Breaking news from Ferghana.ru: Akmurad Rejepov used to be a chief of the Presidential Security Service under the former Turkmenistani President, Mr. Niyazov. Before that, KGB-man. His relationship with Niyazov allowed him to exercise the threads of power from behind Turkmenbashi's back. The rise of President Berdymukhamedov is commonly believed to have been facilitated by Mr. […]
Yesterday, the United Nations Tajikistan Office of Peace-Building (UNTOP) lowered its flags and closed the doors after a ten-year presence in the republic. The UNTOP mission began in 2000, after the UN Mission of Observers in Tajikistan monitored the cease-fire of the Civil War from 1996 to 2000. It has been a decade since the […]
According to a new release I received from the World Bank (Why, yes of course, the World Bank corresponds with me often) there is some great news from Tajikistan: New Rural Health Centers that are up and running. These indicators show what the World Bank can do, in partnership with a willing state: Health Data […]
I’ve mentioned the Islamic group Hizb-ut-Tahrir in this blog before, and I will again. Hizb-ut-Tahrir is one of the many banned Islamic groups in Central Asia and elsewhere in the world. This video announces the world conference of Hizb-ut-Tahrir which begins on August 12, 2007–a scant two weeks from now. This 4 to 5 minute […]
Kyrgyzstan has recently reported that nine out of the eleven cases of HIV in the Osh district are children who contracted the virus during regular medical treatment. Yesterday, President Bakiev ordered an investigation of this horrifying situation. The pain of this to individuals and their families is enormous and so unnecessary. The suffering from this radiates outward to society as […]
A June 26, 2007 video from Jason Motlagh for World Politics Review shows the difficulties for Afghanistan's domestic security forces. It's about 4 minutes long. [kml_flashembed movie=”http://video.google.com/googleplayer.swf?docid=6080795202067592791 ” width=”400″ height=”326″ wmode=”transparent” /] The training program takes three years, and has been seriously underfunded. Police work, as one of the interviewees on this video assert, means that […]
There's so much news and so many who report it well, it's difficult to hit all of the high points without a round-up. Afghanistan: –One of the South Korean hostages has been killed. Negotiations continue for the other 22 hostages, who are, according to the ROK government, safe for the moment. Reuters builds a Timeline […]
Yesterday, Stephen Blank of the US Army War College wrote at Eurasianet that U.S. aid and relations in Central Asia are likely to scale back further. Though U.S. interest in the region is high, financial constraints are appearing to dictate a lessening of aid and assistance to Central Asian states. For Central Asia watchers, there […]
Mohammed Zahir Shah, Afghanistan's last king, was interred today. At al-Jazeera, the obituary notes that the King, who abdicated in 1973, presided over a forty-year period of stability and peace in Afghanistan. After the U.S. invaded Afghanistan, he returned briefly to his home state as a figure of unity. Not everyone found the king to be an […]
I was so sad to hear that the Kazakhstan-sponsored cyclists at the Tour de France, Team Astana, dropped out of the race. The team was led by Kazakhstani cyclist Alexander Vinokourov, was hit with charges of steroid abuse. (This picture is not of Mr. Vinokourov, but Mr. Bazaev). It looks as if the team's investors (or perhaps […]
China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC) has signed a 30-year natural gas import contract with Turkmenistan. 30 billion cubic meters (cum) of gas will be exported from Turkmenistan via a newly-planned natural gas pipeline. Let's hope that CNPC trains and hires local Turkmenistani workers for this multi-million dollar infrastructure project, which should begin in 2009. Almost […]
President Berdymukhamedov announced that USD one billion will be invested in a vacation resort on the Caspian, in the city of Turkmenbashi. It will contain sixty hotels, a stadium, restaurants, sports facilities, and shopping centers. This idea first surfaced in May of this year, and developed further after a meeting between Turkmenistan and Kazakhstan. At the time, […]
Last Thursday, 23 South Korean aid workers, affiliated with an evangelical Christian mission, were abducted from a bus near Kandahar. Their mission was to develop hospital facilities. Fifteen of the 23 are women, and all are alive and said to be in good health. The Taliban is threatening to kill them today if some Taliban hostages are not […]
Last week, U.S. President Bush promulgated another Executive Order to contain terrorist funding for the Iraq insurgency, the “aid and support” of those who want to bring failure to the new government and reconstruction process. I have a more comprehensive, Iraq-focused post on this issue over at my other blog. Yet this Executive Order is equally relevant for […]
A triumph in the Rule of Law: Mr. Seidenfeld is acquitted on all charges!!! Over at the Save Mark Seidenfeld site, Derek Bloom has listed the findings of the court, which include: That in refutation of all allegations, Mr. Seidenfeld neither kept back money or equipment for his own personal gain. That he should be […]