“Over 50% of the GDP of Tajikistan and 31% of Kyrgyzstan’s comes from remittances, wages earned abroad that are sent back to a worker’s home country. Nearly half of Tajikistan’s able-bodied labor force is employed abroad, mainly in Russia. One third of the legal immigrants to Russia are from Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan alone. Given such numbers, O’Brien asserted, it is in many ways impossible to speak of contemporary cultural, economic, or political issues in Central Asia without addressing the migration issue.”

Over 30 Seattle area K-12 teachers learned the latest on “Global Asia: Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow” this year thanks to a unique, decade-long collaboration between The Seattle Times and the Henry M. Jackson School of International Studies.

With the memory of the Charlie Hebdo shooting still raw, the BBC ran a story about a daring satirical magazine that ran from 1906 until 1931 in Azerbaijan. The next day, Soyuz Symposium attendees, UW students, faculty and community members, gathered in Kane Hall to hear New York University’s Anthropology Professor Bruce Grant talk about the 100-year-old publication, Molla Nasreddin, and its founder, Jalil Mammadguluzadeh.

Considering the controversy surrounding some recent ambassadorial appointments, it is encouraging to see that UW alumnus Allan Mustard has become the new Ambassador to Turkmenistan. A native of Brady, Washington, Mustard earned B.A. in political science and Slavic languages and literature in 1978 from the University of Washington. Of Ambassador Mustard’s 29 years in the Foreign Service, 20 of those years were spent at U.S. missions abroad. He began his foreign service career as a member of the Foreign Agricultural Service through the USDA. He speaks Russian, German, and basic Spanish.

Uzbekistan follows a now well-established custom since its independence in 1991. Every year on December 8, the Day of the Constitution, the guiding theme for the coming year is announced. For example, 2014 was the year of the “Healthy Child”, 2004 the “Year of Love and Compassion.”

The Uzbekistan government has declared 2015 to be “The Year of Attention and Care for Elder People.”

by Katie MacDonald Sitting together on the porch in the village of Chobogh, members of a rural Tajik family asked where I was from, if I liked Tajikistan, the cold weather in Seattle, if I made cow-patties to heat my family’s home there, and why I had my nose pierced. I joked that it was

By Scott Radnitz Welcome to the launch of the new Ellison Center blog for the REECAS community. We hope this new addition to our online presence will contribute to increased engagement, discussion and awareness of our rich community. Our return to campus this fall comes after a summer in which our region dominated the headlines,

With the 2014 deadline for withdrawal from Afghanistan looming, various players and analysts are warning of the potential for spillover into Central Asia. In an August 1, 2013 article in The National Interest, Will Afghanistan Take Central Asia Down with It? Ellison Center Director Scott Radnitz and Marlene Laruelle, director of the Central Asia Program, Institute

by Ilse D. Cirtautas The Seattle-Tashkent Sister City Association celebrates its 40th anniversary this year. Throughout the years, the association has followed its mission “to foster international understanding and goodwill.” The association has promoted exchanges of teachers, school children and university students, artists, exhibits and health care providers. Currently, the Sister City Association is cooperating