UPDATE: Thanks for all the inquiries. I have gotten more responses than I ever have in the past, and I have as many as I take on right now. Look for posts from our new contributors soon!
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As is probably clear to readers who have been around for a long time, I don’t write anywhere near as much as I used to. Personal and professional obligations conspire to keep my attentions elsewhere. I would like to think that some upcoming changes in my life will spur me into posting more often, but some more changes a little further down the road will probably only further limit my ability to post.
So, with that said, I would like to encourage readers to join Registan.net‘s team of contributors. I especially encourage students interested in Central Asia to join. (It’s come to my attention that some of your professors may be encouraging you to read the site.) Registan.net played a decisive role in getting me a job that actually makes use of my Central Asian studies degree. It’s played an important role in doing the same for others. It may or may not do the same for you, and it certainly won’t make you money in the short term, prospective contributor. But it will at the very least expose your writing to a small, but impressive readership, perhaps help you with your thesis, and expand your network.
I am looking for contributors with all kinds of interests and backgrounds. History, politics, culture, art, religion, and just about anything else related to Central Asia is fair game.
If you’re interested, drop me a line.
This post was written by...
Nathan Hamm – author of 2974 posts on Registan.net.
Nathan is the Founding Editor and Publisher of Registan.net, which he launched in 2003. He was a Peace Corps Volunteer in Uzbekistan 2000-2001 and received his MA in Central Asian Studies from the University of Washington in 2007. Since 2007, he has worked full-time as an analyst, consulting with private and government clients on Central Asian affairs, specializing in how socio-cultural and political factors shape risks and opportunities and how organizations can adjust their strategic and operational plans to account for these variables. Nathan is currently seeking research, analysis, and consulting opportunities. He can be contacted via Twitter or email.
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{ 3 comments }
I am interested in this, how can I contact you?
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Central_Asia/KJ15Ag01.html
In a rare outbreak of social unrest, Turkmen workers employed on a high-profile pipeline staged a strike and subsequently clashed with Chinese fellow-workers.
Nearly 200 workers were arrested, but they have subsequently been released, apparently at the insistence of Chinese energy company officials involved in laying the pipeline, which will link Turkmen gas reserves with China. The US$7.3 billion Central Asia-China gas pipeline project began in 2007 and will take natural gas from Turkmenistan through Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan and on to China. Gas is scheduled to begin flowing by the end of this year and will be at full capacity in 2011.
While I am definitely vain enough to presume people might like to read what I write, I am not so sure you would want it on your blog!
I would like to direct you readers to this article (an allegation that Italian forces have been paying off the Taliban whilst part of the NATO force in Afghanistan):-
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/Afghanistan/article6877142.ece
Some things to note
1) The Italians refute the allegation and are threatening to sue
2) The French have taken over the area (Salobi, east of Kabul) and have started dieing. Thus a consequent claim is that Italian soldiers are of such quality they make the French look professional, brave and committed.
3) There are claims that the US embassy in Rome has made an offical complaint to the Italians (demarche is the proper diplomatic term). Neither the US nor the Italian government will comment.
4) At a time when we are looking for other (non Brit/US) NATO members to step up to the plate, we have two very significant members in a pretty serious dispute.
5) This is a very public division in the alliance. Divided alliances are not often successful.
6) The Italians are also accused of doing much the same in Western Herat (next to the Iranian border). Herat is a significant and cultured city and very much a regional as well as provincial capital. Were insurgency to take root in Herat that would be a real problem. If the only reason NATO soldiers are not dieing in Herat is bribery, things are much worse than we thought.
7) There are many reasons to oppose/support a ‘bribe the tribes’ tactic. Whether or not NATO does this is a subject of debate in Washington, London, Brussels etc. That debate is rendered irrelevant if, on the ground, officals of member governments take to bribing the tribes without regard to its outcome.
On the bright side, counter insurgency involves a certain amount of ‘going native’, getting to understand a local culture and how it works.
It seems the Italians may have done rather well in that regard.