Center Of Eurasia Research Articles

Kazakhstan in the People’s Republic of China’s Energy Security Policy

Nowadays, energy security is a growing concern in the state foreign policy. The interdependency in the energy field is a very important dimension of the contemporary relations between states and transnational corporations. The Central Asia region is not only the undiscovered reservoir of oil and gas, but also the strategic “chessboard” with many internal and external players, where the new great game started after the Cold War. Kazakhstan, because of the geopolitical position in the center of Eurasia, and as one of the biggest producer of energy resources, is becoming significant in the international energy market. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, it became open to foreign investments. The growing energy needs have given the People’s Republic of China (PRC) a strong interest in developing ties with energy-producing states in the Central Asia region to build necessary pipeline infrastructure [Kandiyoti 2008]. Kazakhstan is getting increasing importance in this context. Kazakhstan and all Central Asia region seems the most likely to play an important role in the Chinese strategy to reduce its dependence on energy supplies from the Middle East.

Understanding Central Asia’s Security and Economic Interests

Central Asia has always been at the centre of global power play, due to its geographic location in the centre of Eurasia and its abundant natural resources that have attracted world attention. It has, however, been caught in the vortex of international politics. An interplay of globalisation, technology and geopolitics is evident in the evolving Eurasian politics. Connectivity projects, rail, road and energy pipelines are criss-crossing the region. Its geographical proximity to Afghanistan—part of its geopolitical space—impinges on its efforts to build peace and stability. Regional cooperation is gradually taking shape in Central Asia and holds the promise of their status as independent entities. As Afghanistan is crucial for them, as well as for the world at large, understanding the security and economic issues of Central Asia becomes important. This article apart from highlighting the security and economic interests would also delineate the challenges accompanying these issues keeping the potential perspective in mind.

The Synopsis of the Genus Phleum L. (Poaceae) in Flora of The Kyrgyz Republic

On the base of investigation of material kept in Herbarium of flora laboratory (Institute for Biology and Pedology, National Aсademy of Sciences (FRU), a synopsis of the genus Phleum L. (Poaceae) in flora of Kyrgyz Republic with a key for identification of species and short citats is presented. Six species are recognized in Kyrgyz Republic (Phleum phleoides H. Karst., Phleum himalaicum Mez, Phleum paniculatum Huds., Phleum pratense L., Phleum roshevitzii Pavlov, Phleum alpinum L.). Phleumroshevitzii Pavlov newly reported for Kyrgyz Republic (Issyk-Kul Lake depression, Northern Kyrgyzstan). Maps of distribution for species growing in Kyrgyz Republic (Laskov GA., Sultanova BA., 2011) and list of studied specimens are provided. NK - Northern Kyrgyzstan (Chu Valley with adjacent northern macro-slope of Alexander Mountain Range, and the basin of Chon-Kemin River); IK - Issyk-Kul Lake depression (including northern macro-slope of TerskeiAla-Too Mountain Range, southern slope of KungeiAla-Too Mountain Range, basins of Tyup, Jergalan, and Karkyra rivers); CT - Central Tien Shan (basin of the Sary-Dzhaz River); WT - esternTien Shan (Talas and Chatkal valleys together with slopes of adjacent mountain ranges, and Ketmen-Tyube Valley); F - Cis-Ferghanian Kyrgyzstan (edges of the Fergana Valley, with adjacent macro-slopes of Chatkal Mountain Range, Fergana Mountain Range, Turkestan Mountain range, and Alai Mountain System); IT - Inner Tien Shan (the area bounded in the north by Kyrgyz Mt. Ridge, in the southwest by Fergana Mountain Range, and in the south-east by Kokshaal-Too Mountain System); А - Alai Valley (including southern macro-slope of Alai Mts. and northern macro-slope of Trans-Alai Mt. Range); EK - Entire territory of Kyrgyzstan (i. e. species is registered in all of abovementioned regions). Kyrgyz Republic is located in the centre of Eurasia. The distance to an Indian Ocean is about 3 000 km. The total square is about 198,500 km2. Altitudes are from 410 to 7 439 m above sea level. Over 90 % of the territory is elevated above 1 500 m. About 40 % of nearly uninhabitable: glaciers, permanent snow, rocks, scree, alpine desert, etc. Ca. 7 % of territory is occupied by the cultural landscape: fields, settlements, roads, and industry (Atlas…1987). Only the main literature sources are cited for species: “Flora URSS” (Ovczinnikov, 1934), “Flora of Kirghiz SSR”(Nikitina, 1950), “Conspectus florae AsiaeMediae” (Gamajunova, 1968), and also the monograph of Tzvelev NN. “Grasses of URSS” (Tzvelev, 1976). The article contains 1 Figures, 1 key for identification of species, and 11 References.

