CA/FSU News Catch up July 27 - August 3

Finally found time, an internet connection and motivation in the same place (a rare feat this week due to being back in the UK for a few days), so here goes - the order is roughly chronological, with the emphasis on roughly.

Regional

• Canada's Global Researcher has an extract from Peter Dale Scott's forthcoming book The Road to 9/11 on its site entitled 'Al Qaeda, U.S. Oil Companies, and Central Asia'. His homepage at Berkley is worth checking out and has a lot of material.
• PINR has a report discussing suggestions that the Great Game is heating up in Central Asia, looking at the different approaches used by Washington, Moscow and Beijing towards the Central Asian republics.
• Moving away from traditional geopolitics, but with an eye still firmly on securitisation discourses, the World Peace Herald considers Central Asia's Water Bomb.
• E-zine Peace Journalism has an article entitled "Central Asia - An Explosive Legacy of the Former Soviet Union". Has to be said it provides no great insights, other than the persistence of viewing the region in terms of doom-laden predictions and the wonderfully neo-imperialistic Great Game paradigm (yes, it's arguably grown enough to merit that title over the last decde or so...).
• RIA Novosti quotes CSTO General Secretary, Nikolai Bordyuzha, as saying that no hasty decisions should be made concering US bases in Central Asia and that they should stay at least until Afghanistan is properly stabilised (how long is a piece of string...)
• RIA Novosti also reports on the formation of a Council of CIS Sephardic Jews and plans to build a Sephardic Jewish centre in Moscow.
• The New York Times published a useful Q&A on US bases in Central Asia last week that is a good introductory guide to the issues involved.

Kazakhstan

• KazInform reports that Kazakh tax revenues reached 90% this year, contributing to a republic budget increase to KZT 695,100 billion or USD 5.3 billion. The news agency also reports that inflation in June reached 0.4% according to the Kazakhstan Statistics Agency.
• Interfax reports that a man has been hospitalised with suspected bird flu in the Pavlodar region of the republic following an outbreak of the disease the previous week that resulted in the death of approximately 600 geese.
• Kazakhstan is embarking on a space development programme in cooperation with Russia and Ukraine, according to RedNova.
• The Guardian carries a report that President Bush has written to President Nazarbaev encouraging him to allow free and fair elections in the forthcoming presidential elections, which are expected to be held at the end of this year.

Kyrgyzstan

• Muslim Uzbekistan reports that France will station its aircraft and 50 personnel at Manas during the Afghanistani presidential elections.
• On Monday the Guardian reported that Kyrgyzstan intends to extradite the remaining 15 Uzbek refugees to Tashkent on the grounds that there is evidence they were involved in criminal acts. Despite considerable international pressure not to do so, Kyrgyzstan's General Procurator has concluded that the extraditions do not contravene international law if it is deemed that the crimes committed are of a non-political nature.
• Meanwhile RFE/RL reports that the resettlement operation for the 440-odd refugees who were flown to Romania last week has been seen as a success, with Bishkek dealing with conflicting pressures from Uzbekistan and the UNHCR well.
• The Eurasia Daily Monitor has an article on speculation that the resettlement of Uzbek refugees from Andijan could destabilise the Ferghana Valley, and has certainly strained relationships between Bishkek and Tashkent.
• The Coalition for Democracy and Civil Society has sent out a release calling on the General Procurator to confirm the right to freedom of speech in the republic with reference to Tursunbek Akun, who may be charged with "unfounded and innaccurate accusations made of the General Procurator". The full text in Russian is available here. Under Kyrgyz law, libel is still a criminal offence rather than a civil one - a fact that was used by Akaev's regime to de facto silence the media under the threat of prison sentences or crippling fines that led several publishers to go bankrupt.
• The first case of AIDS has been recorded in northern Kyrgyzstan, with the affected man dying in hospital after he was admitted with tuberculosis, reports RedNova.

Tajikistan

• Unlike Uzbekistan, Tajikistan is happy to continue cooperating with coalition troops in the region, reports RIA Novosti.
• Noticias.com has a press release from the World Bank about discussions with Tajikistan regarding country assistance from 2006 - 2009.

Turkmenistan

• CASCFEN has a report about a presidential resolution to tighten military discipline in the Turkmen armed forces.
• Meanwhiles News Central Asia notes that the ex-head of the Presidential Administration, Rejep Saparov, has been jailed for 20 years having been found guilty of a number of crimes including the possession of weapons and explosives and accepting bribes.

Uzbekistan

• Craig Murray has written a piece published in the Guardian entitled "Why the US Won't Admit it was Jilted" about the Uzbek government's decision to serve notice to the US that it has 180 days to withdraw from its base in the republic (see Registan for more details).
• Kommersant discusses the implications of Uzbekistan's decision, concluding that Karimov may have damaged his chances of staying in power by snubbing the USA.
• The Committee to Protect Journalists has written to President Islam Karimov demanding an end to harassment of independent journalists in the country.

Russia

• Speculation/disbelief over reports of a possible return to politics by Boris Yeltin continue with an audio report from NPR looking at potential candidates for the 2007 presidential elections in Russia in light of the fact that Putin is not eligible to run again.
• RIA Novosti reports that Russia is ready to sign new travel agreements with the EU regarding the return of illegal migrants and relaxed visa regimes. Don't hold your breath for a visa-free regime yet though - agreements are currently only on a bilateral basis and restricted to certain categories of traveller (and even if I was one of them I wouldn't want to have to explain to your average militsia man why I've got a different stamp in my passport just yet...).

Reports

• IWPR's Reporting Central Asia No. 399 (July 27) is available with reports on the future of US bases in Central Asia and the resettlement of Andijan refugees.
• RFE/RL's Central Asia report Vol. 5, No. 28 was published July 28. It includes reports on Rumsfeld's visit to Kyrgyzstan, the Andijan refugees and a meeting of Uzbek opposition leaders in the US.
• IWPR's Reporting Central Asia No. 400 (July 29) reported on the Uzbek refugees' departure for Romania from Kyrgyzstan.
• Vestnik Yevraziyi/Acta Eurasica, Issue No. 2, 2005, is available and includes some interesting-looking articles on Kyrgyzstan's "Revolution", mythology and Turkmenbashi, and the new 'Great Game' in Central Asia and how to overcome it. See the Vestnik Yevraziyi homepage for more details of how to get hold of the journal.
• Reuter's weekly Central Asia News Wrap was posted on July 29.

Registan - plenty of posts over the last week or so, especially since Nathan is back online. Of particular interest:

• Various posts on the US airbase in Uzbekistan - as well as the original post, which has led to a fair number of comments and trackbacks on the eviction notice (19 currently), there's posts looking at its significance and implications, commentary by Sanjar Umarov of the Uzbek Sunshine Coalition, commentary on how it was reported in the international press, and a consideration of who might be in a position to make use of the airbase once the Americans have gone.
• The Uzbek refugees who were in southern Kyrgyzstan continue to be the subject of what could politely be called "debate" - the Uzbek Ministry of Foreign Affairs has been less than impressed by the airlifting of the refugees to third countries, and Nathan's posted about the pressures faced by the Kyrgyz government.
• A post discussing news that Uzbekistan is abolishing the death penalty (but not immediately).

Next update on Friday with a bit of luck.

Incidentally, the Guardian has a piece today on the ever-expanding blogosphere which notes that only 13% of blogs are updated on at least a weekly basis. I'm aiming to stay in that 13% overall for the time being, but we'll see what happens once fieldwork starts in September...