More than a year after Kyrgyzstan’s “Tulip Revolution,” the supposed democratic renewal isn’t looking too good, is it? President Kurmanbek Bakiyev, so recently a revolutionary leader, now warns against “lawlessness and anarchy” like a good despot. But is he Washington’s… Read moreKyrgyzstan: opposition leader survives attack
All press stories on this controversy note that the oil will be exported to China. But, as we have noted, Russia is racing with China to provide a Pacific outlet for Central Asian oil, and we suspect this is the… Read moreRussian pipeline plan threatens Lake Baikal
This doesn’t sound very good, does it? From the BBC, March 1: An opposition leader in Uzbekistan has been jailed for 10 years for economic crimes, a Tashkent court has said. Nadira Khidoyatova of opposition group Sunshine Uzbekistan was found… Read moreUzbekistan: opposition leader imprisoned
A very enlightening piece from the Dec. 28 Christian Science Monitor, “Kremlin reasserts control of oil, gas” by Fred Weir, points to Moscow designs to reassert its power in Eurasia, and possibly eventually on the global stage. This, in turn,… Read moreRussia flexes petro-muscle
From the New York Times, Dec. 12 (and apparently little-reported elsewhere): BISHKEK, Kyrgyzstan, Dec. 11 – In the remote hamlet of Tamga, residents frustrated by corruption and the sorry legacy of a chemical spill did something that would have been… Read moreEcological struggle in Kyrgyzstan
The current (Dec. 1) issue of The Economist includes a profile of “China’s far west”—a region variously known as Xinjiang (to the Chinese), or East Turkestan or Uighurstan to its indigenous inhabitants, the Turkic and Muslim Uighurs. After providing some… Read moreChina builds pipeline through restive Uighurstan
Similar dynamics on both sides of the Caspian Sea. We recently noted unrest over contested elections in Azerbaijan, where the Baku-Ceyhan pipeline has just opened. Now Kazakhstan—slated to be connected to the new pipeline by a link across the Caspian—seems… Read moreKazakhstan: “regime change” next?
Human rights groups have strongly condemned the ruling by Uzbekistan’s supreme court finding 15 defendants guilty of terrorism and sentencing them up to 20 years for their role in the May violence in Andijan. “It was expected and some could… Read moreUzbekistan concludes “show trial”; signs defense pact with Russia
Kyrgyz President Kurmanbek Bakiev defends his use of force to put down unrest in the country’s prisons, which cost four lives on Nov. 1. “Police did the right thing when they demanded that suspects and other inmates leave the prison… Read moreUS to exploit Kyrgyz prison crackdown?
The BBC is suspending its operations in Uzbekistan due to security concerns. All local staff are being withdrawn and the office in the capital Tashkent will close for at least six months pending a decision on its future. Regional BBC… Read moreBBC quits Uzbekistan
Sanjar Umarov, a prominent opposition leader in Uzbekistan, was arrested Oct. 22 on embezzlement charges, and is being held incommunicado. Members of his group, Sunshine Uzbekistan say they still do not know the exact whereabouts of their leader. The group,… Read moreUzbekistan arrests another opposition leader
Authorities in Uzbekistan are threatening to force dissident Elena Urlaeva to submit to immediate treatment with powerful psychotropic drugs—even though an initial psychiatric commission had declared her sane. The case against Urlaeva is the latest in the Uzbek government’s deepening… Read more“Stalinist-era tactics” in Uzbekistan
