I met Tanvi, 21 year old, at the Girls20 Summit at Toronto in the summer of 2010. Hailing from New Delhi, India, Tanvi is the president and the founder of a very successful youth-led organization, Becoming I Foundation.

The Becoming I Foundation is internationally recognized and mobilizes young people towards community development projects. Through projects in the fields of women’s empowerment, human trafficking, primary education, alternate sources of employment, leadership training, life skills development and youth empowerment, it has had an impact on more than 5000 young people all across the globe. The following are a few projects of Becoming I:

Project Fiza
Project Fiza deals with the issue of socially sanctioned commercial sex trade in Najafgarh, a village on the outskirts of Delhi. Through a process of negotiation and integration with the local community, the organization targets entrenched attitudes to end this generational sex trade practice among girls and women, and moves children towards acquiring education.

Project School Chale Hum
Project School Chale Hum, which directly translates to En route to School, focuses on developing incentive-based educational programs in low income schools in order to increase enrollment rates and decrease dropout rates. The goal is to ground the value of education amongst primary school children in order to increase their self motivation for pursuing their studies.

Project Broadway
Project Broadway is an endeavor to establish platforms through which performing artists from colleges and high schools are able to explore and channel their talent towards the benefit of the underprivileged. It is a part of Becoming I’s efforts to convert dance, music and theater events into fundraisers that help fund its subsequent projects.

Project Leap
Project Leap is the most recent initiative in collaboration with Teach for India. It is a product that reflects Becoming I’s vision that any education is incomplete without lifeskill development through a mash-up of core curriculum and extra-curricular activities that help students grow as individuals. Leap targets young students between the ages of six – 17 enrolled in low income schools around Delhi. The projects aims to help young students develop their creativity and expand their scope through theater, music, dance and arts and crafts. For this, the organization has recruited over 50 volunteers, who visit 11 low income schools every weekend and engage over 400 children in special workshops, which are a form of alternative learning and personality development for both the students and the volunteers.

Becoming I – through its President and Founder, Tanvi Girotra – was awarded the Contribution to Humanitarian Development award by the United Nations. The organization has been represented at platforms such as the Clinton Global Initiative in New York amongst leaders and organizations from all over the world, the Youth Assembly at the UN, the Ally Katz conference at the UN ECOSOC, the G(irls)20 Summit in Paris and Canada, the Three Dot Dash – Just Peace Summit in New York and the TEDx events at University of Delhi, NIT Calicut and Pune.

Becoming I’s strategy may help explain its success. Each one of the organization’s projects has a defined target audience and goal, and the organization says it derives its energy from its dedicated volunteers who have an equal say in the design and implementation of every project. Becoming I’s core belief is that a democratic structure is necessary to foster a sense of ownership, commitment and dedication towards the project.

Its program strategies are primarily based on one-on-one interactions with the target groups, which include counseling sessions, door-to-door data collection and workshops with the community. The programmes are dynamic in that the organization gauges the reaction and response of its target groups and simultaneously makes changes in order to ensure that the efficiency of their work remains constant.
The Becoming I team says: “We at Becoming I believe in stable, sustainable change. We love what we do and with each project, campaign and event that we have been a part of, we have grown and reshaped our goals.”

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An NGO is any non-profit or voluntary citizens’ group devoted to a specific public interest and organized on a local, national or international level. NGOs perform a variety of services and humanitarian functions, bring citizen concerns to governments, advocate and monitor policies  and encourage political participation regarding issues like human rights, environment or health. Since 1981 in pre-earthquake Haiti, United States Agency for International Development (USAID) has bypassed the (allegedly) corrupt Haitian government and given money to NGOs. Even though for decades individual NGOs have educated children, drilled wells, planted trees and saved tens of thousands of lives through vaccination and clinic programs, Haiti remains the most underdeveloped nation in the Western hemisphere.

Precisely when NGO activity flourished, Haiti sank further into abysmal poverty, and the lack of transparency is, arguably, the cause. While most aid workers are sincere, the NGO sector is an uncoordinated mess and are answerable to no one. Even the USAID funded umbrella organizatione Haitian Association of Voluntary Agencies(HAVA) and Le Cadre de Liaison Inter-ONG (CLIO) suffer from lack of accountability.

