It is interesting to watch Kazakhstan try to set itself up as a kind of Switzerland of the former Soviet space.
I assume that Switzerland's longstanding neutrality got the European powers to think of Geneva whenever they wanted to have a peace conference. Kazakhstan's deft attempts to maintain good relations with all of the countries that once were part of the former Soviet Union is making Astana the logical place to go when those countries get into a conflict, especially when Russia is effectively one of the parties to the conflict (which renders Moscow a non-neutral space).
I assume that Switzerland's longstanding neutrality got the European powers to think of Geneva whenever they wanted to have a peace conference. Kazakhstan's deft attempts to maintain good relations with all of the countries that once were part of the former Soviet Union is making Astana the logical place to go when those countries get into a conflict, especially when Russia is effectively one of the parties to the conflict (which renders Moscow a non-neutral space).
