Letter from the Editors

Welcome to the December 2021 issue of The Diplomat Magazine!

How long does it take to comprehend the lasting legacy of a powerful state, crumbled; a liberation war, ended; a massacre, denied; a system, changed? In this issue, which kicks off our eighth year, we peer at the legacies of events 50 years ago in Bangladesh, 30 years ago in the erstwhile Soviet Union, 10 years ago in Kazakhstan, and last year in Hong Kong. A legacy is a constantly evolving thing, even once the dust of history settles.

Our multiauthor cover story focuses on the formal dissolution of the Soviet Union in December 1991, as viewed through the lens of some of the USSR’s neighbors and partners in Asia. For countries like Vietnam and India, the collapse of an important diplomatic and economic partner necessitated a rethink of both foreign and economic policies. For Japan and South Korea, the end of the Cold War lead to different thinking on their alliances with the U.S. and opened new options for foreign policymaking. And in China – a fellow one-party communist state that was on the outs with Moscow at the end of the Cold War – the fallout was especially complicated.

Bangladesh’s Liberation War ended on December 16, 1971, making Bangladesh’s March 1971 declaration of independence a reality. Delwar Hossain, a professor at the University of Dhaka, examines the twists and turns of Bangladesh’s relationships with Pakistan – the state Bangladesh split from – and India – which backed Dhaka’s independence movement – in the 50 years since. As Hossain describes, Bangladesh’s relations with India and Pakistan have gone through inverse cycles of friendship and hostility, based partially on which political party is in power in Dhaka but also taking into account evolving geopolitical realities.

Next, journalist Zholdas Orisbayev revisits the events that took place in December 2011, a few days before Kazakhstan’s Independence Day, in the southwestern oil town of Zhanaozen. Now most often referred to as the Zhanaozen massacre, the killing of striking oil workers and peaceful protesters in the center of the town remains a dark moment in the country’s history on which little light has been shed. And without light, there can be no justice.

Finally, Jessie Lau and Sharon Yam take stock of the situation on the ground as Hong Kong prepares for its first Legislative Council election under a new electoral system – and the omnipresent national security law. Hong Kong’s pro-democrats swept to victory in District Council elections in 2019; Lau, a journalist and researcher, and Yam, a professor at the University of Kentucky, explain that the mood could not be more different in 2021. Many leading pro-democracy figures have been arrested; others declined to run, fearing that their candidacies would be immediately vetoed by a new vetting process. As if that weren’t enough, electoral reforms cut in half the number of directly-elected candidates. The changes have many pro-democracy supporters wondering: What’s the point of even having an election?

We hope you enjoy the stories and the many more in the following pages.