Foreign Direct Investment and Gross Domestic Product in Kazakhstan

The study explores a relationship between foreign direct investment and gross domestic product in Kazakhstan. It was found that, in general, Kazakhstan remains the leader in the sphere of investment attracting among the Central Asian countries. The risks of investing in other countries of Central Asia seriously exceed the risks of investing in Kazakhstan. The capital and investment, along with human resources, is an important development center. Foreign direct investment played an important role in the economic growth of developed countries. Almost every developed country has assisted foreign financial institutions in addition to its own small savings in the early stages of its development. Kazakhstan is known as a developing country in the center of Eurasia, which attracted over 151 billion of USA dollars since its independence. The aim of the study is to find out the relationship between foreign direct investments and Gross Domestic Product. The study proved the fact that foreign direct investment does significantly positively affect Gross Domestic Product in Kazakhstan. Thus, we can make a practical conclusion that these results can be helpful as a base for the new researches as well as for the practical implementation and potential government’ use in Kazakhstan. The further research may employ such variables as exchange rate, inflation rate. Some new methods can be employed such as Ordinary Least Squares. Practically, policy makers should take into consideration the fact that foreign direct investment positively and significantly affects Gross Domestic Product.

Turkey s Unique Energy Corridor Role at the Center of Eurasia in the 21st Century

This paper aims to examine Turkey’s sui generis energy role at the center of Eurasia in the 21st century. With the start of using oil and natural gas in the industry and also elsewhere, drilling, processing and transporting these resources have become an important issue between demanders and suppliers. In Eurasia, although eastern part of the continent is rich in terms of oil and gas, western part of the continent lacks significant volume of hydrocarbons. In terms of energy security perspective, both producers and demanders prioritize the uninterrupted transportation of hydrocarbons. This situation necessitates the presence of transit countries. Nowadays, the new world order has been shaping in the perspective of regional instabilities. In addition, center of gravity of the continent has been changing. Turkey is at the center of these developments and continent as an energy corridor. Hence, the existing and projected oil and natural gas pipeline projects will be beneficial for either Turkey or energy supplier/demander countries.

Оценкa реaлизaции демокрaтических норм для нaционaльного строительствa в Кaзaхстaне

Being located in the center of Eurasia, Kazakhstan has long been at the intersection of ancient civilizations of world and at the crossroads of major transport arteries. Thus it has been a site for a negotiation of social and economic, cultural and ideological relations between East and West, North and South, between Europe and Asia. At different stages in history, Kazakhstan has been home to many nations with distinctive cultural histories which have, in turn, been absorbed into modern Kazakhstan. In the pre-1991 period, the first and foremost issue that the Central Asian countries confronted was the issue of nation-building. The experience was that the Central Asian elite belonged to the most conservative and hardline element of the Soviet political establishment, which strongly resisted Mikhail Gorbachev’s policy of Glasnost (openness) and democratization. Even during the Perestroika period, the Central Asian leaders perceived the emergence of various opposition parties and groups in their Republics as a direct challenge to their position and power. They were preoccupied with the idea of preventing «unproductive and damaging reforms» and of consolidating their power without democratization and radical changes in political and state institutions. This, did not stop the discussion of possible «models of development» for the Central Asian Republics (CARs), which dominated the intellectual discourse in the region throughout the 1990s. It was especially intensive in Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan on the eve of the dissolution of the Soviet Union and during the very first stage of independence. A number of developmental models were floated around – the Turkish secular political model versus the Iranian theocratic model, the Chinese model of gradual economic reform versus Russia’s shock therapy model etc- to mention a few. Let us consider how today is evaluated the implementation of the Democratic norms for Nation-Building in KazakhstanKey words: Central Asia, democracy, norms and values, national construction, models of the choice of development.

