Chinese president Hu Jintao has arrived in Moscow to meet with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin, and oil and gas deals are expected to dominate the discussions. Hu’s three-day visit “aims to strengthen political trust and push forward the economic… Read morePipeline politics top Hu-Putin meet
At least three were killed and scores injured in clashes between Chechens and Kazakhs outside Kazakhstan’s chief city of Almaty this week. The violence apparently began with an alcohol-fueled brawl in the town of Kazatkom in Almaty Region. Akhmed Muradov,… Read moreAnti-Chechen pogrom in Kazakhstan
Kyrgyzstan has demanded the US hand over for trial an Air Force serviceman who shot dead a Kyrgyz truck driver in December at the Manas airbase. The Kyrgyz government threatened to review its agreement with the US on the use… Read moreKyrgyzstan demands US hand over airman
From Phayul.com, March 11 (links added): NEW YORK – As the Tibetans all over the world commemorate the 48th Tibetan National Uprising day hundreds of Tibetans walked with pro-independence banners, placards and Tibetan national flags in the heart of New… Read moreTibetans march in NYC
This Dec. 22 account from the Russian daily Kommersant reveals another recent win for Moscow in its bid to rebuild influence in the “near abroad” of Central Asia, and beat the American and European competition to the punch in securing… Read moreTurkmenistan: dictator’s death throws gas leases into question
We almost wet our pants laughing a few years back when Exxon took out an ad on the New York Times op-ed page praising the despotism of Kazakhstan’s Nursultan Nazarbayev as a “democracy.” But these days Bush is writing much… Read moreBush: Kazkhstan “free nation”
We can feel George Bush cringing. Why did Sacha Baron Cohen have to pick on Kazakhstan of all places, which the US sees as a strategic bulwark against both Russian and Islamist influence in Central Asia, and which Dick Cheney… Read moreKazakhstan: Borat puts Bush in tight spot
Kyrgyzstan briefly surfaced in the headlines following the case of Air Force Major Jill Metzger of North Carolina, assigned to the US base at Manas, who managed to escape after being kidnapped Sept. 5. But the US media pays little… Read moreKyrgyzstan: Uzbek refugees charge forced repatriation
Perhaps this was an exercise in surrealist performance art. From RFE/RL, Sept. 13: International rights organizations are criticizing UNESCO’s decision to award Uzbek President Islam Karimov the Borobudur gold medal for “strengthening friendship and cooperation between the nations, development of… Read moreUzbekistan’s murderous dictator gets human rights award
Despite the recent tensions between Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan, both governments seem equally paranoid about Western-backed subversion within their borders. And perhaps with reason. From RFE/RL, July 12: A Tashkent court today ordered the closure of the Urban Institute, a U.S.-based… Read moreUzbekistan cracks down on NGOs
It seems the Kyrgyz government, itself put in power by a US-sponsored revolution last year, is increasingly paranoid that Washington is brewing another one. And perhaps with reason. Note that negotiations over continued Pentagon access to Kyrgyz military bases are… Read moreKyrgyzstan expels US diplomats
Tibet’s historic isolation is about to be radically broken, both by a new Lhasa-Beijing rail link (the world’s highest), and the opening of a new border crossing into India through Sikkim. Tibetan nationalist leader (and Dalai Lama nephew) Khedroob Thondup… Read moreTibet rail link opens: militarization, globalization —or both?
