Blogging the democratic revolution
A few weeks ago when the Shanghai Cooperation Organization met in Kazakhstan, it called for the quick pullout of U.S. forces from its bases in Central Asia. The U.S. has bases in Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan, with special flight rights in Tajikistan, which are members of the SCO. Even Kyrgyzstan at the time was making statements about a timely deadline for U.S. withdrawal. It has to be remembered, however, that this was most likely due to a large amount of pressure exerted from the SCO’s larger members, China and Russia. For a little while it looked like they would succeed in…
The Tajik government informed foreign embassies and organizations that they must give notification in advance of contacts with political parties, journalists and NGOs. Foreign ministry spokesman Igor Satarov said the change was designed to guard against “the spread of propaganda”. Observers say the government of this impoverished mountainous state is on the alert after popular revolts toppled regimes in three other ex-Soviet republics, including neighboring Kyrgyzstan in March. Satarov said diplomats and international groups, including non-governmental organisations, had “considerably intensified information activities on Tajik territory”. “Though these activities are perfectly legal and designed to promote democratic principles in Tajik society,…
It’s been awhile since there’s been anything on Tajikistan, and even during the elections there wasn’t much media coverage. As is typical, the CIS election observers said the election was fair while the OSCE said it was not. Well, they still aren’t getting much attention. Thinking-East.net has it’s newest addition up, with a lot of reporting on opposition protests in Tajikistan, something that is getting absolutely no attention in the media. According to the Central Elections Committee, more than 80% of the population of Tajikistan participated in the recent parliamentary elections. The dominating president’s People’s Democratic Party received the majority…
Senator John McCain, my senator in Arizona, issued a statement on the recent elections in Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan. And it was the right oneto make.
Kyrgyzstan is facing a run-off after a majority of seats failed to acquire an absolute majority of the votes: MOSCOW. Feb. 28. — A majority of the seats in Kyrgyzstan’s parliamentary elections Sunday were forced into a second round of voting when the contests failed to produce absolute majorities for candidates, according to preliminary results released Monday in the capital, Bishkek. That leaves the Central Asian republic to face another period of high political tension around the March 13 runoffs. The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe said Monday the vote “fell short” of international standards for democratic elections,…
I emailed Nathan over at The Argus what he thought about the lack of protests, or anything for that matter, in regards to the Tajik elections. Here is his insight: I think the thing is that Kyrgyzstan is kind of deceptive. Akayev has run the place more or less like a normal country, and people have gotten a taste for the comparative freedom they’ve enjoyed. It’s hard to describe, but the country struck me as incredible after I’d been in Uzbekistan for about a year. People are laid back, all kinds of products are available, and you can get margaritas!…
This will be a post updated continuously through Sunday. I am going to sleep right now and will begin when I wake up. until then, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty has a great primer on the events there. Here is part one, two, three, and four. And make sure to check out RFE/RL’s feature page on Tajikistan. There is apparently high voter turnout already: Prague, 27 February 2005 — Voter turnout at polling stations in Tajikistan early today was reported to be higher than during parliamentary elections in 2000. In some areas, reports say voters were lining up at polling station…
Nathan has got today’s roundup posted. Along with some cool buttons I’m going to ad to the side bar.
Nathan’s weekend edition is up, and PORA is tranforming itself into a permanent think-tank. Vladyslav Kaskiv is one of the leaders of the Pora movement, whose demonstrations ???????? often laced with biting humor ???????? became a memorable feature of those exuberant winter days. Pora drew its inspiration from pro-democracy youth movements in Serbia and Georgia that also helped topple authoritarian regimes. Kaskiv told RFE/RL he and his colleagues planned to institutionalize their experience by setting up an international center in Kyiv to offer assistance and practical advice to democracy advocates throughout the region. ???????We are now in a very active…
Nathan has got his Valentine’s Day Edition (well, maybe not) of Election and Democracy Watch up. Check it out.
Nathan Hamm has posted his daily article on polical happenings in Russia’s “near abroad.” Democracy is on crack down.
I noticed a trackback on one of my posts by Winds of Change and followed the link. Apparently, Nathan from The Argus does a monthly roundup of all the news from the Caucasus over there. Make sure to check that out. As I have noted before, love stuff like this.
Nathan is posting daily entries in the elections in Central Asia. Check out his update for today as well as yesterday.
Make sure to check out Nathan, who is posting a lot on the elections in Central Asia. Right now he has a post up covering what is going on in Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan. Lots of thoughts on the odds of a Lemon Revolution as well.