More than a million people are still living in overcrowded camps under the same now-fraying tarps, and a third of these camps still don’t have toilets. Most Haitians have no access to portable water. As NGOs are not accountable for their expenses, they do not have any incentives to include Haitians in their own nation-building. The 12 Haitian members of the Haiti Reconstruction Commission, which decide where to spend money donated to Haiti’s reconstruction, wrote in a letter of protest to its Co-Chairman Bill Clinton that they were “completely disconnected from the activities of the HRC.” These twelve board members surmised that their only function is to rubber stamp as Haitian-approved the decisions that are already made by the executive committee.

Haitians are excluded from the process of allocating aid funds because the nation’s reconstruction is being used to furnish corporate profits. A recent investigation revealed that out of every $100 of Haiti reconstruction contracts awarded by the American government, $98.40 is returned to American companies. This suggests that non-Haitian companies and organizations have much to gain from the relief effort. Haiti’s reconstruction, like almost everything else in that country, has been either privatized, outsourced or taken over by foreign NGOs. As such, reconstruction operations are unsustainable because Haitians cannot choose to spend aid money in a manner which empowers them to be independent and survive without NGO assistance. The perpetuation of Haitian dependency on NGOs will allow NGOs to continue funnelling donor money into non-Haitian pockets.

NGOs are not only inefficient-their presence can also undermine democracy and sovereignty. A third of U.S. aid funding to Haiti goes to the military occupation of Haiti. United Nations Stabilization Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH),  dispatches troops with weapons to protect international NGO officials, conduct relief efforts for NGOs and re-build the nation. MINUSTAH troops, with immunity from prosecution, abuse and humiliate helpless Haitians, who retain the organization is accused of orchestrating the 2011 elections. At teh time, nearly three-quarters of the electorate didn’t vote, the most popular political party, Aristide, was excluded from the ballot and the vote count of the minority that did vote was severely compromised. Would-be voters were disenfranchised, reportedly walking past the bodies of cholera victims on the street in search of a polling station with their name on the list, only to find the list with not their name but rather the names of their dead neighbors. Haitians called the practice “eleksyon zombi,” when the dead were used to do the bidding of their enemies. The Center for Economic and Policy Research independently recounted and reviewed the 11,181 tally sheets and found massive irregularities, errors and missing vote totals. The recent cholera epidemic, which claimed the lives of more than 3,500 Haitians, inflamed contempt for the U.N.’s MINUSTAH occupation,  because the cholera may have spread via latrines on the base of the U.N.’s barracks, which emptied into the country’s main river. Also, MINUSTAH is a military in a country which is not in war. Haitians are actively protesting the presence of the MINUSTAH, which is allowed to exist under the facade of assisting NGOs.

There is the utmost necessity that NGOs be held accountable for their operations. Undoubtedly, they have great political and economic power in weakened countries like Haiti, and their noble ideals should not be taken at face-value to exempt them from answering to donors and beneficiaries. Imposing a weak unpopular government that can be dismissed as hopelessly corrupt ensures that Haiti can serve the world as a disaster training ground for international troops and NGO workers, while transnational reconstruction companies can frolic in the destruction.

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Most of us have probably heard about the increasing importance placed on water security. Indeed, many development agencies are focusing on the field of environmental sustainability. But what exactly do such organizations mean when they refer to a “water secure world?”

According to the Global Water Partnership (GWP), the “water secure world” has three facets. First, water security means we are able to harness water’s productive power so every person has enough safe, affordable water to lead a clean, healthy and productive life. Second, it means that we are able to reduce water’s destructive capacity by protecting communities from floods, droughts, landslides, erosion and water-borne diseases. Lastly, water security implies ending fragmented responsibilities for water through effective management of water resources. All of these contribute to the eradication of poverty, advancement of education and an increase in living standards. That is why water security is often seen as an integral part of other development issues.

With that said, we need to better understand the problems that water insecurity brings to people’s lives. For example, pollution in Sri Lanka contaminates water and can sometimes cause serious health problems for those who use it. In one case, an epidemic of viral hepatitis broke out and put 300,000 people at risk of potentially acquiring this fatal disease. An investigation revealed that local restaurants were using contaminated water from illegal boreholes instead of the town’s water supply. Moreover, the quality of the town’s water supply was low because more than 100 households were practicing open defecation in the area. GWP took several measures to solve this problem, including carrying out a media tour that convinced restaurants to use water from correct sources and have proper toilets. Provided households that practiced open defecation with safe toilets.  Since then, there has been no further hepatitis break-outs.

