WESTERN EUROPE'S dominance of the United States' affections is at an end, as Eastern European countries that grew up admiring the United States are becoming dear to the U.S. foreign-policy establishment's heart. In ascendance with the Eastern Europeans are the new republics of Central Asia which, like Turkey, in addition to being strategically important, can be models for moderate Islam as a constructive force in the world.

The geopolitical importance of the Central Asian republics cannot be understated. They are nations with tremendous natural resources that sit on the forward lines of the world's most important ideological battle, Western-style democracy versus Islamofascism. These republics have been striving for the former, and the United States must be active in the region in order to assist them in this difficult transition.

Recently, Kazakhstan hosted American Jewish leaders from the Conference of Presidents of Major Jewish Organizations for a conference that I attended. The heads of states of the surrounding republics joined the meeting and exemplified the Islamic moderation that their nations represent: In the opening plenary session the leaders took turns denouncing terrorism and made no criticism of the United States and its involvement in Iraq.

Kazakhstan is the largest of these fledgling nations. It is nearly four times the size of Texas and over the next 15 years should eclipse Saudi Arabia in oil production. It is a country that was born into the nuclear club, through its Soviet inheritance, yet chose to unilaterally destroy those weapons. It is a country that,

(It is also one of the very few Muslim countries that not only has diplomatic relations with Israel, but whose dealings with the Jewish nation can be described as warm. Israel in turn looks to Kazakhstan as an integral part of her outer rim policy, which is Israel's strategy of developing relations with nations outside of the Middle East to counterbalance local threats.)

Kazakhstan has not only refrained from joining the anti-U.S. chorus denouncing its military moves, but has allowed the United States to establish forward military bases--despite Russian pressure against it. This fact should not be overlooked, since currently much of Central Asia and particularly Kazakhstan are still tied in many ways to their former owner's apron strings. Kazakhstan serves as a bookend, along with Turkey, of a firewall that is working to contain the spread of Islamic extremism.

Yet despite these nations' current predilections, there are no guarantees that the Central Asian republics will permanently throw their lot in with the West. Kazakhstan, for instance, shares a massive, mostly undefended border with both Russia and China, two nations fervently trying to establish their dominance in the region, and Iran is trying to export its brand of Islamic revolution. Over the next few years these Central Asian republics will be making fundamental choices about their identity and national relationships.

Russia's economy is still based on petrodollars and Russia will not lie down and allow former "children" to leave her orbit of influence. Russia has used its muscles in order to bully its way into oil consortiums and extort economic and military concessions from the region's countries, and has used subversion and coercion in order to reestablish the political order in some of these republics.