Bruce Pannier is a Central Asia analyst and appears regularly on the Majlis podcast for RFE/RL.
Islamabad and Tehran have signed a 25-year deal under which Iran aims to export some 150 million cubic meters of gas to Pakistan per day. But there are some major obstacles to overcome before any Iranian gas actually crosses the border into Pakistan -- and even more before that gas can be routed to India.
The European Union and Russia are holding a summit in the Far Eastern city of Khabarovsk that will have a special focus on energy resources. The discussions on oil and natural gas are likely to reflect a spirit of competition, rather than cooperation.
A recent meeting in Kazakhstan came out with the dire assessment that Central Asia's longest river, the Syr Darya, is so contaminated by the time it reaches the province of Kyzyl-Orda that it's unsuitable for irrigation. And the situation could have repercussions throughout the region, considering the Syr Darya flows through four of the five countries of Central Asia.
If all the energy-export projects envisioned for the South Caucasus were to be built, hundreds of billions of dollars could be flowing through the region annually. Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Georgia find themselves in an enviable position, spurring fierce competition for their favor.
There has been broad agreement within the EU on the need for a diversification of energy suppliers and new import routes. But divisions quickly emerge when the topic turns to specific projects, and critics suggest national and private interests threaten to eclipse the exigencies of the EU as a whole.
Separate energy conferences in the Bulgarian and Turkmen capitals could produce major decisions on pressing issues surrounding European imports. There are subtle differences in the agendas, but both focus on which pipelines will transport whose gas to Europe.
Leaders of Kyrgyzstan's fractious opposition have announced a persistent critic and former prime minister under President Kurmanbek Bakiev as their joint candidate to compete in July's early presidential election. Almazbek Atambaev is a veteran opposition figure and leader of the Social Democratic Party, the only opposition party represented in an otherwise rubber-stamp parliament.
Water has always been a precious resource in Central Asia. There is not much of it, and most of what is there is located in the region's eastern mountains. Now, "downstream" countries are trying to regulate how the "upstream" countries use water.
The usually good relationship between Turkmenistan and Russia has taken a turn for the worse after a pipeline explosion last week that left each country blaming the other. But there were signs even before the explosion that Turkmen-Russian cooperation in the natural gas industry was experiencing difficulties.
Thousands of supporters of Kyrgyzstan's opposition are holding rallies around the country to protest what they say are the government's unfulfilled promises to improve their daily lives. President Kurmanbek Bakiev himself came to power after similar protests caught hold in 2005 and forced his predecessor, Askar Akaev, from power.
Vaclav Bartuska, the Czech Republic's ambassador-at-large for energy security, calls for new energy policies that could break the European Union's dependence on Russia, and advocates viable substitutes that could fill the void left by reduced imports of Russian natural gas.
Relations between Russia and the EU and Ukraine, at least concerning gas supplies, may once again be entering rough waters. Tensions calmed only recently after a dispute this winter over Ukrainian debts to Moscow and gas and transit prices led to temporary cuts in Russian gas supplies to the EU.
With fresh calls for antipresidential protests in the air, some point to the Tulip Revolution as the day Kyrgyzstan's democratic reforms began to backslide. Despite promises made by the country's leadership, the Kyrgyz citizenry is subjected to continued crackdowns on media, opposition arrests, and calls for a new groundswell of popular activism to combat President Kurmanbek Bakiev.
Across much of the non-Arab Muslim world, people are celebrating Norouz, the pre-Islamic festival that marks arrival of spring and the beginning of the new year.
Kyrgyzstan's Constitutional Court has announced that the presidential election will be held by late October -- nearly a year ahead of schedule. The announcement comes amid fresh concerns over the Central Asian state's economic future and claims by the political opposition of harassment by the authorities.
Alleged official interference in Kazakh media and political circles gives rise to fears that the government is taking a hard line to avoid expressions of public frustration in tough economic times. Can the authorities keep a tight lid on an anxious citizenry by keeping an even tighter lid on the media?
Concerns about the flow of Russian natural gas to Europe have been raised once again after agents from Ukraine's state security service raided the offices of state gas company Naftogaz as part of an alleged corruption investigation.
On February 16, 1999, a series of bombings shattered the morning calm in the Uzbek capital, killing 16 people. History has treated the bombings not as isolated incidents, but as a watershed event that heralded the arrival of terrorism to Central Asia. Since then, a number of indigenous groups have made their mark in the region and even further abroad, while others have entered the scene from outside the region.
Kyrgyzstan's President Kurmanbek Bakiev has announced that he plans to seek reelection when the country next holds presidential elections. The announcement, coming as his political opponents are calling for his resignation, raises questions about exactly when the election might take place and whether it could bring mass protests in the coming months.
In a new book, "Power, Energy, and the New Russian Imperialism," Anita Orban, the director of the Budapest-based Constellation Energy Institute, looks at nearly two decades of Russian policy in Eastern and Central Europe and how the price of energy resources has helped determine the Kremlin's foreign-policy advances and retreats.
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