Weak, corrupt, and politically unstable, the previous Soviet republics of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan are dismissed while isolated and irrelevant to the exterior globe. But are they? This hard-hitting publication argues that Central Asia is in reality a globalization innovator with more comprehensive participation in economics, politics, and security dynamics beyond its edges than some other world region. However Central Asia’s international activities are mainly hidden from watch, with disturbing implications for world security.

Based on many years of study and involvement in your community, Alexander Cooley and John Heathershaw reveal how business networks, elite bank accounts, abroad courts, third-party brokers, and Western lawyers connect Central Asia’s supposedly isolated leaders with global power centers. The authors also uncover common Western involvement in cash laundering, bribery, international lobbying by autocratic governments, and the exploiting of legal loopholes within Central Asia. Riveting and essential, this reserve exposes the global contacts of a stressed region that must no longer become ignored.