Yesterday, October 21, 2007, the Kyrgyzstani people went to the polls to vote on a new Constitution–for the fifth time. Previous referendums occurred under President Akaev in 1994, 1996, 1998, and 2003–the last one, combined with perceived/gigantic election fraud of 2005, sent Akaev into exile in the Russian Federation. This will be Mr. Bakiev's first […]
In the Central Asia Beat, I referred to the Akhal-Teke horse, and then I found some video footage. This horse show video shows a lot of the conformation, coloring, and other physical points of the breed–at its first European horse show in June of this year, in Luxembourg. There's no plot per se: it's a […]
I’m afraid the Central Asia Beat was beyond my poor capabilities while in Central America. There just wasn't good enough Internet access to do the research–and frankly, this “Foust Format” takes hours with a good connection. However, it's worth it: you get a really good sense of what's going on, yeah? Hope it's useful to more […]
Well, it's been going on for at least three years: a persistent damaging, punitive group of slights by the West to one of its best friends. This past week it's gone from insulting to abusive, so it's really past time to say something. These are the events: 1. Turkey, continually worried at the conflict pressures on their southern border, is poised to […]
According to Gundogar, that retrieved the news from Associated Press: Turkmenistan allows foreign investors to own companies, property The president adopted legislation allowing foreign investors to create companies and own property in Turkmenistan ‚ moving the natural gas-rich country further from the isolation imposed by his autocratic predecessor. An amended law on foreign investment, adopted […]
Every year a couple of stories come out about serf labor in the cotton fields of Central Asia, right about the time that the cotton crop gets harvested. That day has again arrived this year, but with new, tougher problems for Central Asia's agricultural laborers and for the state leaders that have made this choice. […]
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 […]
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