Even now, few people in the West understand just how traumatic the collapse of the Soviet Union was for a whole generation in Russia and the former Soviet republics. The sense of humiliation of a significant part of the Russian elite remains acute, and is even now being worked out through military maneuvers on the streets of South Ossetia. And for many ordinary people, particularly those who live in remote, underdeveloped republics, like those of Central Asia, the Soviet collapse did not open up a future of democratic prosperity, but instead introduced millions to a rapid collapse in living standards and renewed political oppression. The next 25 years threaten equally rapid transformation, accompanied by political, technological, and economic upheavals. Geopolitical competition between Russia and China, political oppression and political change, economic decline interspersed with remarkable prosperity, all threaten to make life in Central Asia a dangerous mixture of conflict and change over the next decades. There will be pockets of enormous prosperity, particularly in resource-rich states such as Kazakhstan. By 2033, Astana, the windswept Kazakh capital, will be a routine destination for the business world, drawn as much by its role as a financial hub as by its vital uranium deposits and oil fields. Its glitzy hotels will be filled with Chinese and Iranian investors, seeking an outlet for their capital in increasingly scarce mineral resources. In the bars and clubs, UN peacekeepers will make the most of their rest and relaxation allowance after weeks patrolling the disputed Russo-Kazakh border. But war will seem far away under the bright lights of Astana. The worst of the civil war in Uzbekistan will be over, Turkmenistan will have settled down somewhat after the latest coup, and even Kyrgyzstan will be experiencing some unusual political stability. Astana s liberal investment regime and famous nightlife have made up for a miserable climate, made even worse by 25 years of climate change. The winter winds eventually became so unbearable that the president ordered the construction of a giant dome over the city center, and by 2030, executives will relax among the palm trees and artificial beaches in the always sunny botanic gardens. A new construction boom has begun, fueled by new discoveries of minerals and Caspian oil. The workers on the construction sites, however, are not Kazakhs, who increasingly prefer to spend their time in Gstaad and