Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoyev turns 68 today - and is eligible to rule until he's 80. Read about his rise to power and rejigs of the constitution to cling to power in my new book Silk Mirage, out in November, available to pre-order at a discount here bloomsbury.com/uk/silk-mirage…

Just had the pleasure of hosting Prof. Edward Lemon to discuss his important new book Backlash. We explored Central Asia’s resistance to Chinese digital authoritarianism, the rise of surveillance states and the shifting geopolitics of the region. podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/geo…

In the latest episode of Turan Tales, Shahida Tulaganova talks about her film "Spirit Untamed" on Bahrom Hamroev - a human rights defender who spent years supporting Central Asian migrants in Russia. He was jailed in 2022 for alleged Hizb ut-Tahrir links substack.com/home/post/p-16…

China’s Visa/Mastercard rival — UnionPay signs up top Kazakh bank. Kazakhstan’s Bank CenterCredit has become the first bank in the country to enable card-to-card transfers through UnionPay International. #China #Kazakhstan #Digitalization kz.kursiv.media/en/2025-07-24/…

Last week, I represented #ACAS at the ICCEES Congress on UCL campus. During a panel "War, Sanctions, and Economic in Russia" led by Laura Solanko, I talked about "State budget as the tool for assessing Russian and Belarusian military potential". #Belarus #Russia #publicfinance

My first story from one of the most closed-off countries in the world — #Turkmenistan I’ve been closely following the situation for a year. The silent crisis: #Abortion and reproductive rights of invisible turkmen women eurasianet.org/the-silent-cri…

How to Save the Caspian - High Caspian Week ⠀ From August 11 to 16, six events will take place across four cities of Kazakhstan - all dedicated to one cause: the future of the Caspian Sea. ⠀ Our goal is to draw attention to the critical state of this unique ecosystem. We invite

Some really powerful journalism interviewing some of the last remaining survivors of Hiroshima, something we'd all do well to take a moment to dwell on today

Excellent overview from Manish Vaid for Royal Society for Asian Affairs on India's energy transition and why the country cannot simply turn off Russian oil, despite the threat of 50% US tariffs. rsaa.org.uk/blog/navigatin…

Last week I went to a summit between the Kyrgyz and Kazakh foreign ministers. Everything was done in Russian until the cameras were turned on, at which point each minister was given a read-out of his opposite number's speech and they switched to Kazakh/Kyrgyz

My comments to the Times of Central Asia assessing the August 8 trilateral Washington declaration #Armenia #Azerbaijan #TRIPP #Russia #Iran #Turkiye #Middlecorridor timesca.com/how-could-the-…

Was great to work on this piece with Benyamin Poghosyan, who took the time to dissect the different strands of Armenian political opinion for me. Thanks too to Yunis Sharifli for the geopolitical wisdom as always.

Lavrov setting his stall out by arriving in Alaska wearing a USSR sweater...

Equally excited to be sharing this news, apparently even Almaty’s fountains are celebrating! Plenty more to come on this as we countdown to launch on March 5th Cull & Co. Ltd Literary Agency

🇬🇧 The British Embassy in Bishkek invites proposals under the Small Projects Programme (up to £15,000) for 🇰🇬 until March 2026. Themes: 🤝 Civil dialogue 🎨 Creative economy ♻️ Circular economy 🧑‍🦽 Inclusion. Deadline: 5 Sept 2025 📧 [email protected]

Kairat have been through four qualifying rounds to get this far, racking up around 25,000 air miles in the process, and knocking out two sides from last year’s Champions League along the way. They’ve more than earned their place.