When the Soviet Union broke up, many analysts expected Uzbekistan - the most populous country with a population of 26 million - to become the shining star of Central Asia but trade barriers of all sort and an unfriendly investment climate, including a debilitating currency inconvertibility, resulted in Kazakhstan taking the lead instead.
President Islam Karimov, has been in power since 1989 and is 72 years old. He is up for reelection again in 2012. The risk of a revolution toppling Karimov is low, though Karimov has been playing with fire by repressing the Muslim opposition and assimilating them to terrorists. The uprising in Andijan in May 2005 was severely repressed and is food for thoughts for anyone wanting to demonstrate. Relations with its neighbors are tense to different degrees.
Turkmenistan
Turkmenistan remains a secretive society, sometimes compared to North Korea, even though it has opened up to the outside world after the death of its omnipresent leader Saparmarat Niazov in 2006. The death of Niazov came as a surprise but his succession has not resulted in the radical transformation of the country. Turkmenistan remains a top-down decision-making system. Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov was elected president in 2007 and is only 52 years old. The risk of a revolution is low as Turkmenistan remains a very controlled state and the opposition is almost non-existent.
Tajikistan
Next Page 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8
(Note: You can view every article as one long page if you sign up as an Advocate Member, or higher).
