Казахстан в зеркале политики администрации Д. Трампа

Abstract

The article provides an analysis on U.S. policies toward the countries of Central Asia in general, and Kazakhstan in particular. Currently this country has turned into a powerful geopolitical player in the region, capable of competently shaping up its relations with partners while taking into account its national interests. Today, the policy of the Donald Trump administration towards the Central Asia is characterized by the approach based on pure pragmatism, and sometimes even more – on a subjective factor that is not determined by laws of logic, which is so typical for the American president. The interests of the American administration in this region include mainly the Afghan problem and the fight against terrorism, strengthening regional security and regional integration, energy and economic aspects, as well as the alternate containment of two influential players here - both China and Russia. There is also a temporary retreat from proactive American policy in the region aimed at taking wait-and-see policy to make some adjustments there in order to start a new round of “conquest” of this space. The authors conclude that the process of transformation in the region is currently under-way, there is a clear shift focus of Central Asian countries from the US and the EU towards China, whose influence, and significance would be steadily increasing there. However, talking about this is a bit premature. As far as Russia is concerned, it will also remain one of the key partners of the countries in the region mostly due to its capabilities in security sphere - an issue that is of great importance for the region.