A penetrating look into the unrecognised and unregulated links between autocratic regimes in
Central Asia and centres of power and wealth throughout the West. Weak corrupt and
politically unstable the former Soviet republics of Kazakhstan Kyrgyzstan Tajikistan and
Uzbekistan are dismissed as isolated and irrelevant to the outside world. But are they? This
hard-hitting book argues that Central Asia is in reality a globalisation leader with extensive
involvement in economics politics and security dynamics beyond its borders. Yet Central Asia's
international activities are mostly hidden from view with disturbing implications for world
security. Based on years of research and involvement in the region Alexander Cooley and John
Heathershaw reveal how business networks elite bank accounts overseas courts third-party
brokers and Western lawyers connect Central Asia's supposedly isolated leaders with global
power centres. The authors also uncover widespread Western participation in money laundering
bribery foreign lobbying by autocratic governments and the exploiting of legal loopholes
within Central Asia. Riveting and important this book exposes the global connections of a
troubled region that must no longer be ignored--
