Average outstanding debts are around 70,000 to80,000 rubles ($750-860 at official rates). That implies an overall debt pile of around one quarter of a billion dollars. Microfinance lenders are said to be enticing expat laborers with new loans of up 100,000 rubles with annual interest rates of120%.
But it is unlikely that this would diminish their shared interests and their mutual support for authoritarian regimes in the region. The potential for cooperation remains far greater than the risk of conflict—and Central Asia a place where the Chinese-Russian axis strengthens rather than weakens.
9/14“we will also resolutely supportKazakhstan in the defense of its independence,sovereignty&territorial integrity;firmly support the reforms conducted by you to assure stability and development;(&)categorically come out against interference by any forces in the internal affairs of your country.
2016.12.19 It was the Bolsheviks who espoused anti-colonialism most wholeheartedly,& we have to turn to the Soviet period to understand why most Russians are so resistant to the idea that their empire was colonial./ These2factors – the lack of integration into the Empire and the expropriation of
7/29 Lavrov is trying to woo Africa by saying that Russia has never been implicated in colonialism. As someone who has been studying #RussianColonialism for years, I went through some sources to let imperial Russia speak for itself. Yes, "Россия" and "колония" are tied together./
これはひどい… These days there is an entire cohort of female scholars from the post-Soviet space who are very good at calculating writing exactly what kind of stuff would secure them jobs at Western universities and think tanks.
We launched our online exhibition “The History of Soviet Central Asia in 100 Objects” cabinet.ox.ac.uk/soviet-central… kindly supported by Oxford Nizami Ganjavi Center @NizamiOxford and New College Oxford and a dedicated editorial board @ordzon A small preview:
Muslim Community in Lithuania has Grown from 3,000 a Few Years Ago to More than 15,000 Now
Central Asians No Longer Willing to Tolerate Being Treated like Russia's ‘Younger Brothers,’ Polovinko Says
