Joshua Kucera

US Aid Budget to Eurasia: A Monument to "Inter-Agency Pettiness"

I have a story out on the new federal budget for the former USSR, check it out.

US Diplomats Set Their Sights on Turkmenistan's Berdymukhamedov

I have a story out on EurasiaNet today on the latest U.S. parry in the battle for Central Asian oil and gas. See it here.

Kyrgyzstan: US Armed Forces Try to Win Hearts and Minds

The trip is long over, but the EurasiaNet dispatches keep chugging along... The latest one is out today, on the US base in Kyrgyzstan. Enjoy.

Today's Papers

I did the Today's Papers column for Slate today, see it here.

U.S. Looks the Other Way as Democracy Crumbles in Georgia

I have a story on Georgia on the website of The American Prospect today.  An excerpt:

"Unfortunately, the only leverage that still exists on my government is Washington. No one else has any leverage on them," said Tinatin Khidasheli, an opposition party official who traveled earlier this month to Washington last week to try to enlist U.S. support for the opposition.

Part of the blame goes to Saakashvili, but part to the U.S., she told me. "President Bush has put too much emphasis on Georgian politics, this is the only foreign policy victory he's had," she said "In every speech he makes in eastern and central Europe he talks about Georgia as a model, it's a big stake and a big responsibility for such a small country to be a model for democracy in the rest of the world." That has made the U.S. unwilling to admit to Georgia's failings, she said -- something that European capitals and foreign non-governmental organizations have been warning for some time.

Check it out here.

And you should also check out the story I did for EurasiaNet when I was in Georgia earlier this year on social discontent in Georgia, which I think gives some background for what's going on now.

Today's Papers

I did the Today's Papers column again today for Slate, see it here.

Georgia: Opposition Leaders State Their Case in Washington

I have a story on EurasiaNet today about the Georgian opposition's attempts to get support here in Washington after the various crises that have happened there over the last month. The bottom line: Georgia's president is still Washington's golden boy, for now.

An excerpt:

"I would call it a bump in the road. You’re always going to have, in a healthy democracy, scandals of some sort," said one US government official, speaking on condition of anonymity. "How they respond to it is up to them, and Georgia is a young country … and they’re probably going to make mistakes. They have traditions that aren’t the best in the world to fall back on and they may overreact. But I can tell you that no one here is wringing their hands over how Okruashvili was treated. We’re paying attention to it, we’re watching how things develop, but from our point of view, so far so good."

Anyway, check it out.

Congressional Resolution to Recognize Armenian Genocide is Tabled

My post-mortem (or is it!?) on the Armenian genocide resolution in Congress was on EurasiaNet today.

Today's Papers

I did the Today's Papers column today for Slate, check it out.

Uzbekistan: Locals in Karshi Remember the American Base Fondly

The newest installment in my EurasiaNet series is out, on the situation in Karshi, Uzbekistan, two years after the US was evicted from the US air base there.