THIRTY YEARS OF US-KAZAKHSTAN RELATIONS: THE WINTER CRISIS AND PATH FORWARD - Thirty years after independence, Kazakhstan found itself at an inflection point. The unrest in January 2022 underscored some of the inadequacies accompanying modern Kazakhstan’s solid economic development and growing ge...

A CONVERSATION WITH FOUNDER OF THE OPEN RUSSIA MOVEMENT MIKHAIL KHODORKOVSKY - Jailed by Russian President Vladimir Putin and exiled from Russia, businessman and philanthropist Mikhail Khodorkovsky has for years been a leading figure in efforts to build a future for Russia that is prosperous and ...

LESSONS FROM THE EDGE: A CONVERSATION WITH FORMER US AMBASSADOR TO UKRAINE MARIE YOVANOVITCH - A dedicated foreign service officer who held three ambassadorships in the countries of the former Soviet Union, Marie Yovanovitch most recently served as the US ambassador to Ukraine, where she was targ...

UKRAINE’S DIGITAL RESILIENCE: A CONVERSATION WITH DEPUTY PRIME MINISTER OF UKRAINE MYKHAILO FEDOROV - Ukraine’s impressive technology community has helped the country fight back against Russia’s full-scale invasion. While Ukrainian armed forces push Russia back on the battlefield, the country’s d...

THE BILLION IN THE DISTANCE: HOW TECH EXPORTS CAN TRANSFORM CENTRAL ASIA - Information technology (IT) has become the cornerstone of modern economic development for countries all around the globe. In Central Asia, the IT sector is emerging as a potential engine for economic growth. The IT industr...

UNMANNED AIRCRAFT SYSTEMS: LESSONS FOR UKRAINE AND NATO - Throughout Russia’s invasion, Ukrainian forces have proven highly adaptive and innovative in their use of emerging technologies and concepts on the battlefield. Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) especially have been essential in Ukraine’s ba...

HOW CAN KAZAKHSTAN AND CENTRAL ASIA HELP POWER AND FEED THE WORLD? - Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine has produced economic and political repercussions across the globe, including energy shortages and growing food insecurity. The war has forced Central Asian countries to seek opportunities...

BREAKING THE BLACK SEA BRIGADE: HOW TO COUNTER RUSSIA'S WAR ON UKRAINE'S GRAIN - On July 17, Russia pulled out of the Black Sea Grain Initiative, a deal brokered by the United Nations and Turkey in 2022 to allow for the safe navigation of Ukrainian grain exports and fertilizers from Ukraine amid ...

IRAN-RUSSIA ALLIANCE: OPPORTUNITIES, LIMITS, AND CONFLICT IN THE MIDDLE EAST - Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine has led to unprecedented levels of Iran-Russia cooperation across military, economic, and political fronts. The ongoing war in Gaza shows widening Iran-Russia coordination; senio...

WAR AND PEACE: THE STATE OF THE BATTLEFIELD AND TRUMP’S DIPLOMACY IN UKRAINE - Trump and his national security team appear determined to achieve a durable peace agreement between Russia and Ukraine in the next six months and have taken energetic, but not always consistent, steps to reach this goa...

WHAT’S NEXT FOR THE UKRAINIAN CHILDREN KIDNAPPED BY RUSSIA? - Since the beginning of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, international watchdogs and human rights organizations have tracked more than nineteen thousand Ukrainian children illegally abducted by Russia and relocated to Russia, Be...