Ruś Kijowska między Eurazją a Europą Środko-Wowschodnią. Rosyjskie narracje tożsamościowe z zachodniego punktu widzenia

After the annexation of the Crimea by Vladimir Putin’s Russia attempts at an ideological justification of Greater Russia’s role as a dominating power in Eastern Europe have acquired a new relevance. An important issue from this point of view is the relationship between Kievan Rus’ – traditionally considered the cradle of the [Rus-sian civilization – and the Grand Principality of Moscow that replaced it after the Mongol incur-sions. Russian identity narratives usually marginalize the current status of (the) Ukraine and stress its peripherality in the “Russian world”. In order to achieve this they employ both theo-logical, cultural and geopolitical arguments that sometimes appear to be at odds with each other. Moscow is both the center of the true (orthodox) Christian faith and the civilization of the Eura-sian geopolitical space. In the latter case the Russian capital rules a multi-religious empire. Eurasian ideologues like L.N. Gumiliov and particularly Alexander Dugin reject alternative, “Western” interpretation of Russian (and Ukrainian) history by pointing out that there exists an unbridgeable gap between the Western and the Russian (or Eurasian) civilization. According to them, Western scholars can never grasp the specificity of the Russian (Eurasian) historical devel-opment. It could be argued that this argument for a relativism along civilizational lines dimin-ishes the universal impact of Christianity which (that) in the Russian context loses much of its transcendent sense and becomes – instead – a cultural feature. On the other hand, though, the (half-conscious) culturalization of orthodox Christianity gives more weight to geopolitical arguments in favor of Moscow as the center of the Russian World (and Russia as the center of Eurasia). However, this does not mean that the pivotal role of Moscow as the residence of the All Russian Patriarchate, the “legitimate” successor to the ancient metropolis of Kievan Rus’, is not exploited, in order to discredit Ukraine’s ambitions of becoming an independent state.

Geostrategic Interests of the Russian Federation in Member States of the Eastern Partnership

The twentieth century ended with the disappearance of the empire, the importance of which will be determined only through history. Incredibly, the state formed for over a century, has ceased to exist. The collapse of the Soviet Union, the most immense empire with an area of 22.402 million square kilometers which had direct access to the aquatic areas of three oceans �the Atlantic, the Pacific and the Arctic Ocean, the country which owned land and access routes directly to the European bloc, China and India, with enormous natural resources (Mendeleyev elements table can be found entirely on the Russian territory) produced a geopolitical confusion in the international arena, contributing to the formation of a black hole in the center of Eurasia. Nevertheless, Russia remains the country with the largest territorial extent. Also, despite having lost part of its territory, the Russian Federation is still holding geostra tegic interests in the ex -Soviet countries. In this article the intention is to keep under review the geostrategic interests of the Russian Federation in the Member States of the Eastern Partnership, former Soviet republics -Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Mo ldova, Georgia and Ukraine.

The Non-Institutional Factors of Foreign Policy Decision-Making in Uzbekistan

The article focuses on three non-institutional factors - president, role of ideology (policy orientation), and external environment of Uzbekistan (and Central Asia) and how they have been influencing over foreign policy decision-making in Uzbekistan since independence. Firstly, President is a nexus of power in Uzbekistan. The authority of President of Republic of Uzbekistan Islam A. Karimov is often described as something “never-surpassed” in Uzbekistan since the super presidential system with authoritarian features has been developed over two decades. Islam Karimov as the top decision-maker in the foreign policy decision-making process, has promoted the ‘preventive’ and ‘multilateral’ diplomacy not too much leaning on one state or power. Secondly, as of role of ideology (policy orientation), in Uzbekistan, ‘de-Sovietization’ and ‘pragmatism’ are the dominating ideas in the foreign policy decision-making under the Karimov administration. Uzbekistan in the beginning had some distance from Russia and tried to broaden diplomatic relations with the West and other states such as South Korea and Japan. The third non-institutional factor is External Environment. The Central Asian region, where Uzbekistan is belonging to, is located in the center of Eurasia. With its abundant energy resources, the economic value has been remarkably growing in recent years. In this regards, Central Asia has been drawing attentions of key international players as the arena of competition. While this external condition provides a variety of options for Uzbekistan such as the ‘equidistance diplomacy’ among regional powers, such environment often turns out as challenges and unstable factors against the stability of Uzbekistan at the same time.

