Articles by Michael Rossi 

For those who have been following Central Asia’s regional transformation from a peripheral region of the post-Soviet Union to a strategic area of diplomatic, economic and infrastructural importance, there is little surprise that Kazakhstan has assumed a leading position in hosting numerous international conferences and symposiums on economic, academic and technological topics, positioning the country…

For much of the past thirty years, the five post-Soviet countries of Central Asia have been regarded, if at all, by much of the rest of the world as an altogether remote, exotic, and peripheral region. They have been largely inaccessible due to both geographic distance and limited connectivity. The so-called “five stans” were little…

If Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev has one foreign policy goal, it is to continue the process of developing and transforming the country into a regional hub for business, technology, finance, and cultural exchange. Gone are the days when Kazakhstan was regarded by some as a remote and distant land in Central Asia, where few could…

When considering the overseas allies and partners of the United States, one could be forgiven for not thinking of the countries of Central Asia. The average American is likely to know very little about this region.  And yet, Central Asia, and particularly Kazakhstan, has spent the last few years developing cooperative partnerships with the United…

In late February and early March of this year, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken visited Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan in what US media touted as a major upgrade of American engagement in the region. This assessment is quite accurate because although the United States has diplomatic relations with all the former “-stans” of the Soviet…