In Cameroon, there has been more than thirty years of conflict over the ownership of the water supplies. As a result, management of water resources was extremely poor: over 60 public pipes were disconnected and water tariffs escalated. In response, people started using water from unprotected streams for their daily water needs. GWP facilitated the legal solution of the conflict and contributed to the re-opening of public taps, extension of coverage and the introduction of a differential water tariff structure. Furthermore, an inclusive community water management body was established.

Water security is not as abstract as it sounds. It affects populations, especially the most vulnerable groups in every country. This issue is about much more than having a lack of safe drinking water. Wise management of water resources can change the quality of life.

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Geopolitical concerns are not new to the Middle East. Contemporary relations with Middle Eastern countries largely revolve around the issue of natural resources, particularly in reference to the West’s increasing reliance on oil.  Conflicts regarding the manipulation of natural resources, particularly crude oil, are a product of globalization. Oil, being a highly sought after resource, defines livelihoods in global markets.  When the supply or demand curve for oil shifts anywhere in the world, prices around the globe are affected. The basic economic principle of supply and demand is at fault for contributing to the rise in gas prices worldwide, not the President, as the Republican Party so forcefully concludes.

Four factors influence the increased price of gas:  the global recession, untapped oil leases, high demands from developing countries, such as India and China, and the embargo on Persian oil.  Sanctions by the international community in response to mounting concerns over the country’s nuclear program have resulted in limited supply of oil exports from Iran. Foreign Reports estimates that Iran will lose one third of its usual oil exports by the end of July due to the sanctions. Saudi Arabia recently augmented oil production in reaction to the sanctions.

On the home front, the battle to lower gas prices or, perhaps more accurately, the effort to place blame on the opposing party remains a priority for the GOP during this election year. Consuming over 20 percent of oil available in the global market, the United States has only two percent of global oil reserves. In 2012, the Obama Administration increased domestic production of oil by an estimated 120,000 barrels per day, making the United States’ daily production over 5.6 million barrels in total. However, the fact remains that the meager fraction of natural oil resources in the United States is too small to shift the supply curve to a large extent.

The government of the United States does not possess enough geopolitical influence to significantly manipulate the price of crude oil. As long as the need for sanctions in the Gulf remains, conflict over oil in countries that are at odds with international trade of natural resources will contribute to higher prices. The debate over the allocation of natural resources is not one simply determined by party politics. Rather, it is a decision of whether or not to support P5+1 countries’ smart power bargaining chips.  Without the use of military force, sanctions are the P5+1’s best option for drawing Iranian officials to the negotiating table. As supply wanes, gas prices rise across the globe; yet, it is a sacrifice that no country can possibly refuse to take.

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A petro-state is a mining country with weak institutions and a malfunctioning public sector with laws that make sub-soil resources property of the government. Petro-economies are unique because they survive on exporting non-renewable natural resources, which require the increasing use of machinery for extraction and are prone to fluctuating world prices: booms (high prices) and busts (low prices).

During oil booms, two regular symptoms that lead to economic calamity can be distinguished in petro-states. First, governments urge that all developmental reforms be undertaken using capital accumulated from oil revenues. At the same time, consumers have high demands because they believe the state has high earnings from oil sales. The government vastly expands public services, aiming to improve standards of living while the economy heats up. The large oil revenues lead to an inflow of imports. This puts pressure on exchange rates and the currency becomes overvalued.

Even worse, oil revenues help very few people. The oil industry employs comparatively few people in the economy. In 2003 in Venezuela, for instance, only about 40,000 people out of an economically active population of 11.7 million worked in the oil industry.

Second, the benefits of public sector spending are cancelled out by an economy of heavy spending. During an oil boom, the civil society makes various demands of the government, the military asks for more modern weapons, capitalists seek subsidies and the middle class wants social spending. As demand rises, unwieldy and inefficient bureaucrats suddenly have new roles thrust upon them and find themselves incapable of scaling down public sector programs. Moreover, the private sector politically manipulates the government to cash in on public oil revenues, a phenomenon called rent-seeking. These “wars” over petro-rents annihilate already weakened institutions, favor the concentration of power, promote bending of the law and increase corruption. Thus, they ultimately contribute to a growing government budget that leads to a trade deficit and foreign debt.