Cross-Eurasian and altitudinal distribution of lotic mayflies – species with wider altitudinal ranges have narrower geographical distribution

The aim of the study was to test the hypothesis that patterns of cross-Eurasian longitudinal distribution of lotic mayflies are determined by species' ecological requirements and the presence of the West Siberian Lowland. In particular, the objective was to test whether this great lowland is an environmental barrier preventing longitudinal dispersal of the rheophilic (i.e. , preferring fast-running highland waters), but not the potamophilic (i.e. , preferring slow-current lowland waters) mayflies, as its entire territory contains no rapidly-flowing streams suitable for rheophilic species. This hypothesis was tested indirectly by comparison of altitudinal ranges of species characterised by different cross-Eurasian distribution patterns (mainly East Palaearctic and Transpalaearctic species distributed over the Asian part of Palaearctica and entire Palaearctica respectively). The material used for the analyses was collected in the centre of Eurasia, south-western Siberia, Russia. The region covered both lowland and mountain territories. The studied biogeographical groups of mayflies have distinctly different altitudinal distribution: the Transpalaearctic species inhabit lowland watercourses only, while the East Palaearctic species inhabit the entire altitudinal range with most of the species preferring high elevations (on average 700 m a.s.l.). These results confirmed the stated hypothesis and showed that for most of the East Palaearctic (but not Transpalaearctic) species the West Siberian Lowland can be an environmental barrier preventing their westward dispersal and therefore precluding mixing of the East and West Palaearctic rheophilic faunas. However, possible alternative hypotheses cannot be ruled out, as altitudinal ranges of some of these species do not fall out of the elevation range of the West Siberian Lowland. Remarkably, the East Palaearctic species, which by definition have narrower distribution than the Transpalaearctic species, have broader altitudinal ranges than the Transpalaearctic species. This pattern is related to the altitudinal Rapoport effect recently detected for mayfly distribution over the river systems.

Architecture and mineral deposit settings of the Altaid orogenic collage: a revised model

The Altaids are an orogenic collage of Neoproterozoic–Paleozoic rocks located in the center of Eurasia. This collage consists of only three oroclinally bent Neoproterozoic–Early Paleozoic magmatic arcs (Kipchak, Tuva–Mongol, and Mugodzhar–Rudny Altai), separated by sutures of their former backarc basins, which were stitched by new generations of overlapping magmatic arcs. In addition, the Altaids host accreted fragments of the Neoproterozoic to Early Paleozoic oceanic island chains and Neoproterozoic to Cenozoic plume-related magmatic rocks superimposed on the accreted fragments. All these assemblages host important, many world-class, Late Proterozoic to Early Mesozoic gold, copper–molybdenum, lead–zinc, nickel and other deposits of various types. In the Late Proterozoic, during breakup of the supercontinent Rodinia, the Kipchak and Tuva–Mongol magmatic arcs were rifted off Eastern Europe–Siberia and Laurentia to produce oceanic backarc basins. In the Late Ordovician, the Siberian craton began its clockwise rotation with respect to Eastern Europe and this coincides with the beginning of formation of the Mugodzhar–Rudny Altai arc behind the Kipchak arc. These earlier arcs produced mostly Cu–Pb–Zn VMS deposits, although some important intrusion-related orogenic Au deposits formed during arc–arc collision events in the Middle Cambrian and Late Ordovician. The clockwise rotation of Siberia continued through the Paleozoic until the Early Permian producing several episodes of oroclinal bending, strike–slip duplication and reorganization of the magmatic arcs to produce the overlapping Kazakh–Mongol and Zharma-Saur–Valerianov–Beltau-Kurama arcs that welded the extinct Kipchak and Tuva–Mongol arcs. This resulted in amalgamation of the western portion of the Altaid orogenic collage in the Late Paleozoic. Its eastern portion amalgamated only in the early Mesozoic and was overlapped by the Transbaikal magmatic arc, which developed in response to subduction of the oceanic crust of the Paleo-Pacific Ocean. Several world-class Cu–(Mo)-porphyry, Cu–Pb–Zn VMS and intrusion-related Au mineral camps, which formed in the Altaids at this stage, coincided with the episodes of plate reorganization and oroclinal bending of magmatic arcs. Major Pb–Zn and Cu sedimentary rock-hosted deposits of Kazakhstan and Central Asia formed in backarc rifts, which developed on the earlier amalgamated fragments. Major orogenic gold deposits are intrusion-related deposits, often occurring within black shale-bearing sutured backarc basins with oceanic crust. After amalgamation of the western Altaids, this part of the collage and adjacent cratons were affected by the Siberian superplume, which ascended at the Permian–Triassic transition. This plume-related magmatism produced various deposits, such as famous Ni–Cu–PGE deposits of Norilsk in the northwest of the Siberian craton. In the early Mesozoic, the eastern Altaids were oroclinally bent together with the overlapping Transbaikal magmatic arc in response to the northward migration and anti-clockwise rotation of the North China craton. The following collision of the eastern portion of the Altaid collage with the Siberian craton formed the Mongol–Okhotsk suture zone, which still links the accretionary wedges of central Mongolia and Circum-Pacific belts. In the late Mesozoic, a system of continent-scale conjugate northwest-trending and northeast-trending strike–slip faults developed in response to the southward propagation of the Siberian craton with subsequent post-mineral offset of some metallogenic belts for as much as 70–400 km, possibly in response to spreading in the Canadian basin. India–Asia collision rejuvenated some of these faults and generated a system of impact rifts.

