CA news rundown

First post from Bishkek - not much to report in person since arriving, still looking for a flat, lots of sitting around waiting for people, drinking lots of tea, still pretty warm (27 degrees C) but bearable since not too humid - basically all as anticipated, including the blasted mosquitoes... If/when anything of interest happens, will of course try and blog it up, otherwise, the news round-ups/-downs will continue with the usual Kyrgyzstan bias no doubt (at least internet access here is cheper than Copenhagen was...). So here we go again - and not so much news either... :

Regional

• PINR has published an article entitled "The Significance of Sin-RussianMilitary Exercises" which has a familiarily Cold War ring to it - Russia and China ganging up to prevent US influence. Same old over-simplification...
• At the same time, RFE/RL takes a look at Russian influence in Central Asia, arguing that Putin is pursuing a policy similar to that of eighteenth-century empire building.

Kazakhstan

• With elections looming in December in Kazakhstan, speculation continues about a possible "colour revolution" in the republic. RIA Novosti has an opinion article on the topic that argues it is unlikely for several reasons.
• Eurasia Daily Monitor reports that the republic is opening a military language institute, seeing this as "tangible proof" that Kazakhstan's military leaders are at least open to the idea of furthering cooperation with western bodies such as NATO.

Kyrgyzstan

• RFE/RL reports that the remaining 11 Uzbeks who are being held in Osh following the massacre in Andijan in May are to be sent to western European countries and have been granted refugee status by the UN.
• Interesting article from Vechernii Bishkek posted on Development Gateway's site entitled "The First Kyrgyz President A. Akaev Prophecy Come [sic] True" that very much chimes with what a few people here have said so far when talking about the "revolution" - more accurately called a "change of power":

The first President’s prophecy that Kyrgyz residents would call
the period of his governance as the brightest period in Kyrgyzstan’s independent
history is starting to come true. How quickly it happens!

Askar Akaev wrote these words just after the revolution on March
24th. Probably, the ex President knew what he was saying because he knew who
would be the new rulers as all the present leaders including the present
President, are his former beneficiaries.

The previous Government robbed the country intelligently. In any
case, those thefts were compensated by some humanitarian educational activities.
There were UNESCO summits on social and cultural development and concert
programmes by famous artists. There was the Meerim Charitable Fund headed by the
First Lady of the country and the Rukh Ordo National Cultural Complex where a
monument to the First President of Russia, Boris Yeltsin was erected, the first
anywhere in the CIS. In other words, all shadow businesses were hidden under a
blanket of civilised actions and sins were washed off in the public showing
called Kyrgyz democracy.

There is a different period now. The present authorities are
like robbers. They steal boldly and they are not afraid of boorishness. Do they
have any humane values and bright ideals from the people’s revolution? The
democratic blanket has been removed and society can see all the warts of the new
and previous powers. Even the MSN opposition newspaper has restrained its ardour
recently. Previously, this newspaper described the actions of the country’s main
“economic actor”, Daniyar Usenov but now have nothing to say. It seems nobody
believes in an economic miracle and happiness for all the Kyrgyz people in the
near future.

Tajikistan

• MosNews reports that Tajikistan received a total of almost USD 60 million in aid from the USA in the 2005 fiscal year.
• News24 reports on the case of a Tajik woman who has been arrested for attempting to sell her child. She apparently resorted to selling the girl because of financial problems.

Turkmenistan

• Forum 18 has a report on an attempt by a Jehovah's Witness to challenge his imprisonment for 15 days on charges of hooliganism.

Uyghur

• Uyghur activist Rebiya Kadeer has written a piece for the US-based National Review on the habit of the government of the People's Republic of China of calling people who speak out against Beijing's record on human rights and civil rights violations "terrorists" with reference to her experience of imprisonment for speaking out on behalf of Uyghurs in China.
• Similarly, the President of the World Uyghur Congress, Erkin Alptekin, has also spoken out strongly against Beijing's treatment of its Uyghur population in Xinjiang urging international intervention to encourage peaceful negotiations between the two parties, report the Taipei Times.

Uzbekistan

• IREX is the latest NGO to be forced to shut up shop in Uzbekistan as Karimov continues to crack-down on what little civil society there is. AlertNet reported that on September 12 IREX were ordered to suspend their activities for a period of 6 months, and MosNews cited Uzbek officials who maintained that the reason for the closure was the failure of IREX to comply with requests for lists of people who had undergone training in the US and that "A number of programs implemented by the IREX office do not comply with the goals of the international organization IREX and the goals of its office in Uzbekistan."
• UzReport has a piece suggesting that the "rebels" who were involved in the uprising in Andijan were planning on capturing the Ferghana Valley by tunneling through the Kamchik pass and effectively dividing the valley in two. Well, it's one version of things, I guess, but not the most probable that I've heard recently, even by Uzbek government standards...

Reports, publications, etc.

• RFE/RL's latest Central Asia Report Vol. 5, No. 35 (Sept 16) is available.
• AlertNet's Weekly Central Asia Wrap (Sept 16) is available.
• The Centre for Economic Research's report, Uzbekistan 2005 Decentralization and Human Development, produced underthe aegis of the UNDP is available.