Rapid CA rundown

Running tight on time after uploading photos turned into a test of patience, so straight on to a quick news rundown with a heavy Kyrgyzstan bias:

Regional

• News Central Asia takes a look at whether the relationship between the US and the Central Asian has run its course - the formatting is a little odd, but worth a read.
• Enter Stage Right (inevitably American) is suffering a bad overdose of conspiracy theories and paranoia, asking "Is the SCO a Military Confederacy?"
• Meanwhile Central Asia is being looked at as Russia's main security threat, according to a report from RIA Novosti.
• OhMyNews has a report on a possible Central Asian nuclear crisis in the little-known republic of Nukehavistan, following intelligence reports from the US Defense Intelligence Agency that the post-Soviet republic could have secretly kept some Soviet warheads after the collapse of the USSR. You couldn't make it up, could you?... (please don't take this last one too seriously - another Onion classic, but hopefully not as accurate as their report on the non-revolution in Kyrgyzstan back in January...)

Kazakhstan

• Euronews notes that the third ever space tourist blasted off from the Baikonur Cosmodrome on Saturday.

Kyrgyzstan

• Political shenanigans continue in Bishkek as President Bakiev trys to get Parliament to approve his list of ministers, which is proving harder to do than might have been hoped, as Kommersant reports. One of the first casualties of the process was well-known opposition figure Roza Otunbaeva, who had been acting Foreign Minister, reported RFE/RL.
• The fallout from Bayaman Erkinbaev’s assassination also continues with the mood amongst politicians in the capital tense, according to the World Daily Herald. 700 police in Bishkek being assigned to try and find his killer (RFE/RL), and the decision being taken to allow deputies to carry weapons, as the Science Daily notes. Eurasia Daily Monitor also has an article about the controversy caused by Erkinbaev’s murder.
• Kyrgyz-Russian relations are also the subject of some discussion, not least because of Prime Minister Kulov’s pronouncement that relations with Russia remain a priority for the republic, as RIA Novosti notes. However, Axis has a piece suggesting relations are very much on Moscow’s terms.
• Taking the continuing debate about what to call the events of March 24 one step further, Eurasianet has an article about fears that things could be on a crisis course politically, not least after Bakiev’s latest run-in with Parliament over who to appoint as ministers.
• The Ganci airbase has also been the cause of controversy following reports from MosNews that 2 aircraft dumped 40 tons each of aircraft fuel near to Bishkek. The mood on the base however is more cheerful, as the US Stars and Stripes reports on improvements to the base’s facilities.
• The Asia Times has a report from the southern border town of Karasuu on conditions for traders who trade across the border.
• Meanwhile Ferghana.ru takes a look at life in Uzbek enclaves in the south of Kyrgyzstan and the many problems and civil rights violations people living in them frequently suffer from.

Uzbekistan

• AlertNet reports that the EU is (at last) set to impose sanctions on Uzbekistan in the form of an arms embargo and visa bans for diplomats, amongst other measures, in response to the Uzbeks refusal to allow an independent international inquiry into what happened at Andijon in May.
• Eurasianet has an article on the local dynamics behind the massacre earlier this year, asserting that it was linked to a local power struggle.