The faint young sun climatic paradox: Influence of the continental configuration and of the seasonal cycle on the climatic stability

A quasi-three-dimensional climate model is used to study the early state of the Earth when the solar luminosity was 70% of the present value. Usually, climatic simulations going back to this period lead to a completely frozen planet contrasting with the geologic evidences of sedimentary rock formation and thus of the presence of liquid water at the surface of the continents during the Archean (4.6−2.5 billion years before present). Here, several model simulations are performed for solar luminosities varying between 0.7 and 1 times the present value. Using the present-day continental configuration and taking the seasonal cycle into account, a steady state is found in which glaciation is complete but snow covers only some oceanic coasts, leaving the continents essentially snow-free. As a result, the albedo of the continental area is strongly reduced compared to that of the frozen ocean. Some continental temperatures can almost reach the freezing point of water in summer −1°C in the center of Eurasia). This result can be explained by the behavior of the detailed hydrologic cycle included in the model. During the decrease of the solar luminosity, the jump to a completely frozen Earth occurs when the solar luminosity reaches 0.86 times its present value. The behavior of the climatic system is substantially different with a global ocean configuration. In the absence of land surfaces, the meridional heat transport, explicitly calculated, is less effective and the glaciation of a model latitude zone does not lead to the glaciation of its equatorward neighbor. The climate instability is relatively local and the jump to the completely frozen state is much more progressive than in the case of the modem continental configuration. The role of the seasonal cycle in the paleoclimatic simulation is also studied. Due to the non-linearity of the model, removing the seasonal cycle drives the system to an increase of the annual mean planetary albedo and to a decrease of the relative value (0.82) of the critical solar luminosity at which the jump to the completely frozen solution occurs.

Tourist resources and tourism development in North Xinjiang

Xinjiang is the largest province in China, with an area of 1.65 million km 2 and a population of 14.26 million. Located in the centre of Eurasia far away from oceans and surrounded by mountains, it is an arid land of the temperate zone with various landscapes. In the process of a long history, eastern and western cultures met along the "Silk Road" in Xinjiang which forms a specific cultural subregion. Since 1978, Xinjiang's tourism has developed greatly due to the "Open Policy", and the number of tourists in 1987 was about 30750. Without doubt tourism in Xinjiang has a good future. This paper focuses on the N Xinjiang tourist resources and travel network, discussing both the types of tourist resources and their distribution, allocation of resorts and routes. Also five resort subregions are designated, based on the analysis of tourism. Appropriate tour routes are suggested. Physical Scenic Resources