Qatar & friendly trade: This week, Qatar's Minister of Finance and Acting Minister of Economy and Commerce Mr. Yousuf Hussein Kamal visited Tajikistan. While in Tajikistan, he and President Rakhmon arranged a cornucopia of economic agreements. These include setting up a council of business leaders from the Chambers of Commerce and Industry in both states, […]
It's official: Kashagan oil extraction work has been shut down pending new negotiations with the consortium led by independent oil company ENI. This is not affecting anyone's current oil supply, but it will be of interest to world stockbrokers, oil-market analysts, and Central Asia watchers. I love this stuff, myself, so Let's Go: this is […]
I found this while looking for news for the Central Asia Beat of last week, but it was well worth returning to: accounts of torture in Naryn by the police. The International Helsinki Federation for Human Rights works to raise awareness of human rights violations in Central Asia, improve local human rights defenders personal security […]
Short little entry: I’m always thrilled when Central Asia hits the big-time. This time, The New York Times: and this time, it's a five-piece slide show by photographer Carolyn Drake called “A Land at a Crossroads”. And let me tell you that I hope it's true. A crossroads should mean trade, and trade is needed.
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 […]
News: Starting in September, Kyrgyzstan's award-winning Shpilka vodka will be available in package stores in Florida, Missouri, Louisiana, and Oregon. Shpilka means “stiletto heel”, and a marketing campaign has been envisioned that appeals to female purchasers: a bottle with flowing lines, no doubt a picture of high heels on the label, et cetera. According to Nick Passmore […]
Get Smart and Thanks Due: First off, Afghanistanica has a great post on Afghanistan scholars to watch, read, and learn from. Thank you, C. ! Another article on the mystery of not-enough translators for Afghanistan, also at Afghanistanica. Read it and weep. Then get mad. Mr. Foust at Registan.net on basic flaws in reconstruction aid […]
As we all know, Uzbekistan is supposed to have elections this December. So far, not much in the way of election preparation has been noted. Actually, Uzbekistan was supposed to have elections Last December. Not much in the way of election preparation was noticed then, either. Yesterday, the International Crisis Group, a group I respect […]
Last week, President Berdymukhamedov signed an amnesty for eleven political prisoners sentenced under the Niyazov regime. Of chief importance in the list was the former Chief Mufti of Turkmenistan, Nasrullah Ibn Ibdullah. Another prisoner released was 70 years old. All of the prisoners released were implicated in the assassination attempt on Turkmenbashi in November of 2002. […]
The Caspian sea is one home of the sturgeon, a large, unprepossessing fish that provides the world with one of its most tasty delicacies: caviar. On August 11th, delegates met in Ashgabat in a regular meeting of the Commission on the Biological Resources of the Caspian Sea to discuss revising the quota system between the states […]
Between the news agencies and the blog posts from Tajikistan's residents, one can get a picture of Tajikistan that makes one wonder what people in Tajikistan are actually allowed to do: 1. Mosque leaders will be tested for religious capability by the state. 2. Unregistered mosques are being demolished. 3. A draft law that would regulate […]
New notes and data toward conclusions: but not conclusions. Read on and form your own. Over the weekend, I perused the UN Office of Drugs and Crime (UNODC) World Drug Report 2007 that came out last month. I’m going to start in Afghanistan and then follow various trade routes. Since the opium market is a global market, this […]
In the margins of the SCO conference, a bilateral agreement between China and Kazakhstan has furthered Kazakhstan's trade relations and may potentially regularize Central Asia's energy market. Here's the trade portion of the Central Asia NewsNet article, (somewhat edited here). Note that higher energy prices increased the dollar volume: A. In 2006 [China-Kazakhstani] bilateral trade volume hit […]
News? What news? Kazakhstan had elections this Saturday after a short campaign season. President Nazarbaev's Nur-Otan party won over 80% of the legislative seats, and handily. The OSCE sent observers, who again found the elections to be ‘not free and not fair’. The observers noted that ballot-boxes were allegedly stuffed; that the short election season put Kazakhstan's minority […]
The party's over: The SCO Summit in Bishkek this past week wrapped up with barely a stir in the Western news, and after seeking in vain for a keynote sentence to sum it up, I learned there wasn't one. Joshua Kucera at his blog Istanbul – Beijing was able to cover the summit: his first […]