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?
This is not the first anti-Semitic killing in Uzbekistan this year. Yet a Google News search for the story reveals only this account from the vile Arutz Sheva (June 9), voice of the Israeli settler movement. Why is that? Jewish… Read moreAnti-Semitic killings in Uzbekistan
Albania, of all places, has agreed to take in five Uighur militants who had been captured by the US in Afghanistan and held at Guantanamo. Stateside Uighur advocates and human rights organizations went to court to halt their deportation to… Read moreGitmo Uighurs to Albania
Those who think the current global conflict is fundamentally about anything other than a strategic struggle for control of oil can be disabused of their illusions by reading (surprise!) the New York Times (May 6). This includes those who buy… Read moreCheney does Kazakhstan
Here’s a clue as to the political scorecard in Kyrgyzstan. From Turkey’s Zaman, April 20: The United States was asked to evacuate its military base in Uzbekistan last year and now it has been delivered a “note over its base”… Read moreKyrgyzstan warns US over Manas base
