CA news roundup, finally (minus KGZ...)

Considering how much time I seem to waste/lose here, there's very little excuse for not blogging a little more often - other than the fact that good intentions tend to get scotched by things like elusive internet connections or horribly convincing sloth impressions by ISPs...

Anyhow, here's a catch-up of events, stories and the like for the last week or so. Seeing as the New Eurasia blogs are now online but I'm still hunting for bloggers for the Kyrgyzstan blog, I've moved the Kyrgyzstan section over there for the time being, until there's some more contributions. I'm afraid I've also sorely neglected my posting privileges over at Registan, but please don't forget to check it out as it has hell of a lot of excellent regional coverage.

Regional

• Plans to celebrate 15 years of the CIS (despite continued rumours of its impending death) are underway in Minsk, reports the wonderfully 1984-esque named The National Legal Internet Portal of the Republic of Belarus.
• Also causing much excitement is the merging of the Central Asian Cooperation Organisation (CACO) and the Euro-Asian Economic Community (Eurasec), according to RIA Novosti.
• However, Ukraine comes in for a bashing from the Kremlin for apparently impeding economic progress in the Common Economic Space, citing Ukraine's "ambiguous stance" and "political problems" as being to blame (ITAR-TASS).

Kazakhstan

• RIA Novosti finds the colour revolution trail has run cold in Kazakhstan, with an article considering the possibility of a revolution in connection with the forthcoming presidential elections on December 4.
• Gateway2Russia takes a look at the possibility of a union between Kazakhstan and Russia on the basis of the rationale suggested by Russian magazine Financy:

This scenario could suit Moscow allowing it to solve the major political problem
of 2008. Nazarbayev could also be interested in the union with Russia, to avoid
the fate of his Kyrgyz counterpart Askar Akayev, once seen as the strongest
leader in the post-Soviet arena, who was thrown from power in a matter of days.
It would be safer for Nazarbayev to rule Kazakhstan in the position of the union
state’s vice president, Finance analysts reckon.

• Monsters and Critics has a short article that Kazakhstan is planning to open a uranium plant in eastern Kazakhstan to convert weapons-grade uranium for non-military use.
• Space has been in the news a lot recently, with Globes Online reporting that plans are afoot for Israeli-Kazakh R&D space cooperation.
• Happily, the Japanese Mainichi news reports that the Russian spacecraft that launched from Baikonur has returned to Earth with its crew, including a US millionare space tourist, safe and sound.
• Turning back to politics, Kazakhstan has recieved a ringing endorsement from the CSTO, who has called the republic one of the most stable in Central Asia according to Kazinform. All things are relative...

Kyrgyzstan

• See the New Eurasia Kyrgyzstan Blog for news from Kyrgyzstan

Tajikistan

• AlertNet reports on conditions in Tajik prisons, noting that poor conditions are helping to spread TB infection.
• Russia is continuing to reach out to the CARs, as RIA Novosti reports that Russia is hoping to increase military and energy cooperation with the republic.

Turkmenistan

• Kazinform reports on the October 6 Memorial Day to remember the victims of the 1948 Ashgabat earthquake that killed tens of thousands of people. Roel de Gama has a photo of the memorial.
• News Central Asia has a report on Russian and Belarussian hopes that Turkmenistan can be encouraged to play an active role in the new Russo-Belarussian economic union.

Uzbekistan

• Eurasianet reports on the pressure that local NGOs are coming under from the Uzbek authorities to "voluntarily" shut up shop. Several international NGOs, including Soros, IREX and Internews have also been forced to end their activities in the republic as a result of the crackdown on Uzbekistan's fledgling civil society.
• Amidst all the sanctions and international condemnation that has been heaped on Karimov's regime in the last few weeks and months comes a thoughtful article from RIA Novosti entitled "Uzbekistan needs understanding, not isolation", calling for a more considered approach to the imposition of so-called universal values:

Leading expert of the Center for Current Politics Anatoly Belyayev said that
it is necessary "to display extreme caution in applying European standards of
democratization, especially when it comes to societies with a predominantly
Muslim population. ... If democracy is established in Uzbekistan under the Western
scenario, the effect is very likely to be the opposite: radical Islamization
extending far beyond the boundaries of the republic," he said. There were no
guarantees that the Andijan events would not have generated similar tragedies in
adjacent republics, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan, if Tashkent had not displayed
enough resolve.

• Pravda.ru also takes a look at how the EU is treating Uzbekistan, noting that the EU has treated Belarus in a similar way and, pointing out that Andijon seems to have served as an arbitrary trigger for action against a country previously known to have a very poor human rights record, but not one warranting sanctions. Similar to RIA Novosti's article, Pravda also argues that the West don't understand Uzbekistan and that this is helping push the republic back towards Russia.

Reports, weekly wraps, etc.

• RFE/RL's Central Asia Report Vol. 5, no. 36 (Sept 23) has several articles on Uzbekistan, including updates on Andijon. Central Asia Report Vol. 5, no. 37 (Sept 30) also covers the trial of people accused of involvement in the disorders in Andijon, and Central Asia Report Vol. 5, no. 38 (Oct 10) looks at international pressure on Uzbekistan in connection with concerns over the handling of the Andijon aftermath.
• IWPR's Reporting Central Asia No. 412 reports on child labour in Tajikistan and Erkinbaev's muder in Bishkek, Reporting Central Asia No. 413 and 414 are also available.
• AlertNet's Central Asia Weekly Newswrap from September 23 is available, and includes coverage of Andijon and HIV/AIDS in the region. The Newswrap from September 30 has further coverage of the Andijon trials and the closing of Russian-language schools in Turkmenistan.
• The new issue of Central Asia Caucasus Analyst (Oct 5) is now available (pdf download here).
• The latest isue of Central Asia and the Caucasus 5(35) is also available - details here.