karakax list shows that totalitarian methods are being used to "re-educate" an entire people in the northwest of China. Many Uighurs are sent to camps without trial, DW's Matthias von Hein writes. The data leak known as the Karakax list has added to the evidence that the Chinese state…

Op-Ed by Neenah Payne The coronavirus crisis must not make us lose sight of the importance of understanding how powerful China has become under President Xi Jinping. China is one of the most rapidly changing countries on the planet – and is also changing the world in several key ways.…

Kazakhstan and Russia, which are among the founders of the EAEU, will continue to remain the “locomotives” of Eurasian integration, Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev said at the Munich Security Conference on Friday (15 February). Tokayev, who was elected last June following the surprising stepping down of his predecessor Nursultan Nazarbayev,…

A considerable spectrum of the liberal West takes the American interpretation of what civilization consists of to be something like an immutable law of nature. But what if this interpretation is on the verge of an irreparable breakdown? Michael Vlahos has argued that the US is not a mere nation-state but a…

On 5 October 2019, in Athens, Greek Minister for Defence Nikólaos Panayotópoulos, and US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo signed a “Mutual Defense Cooperation Agreement”. The Greek Parliament ratified the Agreement, which grants the United States the use of all Greek military bases. They will be used by the US…

"Whenever we speak to countries around the world, we want to make sure that we're doing what the people of those countries want," Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said this month at a news conference in Tashkent, the capital of Uzbekistan.The Uzbeks want a "good, balanced relationship," he said."They have…

The US’ newly unveiled “Strategy For Central Asia 2019-2025” surprisingly isn’t sinister like some of the countries’ critics might have expected, but that doesn’t mean that it’ll succeed since its viability almost entirely depends on bringing “peace” to Afghanistan first then convincing the regional states to more closely integrate with…

From a gang of teenage assassins to a Monty Python-style comedy, here’s the cult Japanese director’s most memorable works One of the most irrepressible filmmakers in Japan, Takashi Miike has directed over 100 features since his debut in 1991 in a career that’s never been shy of controversy. Inspired by the…

Turkmenistan's autocratic president has fired his longtime security chief, a man widely seen as one of the most influential officials in the Central Asian nationFebruary 13, 2020, 6:22 PM2 min readASHGABAT, Turkmenistan -- Turkmenistan's autocratic president has fired his longtime security chief, a man widely seen as one of the…