It seems that the curse of the petro-states is that they cannot cope with oil booms without running into almost un-repayable debt and undermining democracy. To understand the nature of petro-economies better, an enthusiast should refer to The Paradox of Plenty: Oil Booms and Petro-states (University of California Press, 1997) by Terry Karl. The books explores the development paths taken by oil-exporting governments as different as Venezuela, Iran, Nigeria, Algeria, and Indonesia in the midst of two massive oil booms in the 1970s. Karl argues that petro-states are characterized by similar social classes and patterns of collective action.

However, this petro-state phenomenon cannot be generalized to all oil-rich countries in the world. There are an exceptional few that seem to have fared comparatively well, such as Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Libya, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates. As of today, the OPEC (Organization of Petroleum-Exporting Countries) has a combination of both types of oil-rich countries.

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The story behind the festival is that bullfights were banned in 1930s, and an arbitrary tomato fight sprouted on the town square Plaza del Pueblo during a local parade in 1945, as reported by the digital periodical Las provincias. “There are varying explanations of why the tomatoes started flying, but all agree that more tomatoes were thrown the following years, and the fiesta took seed,” Al Goodman reported in the New York Times. The festival was briefly sanctioned in 1950, and was banned again in 1951 and 1957. Goodman reported that the festival “remained mainly a local event until 1983, when Spanish national television showed up. Tomato t-shirt sales followed soon after, and this year one villager started selling waterproof disposable cameras for $10 to tourists about to enter the fray.”

The New York Times travel guide reports that the name La Tomatina means “Battle of the Tomatoes,” and the festival takes place between 11 a.m. and 1 p.m.: “The local government sponsors the festival, bringing in truckloads of tomatoes totaling more than 88,000 pounds of vegetable artillery. Local bands provide the music for dancing and singing, and there’s plenty of drinking. Portable shows are installed for the participants.” Don Quijote the travel agency, reported the average yearly tomato amount as 90,000 pounds; Las Provincias reported the amount used in 2011’s La Tomatina as 120,000 kilograms, nearly 265,000 pounds; BBC reported the amount in 2009 as 125,000 kilograms -276,000 pounds.

The authorities work efficiently to provide protection and hygiene for the participants. At the last year’s festival, 150 Civil Protection members, 30-40 Civil Guard agents as well as two National Police helicopters and some 50 private security guards were hired for monitoring and even distribution of tomatoes from the city-authorized trucks, which carried crushed low-grade tomatoes, according to Las Provincias. This way, one rule of the festival “crush before you throw,” has been practiced to minimize the scope of injuries. Portable showers were provided for those who wanted to clean up afterwards, but many chose to cool off in a near-by river instead. The streets are cleaned after the festival reaches an end, and they are squeaky clean as a result of the acidic tomato wash.

Not avoiding any expenses regarding the public good, the city authorities do get their full shares. As tens of thousands of people enter the festival every year, the number of revelers usually varies from 20,000 and 40,000. In 1996, tourism generated 10 percent of the nation’s $582 billion gross domestic product and accounted for one out of every eight jobs.

Don Quijote reported “In an effort to draw more tourism, and more targets,  into the small town of Buñol, La Tomatina has blossomed into a full-blown fiesta that coincides with the festival for the town’s patron saint. For a week leading up to the epic battle, the 20,000-strong town of Buñol is filled with parades, fireworks, food and street parties. The night before La Tomatina, the narrow streets beneath the town’s imposing medieval bell tower are filled with tomatoes, in a much more palatable form than they will be the next day. Cauldrons of delectable paella cooking, simmered traditionally over wood-burning fires, line the Concurso des Paellas, near the Plaza del Pueblo, the site of the imminent skirmishes. Wine and food flow around the small town until the wee hours, in a fabulous Dickens-like foreshadowing.”

You can get an insight into the country by interacting with people during this two hour upbeat festival. For the fun to last, wear cheap clothes that it’s okay to ruin. The rest is left to your imagination!

