Scientific discussion on the pages of the journal is a difficult and at the same time inspiring genre. In my initial theses, I assumed that the" Central Asian question", as it was raised and solved in Russian scientific and social thought in the last third of the 19th and early 20th centuries, could serve as a better understanding of the processes taking place in the" axial " geopolitical space after the disappearance of the superpower USSR from the world map.

Criticism is always heuristic. Therefore, the counterarguments put forward during the discussion of theses, the dispute over the concept and the legitimate demand to clarify the subject of discussion are only for the benefit of science. I am grateful to the editorial staff of the journal "Vostok (Oriens)" and to all those who agreed to participate in this discussion and contributed to it. In an article to be published in Issue 5 of the journal for 2003, I will try to summarize some intermediate results of the discussion and consider mainly two interrelated issues:

1) on the possibilities of geopolitical interpretation of history and the impact of the 2003 war in Iraq on the change of one global geopolitical order to another;

2) on the significance of the "Central Asian question" for scientific thought and practical policy at the beginning of the XXI century.

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