And off we blog again... CA news

A new edition of Kyrgyz News Weekly (3 - 10 July 2005) is available. The main stories of the week are available here, and you can subscribe to this e-list here.

The site Uzbek People covers the case of Musa Karimov, a former Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan member whose request for asylum in Norway has been refused and he is due to be deported back to Uzbekistan. Regardless of one's feelings about his previous links with the IMU (banned in Uzbekistan and on international lists of terrorist organisations), returning him to Uzbekistan at the moment in light of the crack-down on Islamic groups and generally horrific human rights record does logically seem to put Karimov at considerable risk. The site also covers abuses by the Uzbek regime more widely and there is a brief outline of the site's aims - including the prosecution of Islam Karimov for crimes against humanity - in English. On a practical note, the site (hosted by narod.ru) is slow loading, so be patient!

• Eurasianet is in transitology mode with an article entitled "The Former Soviet Union's Next Wave of Democratization", although the tone seems to beg the question "how do we get there?" as much as "are we there yet?", which seems to have been many analysts' favourite question through the 1990s.
• TOL has a report on challenges facing new Kyrgyzstani President Kurmanbek Bakiev, noting that winning the election was the easy part to all intents and purposes compared to the more daunting task of actually governing.
• Pravda.ru has an article written by one of its correspondents who visited Andijan 2 months after the massacre.
• UzReport notes that the EBRD is loaning USD 1 million to Cotton Corporation Limatex (CCL), a privately owned company based in Jalal-Abad in the south of the Kyrgyz Republic, to boost cotton production.
• Continuing the tit-for-tat bickering between the so-called great powers over Central Asia, Russia has refuted US accusations of bullying reports Interfax, claiming to be "bewildered" by US comments and sticking to the SCO line that the US should withdraw from the region once operations in Afghanistan are completed.
• Meanwhile Workers' World predictably has a slightly more open realpolitik (i.e. cynical) take on the matter, noting that "U.S. imperialists, still dreaming of exerting their economic, political and military hegemony over Central Asia, are awakening to a new reality".
• Japan's Asahi similarly takes a look at the tasks facing Bakiev, noting, however, that for a politician not known for his decisiveness (more Kulov's forte), he has been quick to show where his loyalities lie internationally, not least with his endorsement of the SCO's statement concerning a US withdrawal from the region.
• New Wind Press has a feature on the official capital of Kazakhstan, Astana, noting that for all the petro-wealth people have only reluctantly moved there from Almaty.
• Canada's CBC has a more sobering take on continued instabilities in Central Asia caused by narcobusiness, noting the Ferghana valley as a potential religous, ethnic or socio-economic flashpoint.
• IWPR's Reporting Central Asia No. 396 is available, and includes reports on Kyrgyzstan's seemingly pro-Moscow policies, the closing of ranks and its implications indicated by the recent SCO summit in Astana, and the closure of one of Tajikistan's only independent newspapers.
• Registan has a useful post linking to an article profiling Asim Isabekov, whom Bakiev has chosen to reform the government.
• Finally, Yandex reports that Kurmanbek Bakiev's inauguration will be held on August 14.

Things seem a bit quiet after the elections, so more in a couple of days.