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After a bizarre snowstorm in October,  almost no snow throughout December and January, and another snowstorm in February followed by brief sunshine, it was impossible to predict what would happen  next. Now, spring seems to be in a full swing, with warmth  and greenery replacing the snow, but in the entire northern hemisphere, spring also means the bloom of pink and white cherry blossoms.

The cherry tree, also known as sakura, is native to Japan. There are many  varieties of cherry trees  cultivated all over the country.  One popular spring ritual amongst the Japanese people is the traditional celebration of the cherry blossom, known as the Hanami festival in Japan.  Hanami means “viewing flowers,” and is used to indicate viewing cherry blossom. Millions of people attend this festival in various parts of the country such as Tokyo, Kyoto and Osaka. The trees have been strategically planted to decorate the gardens of many Japanese palaces, temples and pagodas (tiered tower with multiple eaves) and when they are fully blooming the cherries impart a spiritual aura to the already spectacular scene.  One of the traditional ways to celebrate Hanami is by holding a tea ceremony under the boughs of a blossoming tree. Other ways to celebrate the season include picnics under trees laden with sakura blossoms and looking at palaces  and pagodas  colored with the pretty blooms.

A hundred years ago in March, the first lady of Japan,  Helen Herron Taft and Viscountess Chinda, wife of the Japanese Ambassador,  planted two cherry trees on the bank of Washington, D.C.’s Tidal Basin. Altogether, 3,020 cherry trees were planted that month as part of a gift from Japan to the United States as a symbol of friendship between the two countries. In 1965, the gift was renewed with 3800 more trees and each year, the cherry blossoms attract thousands of tourists in the nation’s capital. In addition to symbolizing the arrival of bright spring, these trees are yearly reminders of the long lasting friendship between Japan and the United States.

In Washington, D.C. a festival takes place at the center of most important buildings and monuments, including the Lincoln Memorial, the Jefferson Memorial, the White House and the Washington Monument. The Peak Bloom Date is the day by when 70% of the cherries are expected to bloom. This year, the peak bloom prediction was for March 20-27. However,   cherries  blossomed earlier than usual due to unseasonably warm temperatures. Most of the trees reached their peak bloom of the season during the secnd last week of March.

The National Cherry Blossom Festival runs through April with many events and exhibits planned across Washington. This year, Washington, D.C. is celebrating the 100th anniversary of cherry blossom festival with 5 weeks of international cultural performances, including arts exhibits, sports and parades up to April 27. Over one million people are expected to attend the National Cherry Blossom Festival this year. Many families take this as a perfect opportunity to enjoy the nice weather off from work.

Unfortunately, these trees are very sensitive to the weather. How long they last depends on how long the weather stays warm without strong winds and heavy rains. Although typically the cherries bloom until the end of April, but a heavy downpour usually causes the blooming cherries to fall, thus ending the fairytale-like imagery. So keep your fingers crossed for bright sunshine and calm winds throughout this fantastic season.

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At the beginning of March, Vladimir Putin won a third presidential term in Russia. Last September, President Dmitry Medvedev asked former President of Russia and the current Prime Minister Putin if he would run for the upcoming elections. Putin agreed to campaign and represent the United Russia political party in the election. His opponents represented a diverse group of political parties and organizations, such as the Communist party, the Independent party, the Liberal Democratic party and the A Just Russia party. Putin’s United Russia party dominated the election and won with 66 percent of the votes.

Those dissatisfied with the results of the election will have to wait a while for change. The next presidential election will not be held until 2018. In 2008, Medvedev signed a law that extended the presidential term in Russia by two years, a change from four years to six. The law Medvedev signed would not apply to his term, but to the next president who would take office. Putin selected Medvedev as his successor as President of Russia in 2008, and the new-found law received criticism for merely enabling Putin to reenter the presidential office for an even longer term.

Vyacheslav Volodin, a man whose political experience grew from working with a fragmented Russia during the fall of the Soviet Union, assisted Putin’s campaign. Although Volodin drew from a strong political background to aid Putin, the Prime Minister had plenty of experience with the Russian public, having served as their president twice before.

