About

This newsletter was not started on a whim; it started once there was enough to say. Over the past decade or so I have never set foot in the five Central Asian states as a tourist, yet these five countries are everywhere in my inbox, my contacts and the briefings I follow every week. What accumulated were fragments; they now barely add up to a net.

The writing concentrates on three lines: corridors — how railways, border crossings and Caspian routes run, and who collects the fees; money and minerals — who procures, who can pay in hard currency, which rules changed last year; how the story is told — how a state recounts its own history, and how that recital turns into a diplomatic posture today.

One rule only: put the checkable facts side by side first, then give the judgement. Every claim is pinned as far as possible to a named company, project, sum or date; where nothing can be verified I write "not found" rather than filling the gap with speculation. So pieces here are usually slower than the news, and longer.

There are 7 sections at present:

Geo · Corridors —— Railways, border crossings and transit routes: when a line opens, whose road gets rewritten.
Geo · Great Powers —— How Russia, China, Europe, the US and Turkey place their pieces here — and where they collide.
Geo · Five States —— Power arrangements and historical narratives inside the five states, and where they stand today.
Biz · Chinese Capital —— The companies in the five states and the Caucasus that actually hold purchasing power and hard currency.
Biz · Critical Minerals —— Critical minerals, rare earths and border resources: who holds the cards, and what they are worth.
Biz · Investment Practice —— Payments, compliance, cities and travel: the few things that actually block you on the ground.
People · Silk Road Lives —— The people who actually walked this road: Zhang Qian, Xuanzang, Gao Xianzhi, and those who came later.

Contact

To suggest a topic, point out an error, or ask for material on a particular country, either channel above reaches me. Telegram usually gets a faster reply.

Systematic writing on these subjects began in July 2026; pieces are archived by publication date. Older pieces get revised when new material surfaces, and revised ones carry an updated date.