Blogging the democratic revolution
Joshua Frost from Registan writes in TCS Daily that, following the death of the all powerful Turkmenbashi, next month’s presidential election offers a shining opportunity to bring the country’s ÄnowÅ more dynamic political elite into America’s sphere of influence. After all, Turkmenistan is an incredibly strategic important country. To cite a few examples that he…
While last week’s eulogy of President Niyazov that I posted was largely sarcastic and bordered on the maniacally gleeful, I did manage to go into some detail of what I thought would occur with regards to the transition from all Turkmenbashi, all the time to whatever form the next government takes. Mentioning the huge amount…
The great and illustrious leader of Turkmenistan, Saparmurat Niyazov, died today from a heart attack. Pretty impressive way to go for a guy who was supposed to live forever in all of his godliness. Of all the countries in the world, Turkmenistan is perhaps one of the worst in terms of poverty, economic and politics…
Peter Mork at Economics with a Face has some intelligent observations about ongoing efforts in certain European cities to eliminate all – repeat ALL – traffic rules in the name of fewer traffic accidents, an idea that scares the heck out anyone who first hears about it. But it turns out, it’s not that crazy…
Opposition protests in Kyrgyzstan (that I wrote about last week) against President Bakiev’s proposed constitution — which favors a strong president, go figure — has culminated in near-total parliamentary opposition to his choice. In fact, as RFE/RL reports, the protests have culminated in a tent town and 40,000 people on the streets around the presidential…
Dropping off the map (figuratively) for awhile is Kyrgyzstan, the site of March 2005’s Tulip Revolution in which a few thousand people chased former President Akaev from office. The protestors are now back to the streets, in ever greater numbers than before, and they are demanding the reforms that were promised and since stalled by…
The Taliban’s barbaric destruction of the centuries’ old Bamiyan Buddhas Source: Vers un Sens de la Vie Remember the 2001 brazen destruction of the Bamiyan Buddhas? Right in front of the world’s face, the filthy, foul Taliban, led by the mascara-loving Mullah Omar, smashed this irretrievable masterpiece of human hands, an ancient artwork that inspired…
Recently, two Russia blogs we admire, Sean????????s Russia Blog and Vilhelm Konnander????????s Weblog, have leveled harsh charges of anti-democracy at Kazakhstan, charges that unfortunately tell only half that country????????s story and fail to give a fair sense of the broader geopolitical context. The charges were apparently prompted by a recent comment by U.S. President George…
A new UN report about the cultivation of drugs in Afghanistan finds a “staggering” increase of 60% compared to last year. The overall volume of production has risen from 4100 tons to 6100 tons, according to the report. The UN anti-drug chief rightly urged the Karzai government to crack down against the warlords and corrupt…
Miss Indonesia Universe, crowned Aug. 25, 2006 Source: Reuters, via Yahoo! News! Miss Kazakhstan World 2005, Miss Kazakhstan Universe 2006 Source: Missosology Miss England World 2005 Source: Yahoo!, via My Pet Jawa Miss Afghanistan Earth 2003 Source: Wikipedia What do these girls have in common? They’re all Muslim beauty queens, showing off their hair, faces,…
Media reports covering the reactions of certain Congressmen earlier in the year portrayed a rather negative outlook for the US-India nuclear deal, signaling another battle between the White House and Congress for approval. But apparently giving equal time to both sides doesn’t equally represent the full scale of the situation, as the deal passed the…
Afghanistan is considered by many a glowing paradigm of America????????s success in the war on terror. It has its elected parliament and government, and the ministries are functioning smoothly. However, this calm is only apparent from a view from the surface, below which ethnic tensions and favoritism are plaguing the structure. Irrespective of how this…
Drugs are bad. I’m not talking about the kind people smoke to chill out after work, though. I mean the stuff people snort and waste their entire lives trying to get more of. Snow. Blow. Crack. Cocaine. It ruins families, drains investment and productivity from the economy, funds terrorist groups, and supports authoritarian regimes. Yet…
Happy May to everyone – it’s been flurrying all day in Ulaanbaatar! My family lives about 12km NNW of the city in the hills at the very edge of the city (great hiking!). We live in a one-room house, but most of our neighbors live in gers. The front window looks out over UB, which…
After the Tulip Revolution in Kyrgyzstan over a year ago, the country has pretty much dropped off the radar. Beside working on reforms in the structural institutions of the country, and President Bakiyev wanting the U.S. to pay more for the Manas air base, not much is going on. Until lately. Bakiyev hasn’t proven himself…
Kyrgyzstan, formerly the Kirghiz Soviet Socialist Republic during Soviet times, gained its independence from the Soviet Union in August 1991. After the fall of the Soviet Union, Askar AKAYEV became President of Kyrgyzstan and the country seemed to be on the road to democracy. However, over time corruption became rampant, the country suffered from a…
Can a civilized nation tolerate a crowd of people who let themselves be led by the nose by sheikhs, dervishes and the like . . . and who entrust their faith and their lives to fortunetellers, magicians, witch-doctors, and writers of amulets? *** Countries may vary, but civilization is one and for a nation to…
Warm weather has finally come to Ulaanbaatar, but the spring dust storms are just beginning. First I must say that the eleven staff and instructors at SIT-Mongolia and the fourteen other students I’m studying with are all amazing. Such different people but we all get along and everyone has a new perspective to offer on…
Here’s a news item that I found particularly interesting. The first women ever to be accepted into training for front-line combat positions have just graduated from their training and become full-fledged pilots in the Pakistan Air Force. PAKISTAN welcomed its first female pilots into the country’s air force yesterday, breaking into the all-male front-line bastion…
Abdul Rahman, the Afghan convert who risked death for ‘apostasy’, has been granted political asylum in Italy, where he arrived overnight. It would be great if he might be able to get in touch with us Italian activists once he’ll be living over here with the due protection. In the meantime, and totally off topic,…
From today’s Wall Street Journal editorial page, edifying news that Kyrgyzstan’s Tulip Revolution is still blooming one year later: ‘Island of Freedom’ By ROZA OTUNBAYEVA March 24, 2006 BISHKEK, Kyrgyzstan — As protesters in Belarus demand a rerun of last Sunday’s presidential poll, and the people of Ukraine enjoy their recently won freedom at parliamentary…
Howdy everybody, Hope you are all enjoying the coming of spring (or fall, depending on your hemisphere), wherever it may find you. I’ve been in Ulaanbaatar, the capital of Mongolia, for almost two weeks now. Though the temperature is around 10F when I walk to school, Mongolians think the daily high of around 16F (-8C)…
Simultaneous bombs exploded in a crowded temple in one of the country’s holiest cities. One of the entire religion’s holiest cities, no less. In a country where rival ethnic and religious groups have frequently clashed for years, the bombing raises the prospect of reprisal sectarian violence. It is holding together for the most part, but…
If it weren’t sketchy enough that this is the second opposition leader assassinated in Kazakhstan within the past three months, the head of the government intelligence agency has resigned. He did so because several of his officers were implicated in the murder and have confessed, or so the story goes! ALMATY, Kazakhstan ???????? Kazakhstan’s intelligence…
Iran is dangerously close to producing a nuclear weapon and igniting a region-wide arms race. It could be within a couple of months or a couple of years. Nobody knows exactly how much time is left, but the day that Iran goes nuclear is one that many hope will never come. The thought of a…