While the U.S. successfully shaped a unified response to Russia’s aggression, it is overlooking a critical piece of a new geopolitical landscape: Kazakhstan and Central Asia.
Last week’s meeting of the EU-Kazakhstan Cooperation Council in Luxembourg sought to deepen Kazakhstan’s connections to Europe.
Spanning nearly 2,000 miles across the heart of the Asian continent, Kazakhstan can either hold that alliance together or spoil it.
In 2015, after Turkey downed a Russian jet over the Turkish-Syrian border, Kazakhstan brought the two sides to the table.
Kazakhstan has it, as well as close economic ties with China that could lend an imprimatur of Beijing’s support.
With the second largest proven oil reserves in Eurasia and 14th largest gas reserves in the world, Kazakhstan has available supply.
Finally, the U.S. must not allow Kazakhstan and the region to be caught in the crossfire of the Ukraine war. »