Tag: Kazakhstan
Central Asia’s five stans: Nations without a cause
From The Economist print edition September 23, 2009.
Print: The Economist
THE Central Asian “stans”, as Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan are known by the Western diplomats and oilmen who frequent them, conjure images of megalomaniac rulers, exotic nomads and mineral riches beyond compare. There is some truth in the caricature, as Dilip Hiro makes clear in this new study (which also includes sections on Turkey and Iran), but it is not the whole truth.