For this campaign, Putin appealed to the bulk of his supportive base, a group made up of predominantly working class people. He made his stance clear on a variety of issues in published articles. These issues include Russia’s economy, the national and ethnic groups living in Russia and relations with Central Asia. Putin also proposed that the country strengthen its economy through telecommunications and technological advances. He is aiming, it seems, to make Russia financially sound and stable.

His plans are not well received by the entire population. Protests surrounding and following the election reveal an unsettled public. Each voice railing against the poll results had a different grievance. In the days following the election, people lining the streets and gathering publicly to express their dissatisfaction have begun to disperse. The crowds have become smaller and the voices subdued.

Perhaps the public is accepting the fact that Medvedev, a man the country has had the chance to get to know for the last four years, will be Russia’s Prime Minister while for the next six years, the familiar face of Putin will reign as the president.

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As the long-expected opposition rally took place this Saturday in Moscow, between 10,000 and 20,000 demonstrators, according to Russian police and news agencies, flooded the streets. The attendance was less than that of previous demonstrations on Dec. 4, Dec. 27 and Feb 4. Does this indicate that the opposition is breaking apart? Does the opposition need time to re-organize? Does the Kremlin have too much control over the demonstrations to let the voices of innovation permeate?

“We need to move away from the format of ‘five minutes of hate’ and announce a plan of action, answer the question ‘What next?’ and demand the authorities conduct reforms,” said Dmitri Gudkov, a civilian opposition activist. As Putin is establishing his new regime, slogans like “better government” and “no Putin” are being raised by the demonstrators. The early opposition movements were criticized as illogical: members of Femen, a Ukrainian feminist opposition organization, protested half-naked at Moscow polling stations during elections.

Nowadays, the opposition’s biggest worry is losing purpose. Gudkov and many other activists stated that a time of rest was needed to regain enough strength to make another demonstration, possibly in May, attracting a larger crowd.

“The outrage over electoral fraud in December and anger over Mr. Putin’s return to the presidency, perhaps for 12 more years, brought together radicals and moderates, liberals, fascists, communists, nationalists, social democrats, the young and the old, many of them from Moscow’s new and growing middle class. But while they shared grievances, organizers acknowledged that they had yet to settle on a common goal or a common path forward,” reported David M. Herszenhorn and Ellen Barry in the New York Times.

Although many opposition leaders made speeches in Saturday’s rally, others became impatient at not being allowed to speak. The Wall Street Journal reported that the “leaders struggled Saturday to hold together an unwieldy coalition of liberals, Communists, nationalists and radicals. Nationalists walked out after some of their members were not allowed to speak.” During the rally, Sergei Udaltsov was detained by the police when he tried to lead his supporters to march towards unsanctioned city areas. The WSJ further reported, “Alexei Abramov, a 23-year-old Muscovite who served as a poll watcher in suburban Zelenograd and attended Saturday’s rally [said], ‘I saw people vote for him. It will take more than a few months to change their thinking, this mentality that Russia needs a czar.’”

Benedikt von Imhoff and Ulf Mauder stated in the Oman Daily Observer that the protesters’ recent demands are “undergoing a subtle shift away from the negative to the more forward-looking. Where the call at previous demonstrations was for ‘fair elections,’ now it is for ‘the struggle against illegitimate power.’”

Victor Davidoff, in the Moscow Times, collected the future of Russia under three scenarios: the stagnation scenario, the liberalization scenario, and the pessimistic scenario. The future can be based on the economic stagnation, liberal movement ignited by demonstrators and a positive response by the Kremlin, or worsened by a non-responsive Kremlin and a stronger dictatorship instead. Davidoff reported that “the Kremlin, to its credit, took note of the sea change in political mood and responded with surprising speed. Even before the presidential election, legislation was quickly drafted in response to the protesters’ demands.” He further highlighted promises of a fairer future with upgraded governmental elections and to exercise jurisdiction on ambiguous cases, such as that of Mikhail Khodorkovsky’s. He reported that in the new legislation by the Kremlin, “governors would be elected once again, the upper chamber of the parliament would be formed more democratically, and true opposition parties would be allowed to exist. In an act of great symbolic importance, President Dmitry Medvedev formally requested prosecutors to review the case against former Yukos CEO Mikhail Khodorkovsky.”

