Bringing you news from the steppes and the mountains in one tidy package. Almost everyone appears to be lying on their sofas with a cold compress after the heady weeks of SCO activities just past, so this’ll be brief. . . uh, more brief.
Kazakhstan:
–Another attempt to extradite Mr. Rakhat Aliev, according to Thursday's RFE/RL Newsline. In that same entry, Mr. Aliev's “father Mukhtar, a prominent member of Kazakhstan's Academy of Sciences, was prevented from boarding a flight from Astana to London on August 21 on the grounds that he was involved in an official investigation into possible weapons-related charges.”
–ENI is in trouble: further delays on the Kashagan field have made Kazakhstan weary, and they are now threatening closure on the project due to environmental considerations. Okay, commentators, be fair: there are environmental considerations such as the seal deaths, and also, Kashagan is an enormously difficult project, more difficult than even ENI forecast. Changes are due to be made, but ENI can still salvage this with a little proactive corporate diplomacy.
–Pre-SCO Summit, Mongolia's President Mr. Enkhbayar visits Kazakhstan with his retinue for talks.
Kyrgyzstan:
—New arrests for spying in former defense and government officials. The last two were charged with intrigue with China. We’re still waiting to hear the details on these two.
—Torture deaths in Naryn, Northern Kyrgyzstan are being investigated by local and international human rights groups.
–Iran sent a gracious message to Kyrygzstan on Kyrgyzstan's National Day.
–Dateline, Cholpa-Ata: A meeting of EurAsEc Judicial Ministers in the Issyk-Kul Oblast.
–Russia plans to spend USD 2 billion in Kyrgyzstan's economy, and beef up its military presence there. The article talks about forward air base capacity, but I suspect counternarcotics are part of the plan.
–Kyrgyz volunteers have paid USD 132 into a special fund to pay off USD 200 billion in external debt, because they trust their government that much. So the government employees finally coughed up another 3632 bucks, I’m sure on their own initiative.
Mongolia:
–Chinalco has purchased controlling interest in Yunnan copper, which means China will be prospecting in Mongolia for the metal. Canada's Western Prospects has had site licenses revoked in the state for uranium. Canada's Rio Tinto and Ivanhoe are still working on legislative approval for a copper-and-gold deposit.
–Mongolian falcons go to Arabian countries, licensed, or, poached. See also this longer article.
Tajikistan:
–Panj River Bridge set to open. Vadim at NewEurasia and FPA Central Asia talked about this months ago, but this article discusses its state-of -the-art construction and the opportunities it presents for Aghanistan and Tajikistan. Ribbon-cutting ceremony due on the 26th.
–A lot of religious regulations. A lot of economic regulations.
Turkmenistan:
–Amnesty for eleven, reported here yesterday. Eurasianet is saying that this is accompanied by futher secret arrests of other top-level officials, also covered here.
–U.S. Congressional delegation and U.S. Commission on Religious Freedom to visit Ashgabat for increased bilateral ties.
—Austria to seek greater bilateral ties.
—Turkey and Iran to join in a joint venture for power plant in Turkmenistan.
Uzbekistan:
–Already reported here at FPA Central Asia: a new report from International Crisis Group on Uzbekistan's virtually-unseen elections, now picked up by RFE/RL, Bloomberg, BBC.
–Uzbekistan closed its border with Russia for four days because too much Uzbek produce was being exported to Russia (for higher sales price). This drove local prices up, so an immediate intervention occurred, creating shortages in Russia's Siberia and Urals regions. You know, this is not the way to run an economy. . . the dots stand for curse words . . .
–Iran sent gracious messages of fellowship to Uzbekistan for its National Day.
–Kazakhstan has extradited 56 Uzbeks in the last two years to Uzbekistan, mostly post-Andijan refugees associated with the Akramiya movement.
Xinjiang:
–Chinese Premier Mr. Wen Jiabao visited the XUAR for four days this week. For those of you following the The Beat, you know that Xinjiang has had one natural disaster after another over the past year: floods, earthquakes, windstorms, and mudslides. This week, more heavy rain and snow (in August). Mr. Wen promised to provide earthquake-resistant housing and flood-control measures. He also stressed the importance of bilingual education so that Uighur minorities could tap into the Chinese economic miracle. A nice article from CCTV.
Photo: UMKC.edu; Mongolia Times
Have a great weekend, everyone!
