According to a nurse I know and trust: Medical practitioners in the United States are gearing up for a possible world flu epidemic, and H5N1 is on everyone's mind. A large flu epidemic, on the scale of the 1919 pandemic, would curtail essential services (utilities, fire and police protection, other) in developed states. One is left […]
Now that I’m back from Latin America, I’m catching up on my Central Asia reading, and I found a new great article in the American Political Science Association's Perspectives on Politics. Tucker, J. (2007, September). Enough! Electoral fraud, collective action problems, and post-communist colored revolutions. Perspective on Politics 5 (3), 535-550. This article has a […]
A curious mix of science, publicity, politics, engineering, and Big Bucks: no, not a new Matrix movie. Instead, the latest installment of business/political cooperation into the stratosphere continues to develop, a legend in the making and well worth our attention. Yesterday, a new Russian space flight from Kazakhstan's Baikonur, with a crew of many nations. According to […]
After a long series of events featuring Portugal and the globalization/colonialization of Asia & South America, the Freer/Sackler Gallery is again turning to Rumi, the great poet, and his 800th anniversary of his birth. On the 27th of this month in Washington DC's great museum of Islamic and Asian art, a day-long festival of poetry […]
Today at Eurasianet, one of my favorite writers talks about a new but limited openness in Turkmenistan from the vantage of the street, the hotel, the taxicab. I love this article because it points out the difficulties for the state on a psychological level. He writes that government policies are changing slowly and selectively: his phone is probably tapped, […]
This month, several former leaders of states that support Central Asia's economic and political liberalization have weighed in on issues of globalization and economic integration. In particular, former President of Turkey Mr. Demirel discussed the historic and continuing participation of Turkey in Central Asia's economic development, noting that Turkey continues to build economic ties: Turkish […]
There's a great summary post at Global Voices that shows the many changes being implemented in the oil and gas industry; political appointments; and media ownership. The effect of this much change in such a short time is to make Central Asia watchers paranoid, and with good reason: in general, it takes time to assimilate the meanings […]
Well, first I want to apologize to everyone for not posting more regularly–it's been a little difficult to obtain a good internet signal so far. However, I think I have the problem solved–for now. It seems time to talk about what travel has taught me so far in respect to international relations. I am travelling in Costa Rica. […]
. . . . is water, although one wouldn't think so by the amount of ink and electrons we spend on hydrocarbon disposition. First, you have to have water to drink, wash, and grow crops; potable water is also required for reliable manufacture of pharmaceutical, cleaning, and other chemical products. Agriculture employs most of the people in […]
Hello, faithful readers of Casual Friday, the Afghanistan Aggregator, and the Central Asia Beat. They will all be here, only not today: Saturday or Sunday. It takes awhile to put them together–and I am finding my way to San Jose and a course of language instruction beginning Monday. Hasta domingo, you guys. Have a great […]
Two news articles on increased HIV in Central Asia this week: first, in Tajikistan, IWPR writes that HIV treatment and incidence is not well known by medical practitioners in Central Asia. HIV treatment was made available for the first time ever in Tajikistan last year. In the meantime, many patients have already died from the ravages […]
Those “open and constructive” meetings between Kazakhstan and the Kashagan consortium led by ENI are proceeding apace. The newest salvo in the negotiations is that Kazakhstan is asking for USD 10 billion in damages for non-performance of contract obligations. Later in the article, one oil analyst dismissed Kashagan's importance. This has to do, I’m sure, with […]
Lots of news: this is just some of it. Most of the news agencies seem to carry the domestic aspects for their own states of Afghanistan commitments–while most of the Afghanistan blogs seem to cover Afghanistan itself. There may be something to think about in that picture. Accurate reporting encouraged: –A wonderfully sarcastic week at Afghanistanica, where […]
The world is an interesting place, and Central Asia among the most interesting regions of the world. Now getting caught up for the week: Central Asia General: –In an interesting counterpoint to most discussion of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization written in English, Japan Times has editorialized that the SCO is of benefit to the world community. […]
This week, China and Mongolia again agreed to work together to preserve an item of common cultural heritage, known as the long-song. Songs and rituals are known as intangible cultural heritage–unlike an archeological site or preserved document, they rely upon performance or behavior (“expressive culture”) in order to survive. The preservation effort: UNESCO began documenting world […]