Now that the Kremlin is aware of the citizens’ expectations and is keeping track of the opposition’s actions, it even looks welcoming and responsive to opposition demands. Hopefully, this will not prompt the anarchist population of the demonstrators to organize separately with unsanctioned demonstrations that end in violence. Will this peaceful balance continue to exist during the new demonstrations planned for early May?

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President Nazarbayev of Kazakhstan congratulated Vladimir Putin his presidency through a telegram saying that he hoped Mr. Putin would apply all his “knowledge, efforts and experience to ensure further economic growth, social well-being, maintain political stability and enhance international image of Russia,” according to the Kazakh government website. Extending an invitation to Putin to pay an official visit to Kazakhstan, Nazarbayev said that “the 20th anniversary of an historic agreement, a treaty of friendship, cooperation and mutual aid between Russia and Kazakhstan will be celebrated in May.”

On a similar note, the Uzbek embassy reported President Karimov’s submissive tone to “His Excellency Mr. Vladimir Putin” saying that “I am deeply convinced that the election results have underscored again the extensive support of the Russian people for Your policy[…] I do feel certain that the historically-shaped traditionally friendly relations and the close multilayered cooperation between our two countries and peoples will keep advancing forward[…]Taking this pleasant opportunity, I would like to wish You, esteemed Vladimir Vladimirovich, a robust health and new successes[...]”

Putin’s election techniques included old methods of rigging polls and suppressing opposition, employed in Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan and Tajikistan, as well as Azerbaijan and Belarus. “Karim likes this result because Karim and Putin are similar in their authoritarianism, anti-Americanism. They both want sovereignty and don’t want any human rights movement,” said Stephen Jones, Professor of Eurasian Studies at Mount Holyoke.

Moreover, Putin has a history of tactfully maintaining his influence in Central Asia to limit Western and Chinese influence in a region that Russia considers its backyard. During his last term, Putin signed a treaty with Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan to build a new pipeline carrying Turkmen gas through Russia before China or Europe could advance the idea of a similar pipeline under the Caspian Sea. Now Central Asian States and Russia are competitors for oil and gas markets in China—only some oil and gas goes through the Caspian Sea, while most passes through Russia.

Putin exhibited another example of his strategic planning as Prime Minister in Sept. 2011. He stated that he would return as president and shared his vision to form a Eurasian Union based around Moscow’s leadership in a customs union, a free trade area with a common external tariff. According to the Financial Times, the idea of this union was first propagated by Nazarbayev in 1994 during a speech at Moscow University. Although Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan can afford to resist, political and economic issues have pushed Kyrgyzstan to apply to join and have left Tajikistan deliberating.

Russian policy in Central Asia, as argued by Lena Johnson in her book Vladimir Putin and Central Asia, has been shaped by the Chechen invasion of Dagestan in 1999 and Sept. 11. Chechen threat had forced Russia to promote cultural integration and tighten security policies which was further underscored in the wake of  Sept. 11. Thus, Russia became more focused upon establishing better relations through “multilateral security cooperation.” The bureaucratic Russian political structure, along with secular-political, religious-political and ethno-national divisions in Central Asia, have shaped Russian foreign policy in the region. In conclusion, Jonson proposes that the policy window opened by Sept. 11 combined with Putin’s aspirations to further expand the Russian sphere of influence would culminate in the birth of an even more active and influential Russia in Central Asia.

But Central Asians don’t want Russia to rule them again. They welcomed Putin because they find him reliable, even though they are wary about Russia’s role as a former colonial power. However, the similar lack of pluralism between Putin and Central Asian leaders is not expected to reap drastic positive outcomes for the region. In the Times of Central Asia, independent political analyst Kamron Aliev predicts no change. “But given that Putin is the ‘new’ president,” he adds, “he should be experiencing a new burst of energy. It is very difficult to predict, however, how Putin will direct this new energy.” Surat Ikramov, a human rights activist in Uzbekistan, hopes that Russia will set a positive example of human rights. “We are neighbors, and we mainly watch Russian television. If steps are taken to improve the human rights situation in Russia, this will be very good for Uzbekistan,” says Ikramov.

Although Putin’s strategies to maintain his influence in Central Asia have so far been successful, his glory isn’t expected to last long. “Putin’s success is the beginning of his downfall, because he has created a middle class in Russia that wants to see something different,” says Jones.

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