Not just Central Asia today...

There's been a few things beyond CA that have caught my attention for various reasons over the last few days, so today has a wider scope, plus, of course, the obligatory CA news (there isn't much actually, relatively speaking - more a CA news bloglet than blog entry, but still...). Anyhow, onwards and upwards, so to speak:

• In the US a journalist for the New York Times, Judith Miller, has been jailed for 4 months for refusing to reveal the name of a source in an investigation into how an undercover CIA operative's name was leaked. Difficult call in some ways, but overall I'm very much with her in terms of upholding professional ethics such as confidentiality of sources and a refusal to give in to a government that is increasingly intolerant of civil disobedience and the notion of following one's conscience (and that's not just the US these days - people in the UK should pay more attention to what's happening at home). She now has a website set up, kindly run pro bono by Joshua Tanzer, and there's reports from the Guardian, the BBC, and the New York Times, among many, many others, not all of which have supported her stance.
• Tanya Gold of the Guardian wrote an amusing piece with a serious message about female superheroes last week, pointing out that they're not exactly good role models - as the author puts it, she found "a sad bunch full of self-loathing, misery and fear of acne" rather than any inspirational can-do independent, emotionally savvy - or even just relatively normal - women. Full text here. Maybe Hot Head Paisan (Homicidal Lesbian Terrorist) goes a bit too far the other way, but all the same after the wash-out of Hollywood (pseudo)superheroines, she makes a nice change in a ranty way (warning, offensive site...).
• Also in the Guardian was a good piece on women and space travel, suggesting that women are generally better suited to being in space than men are in many ways, if we ignore the oft-repeated stereotypes about the weaker sex and the detrimental effect having children often has on a very demanding and intensive career path. Full text here.
• Today's latest story of mismanagement, hypocrisy, dodgy dealings and downright incompetence (again, courtesy of the Guardian, originally in the London Review of Books) concerns rather large sums of money going missing in Iraq in good old development aid style. What is of particular note in this case (as opposed to any case in Africa, SE Asia or Central Asia, for example) is the sheer scale - billions of dollars - and the depressing fact that the US officials out there seem to have been willfully complicit even more than the usual blind eyeing would allow for. Of note, but, alas, not surprising really - at the risk of sounding cynical. LRB version here.

On to the CA/FSU side of things:

• BBC monitoring has a transcript (in English) of a TV debate between Toktayym Umetaliyeva (leader of the Association of nongovernmental and noncommercial organizations) andDzhypar Dzheksheyev (leader of the Democratic movement of Kyrgyzstan party). Read it here - part one, part two.
• IWPR's Reporting Central Asia No. 393 is available and includes articles the precarious position of asylum seekers in Kazakhstan and the distancing that has occurred between Tashkent and Washington in the wake of Andijon.
• The Ukrainian Group PORA! has sent out a press release in which it is asserted that Moscow's administration, led by mayor Yurii Luzhkov, considers the group a "public danger" that must be combated. Full text of press release here.
• Continuing the infamous Great Game debate, Eurasianet has a piece suggesting that the geopolitical balance in Central Asia is tipping in Russia's favour.
• RFE/RL reports that Bakiev is in the lead amongst the candidates vying for the presidency in Sunday's elections.
• Following the SCO's demands that the US set a deadline for withdrawing from Central Asia, RIA Novosti reports today that such a scenario might be possible were the republics in question to request it.
• The UN News Centre reports that Kyrgyzstan is seeking urgent humanitarian assistance following floods and mud slides over the last couple of weeks.
• ex-President Akaev has spoken out against the so-called "colour revolutions" in former Soviet Republics, saying that they have brought only trouble to the people of the countries where they have occurred, reports Interfax.
• Radio Free Asia has a Uyghur story, Wild Pigeon, available to read on its site. The story was originally banned in China after being published in Uyghur in the Kashgar Literary Journal, and its author was arrested in 2004, accused of criticising China's rule of the Xingjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region.
• Muslim Uzbekistan reports that human rights activist Surat Ikramov was mistreated at the Sabir Rakhimovsky RUVD in Tashkent on June 21, 2005, and has requested an official investigation into his treatment.
• Jennifer Wilson of IFES Kazakhstan (who produces the very informative Kazakh Elections Digest - click on link for subscription) has pointed up the Information-Analytic Center Eurasia's website as an interesting source of information and opinions.

Over and out.