Ryskeldi Satke | Bishkek,Kyrgyz Republic

http://english.ohmynews.com - Kyrgyz journalist Kubanych Djoldoshev suffered multiple injuries after being assaulted by unknown attackers at about 2 a.m. on November 1 in the southern city of Osh in Kyrgyzstan.
As Djoldoshev recalls, three men approached and beat him, resulting in a concussion and broken ribs.
The emergency staff at the local hospital described his condition as critical.
This is the latest incident in a series of hostile actions against freelance journalists and reporters in the country.
Djoldoshev has been working for the Kyrgyz branch of the RFE/RL (Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty) prior to his current assignment with a newspaper. The paper, Osh Shamy, has been critical of local authorities in the country's southern region.

Last week the Washington Post printed two letters from different sources who had spent time on the ground in Afghanistan that came to very different conclusions about the American presence there.

First, there is the letter from Matthew Hoh, the former Marine captain who had fought in Iraq and had recently taken a temporary foreign service assignment in Zabul province. One State department official referred to this area as, “one of the five or six provinces always vying for the most difficult and neglected.” Hoh had developed great misgivings about the war and had become so disillusioned that he chose to resign. Hoh wote in his resignation letter,

M K Bhadrakumar | Oct 30

Asia Times - The worsening Afghan war has brought some good news for Uzbekistan. On Tuesday, the European Union announced it was lifting a four-year old arms embargo against Uzbekistan. The EU imposed wide-ranging sanctions in 2005 after Uzbek troops fired on civilians during an uprising in the city of Andizhan in Ferghana Valley, and Tashkent rejected calls by Western countries for an international inquiry into those killings.

Tuesday's decision completes an incremental process stretched over the past year or so on the EU's part to kiss and make up with Tashkent. The EU officials justified their decision with Tashkent's recently release of some political prisoners and abolishment of the death penalty. Amnesty International has promptly contradicted the claim with facts and figures.

Aside from the veracity of the EU claim, the reality is that Europe not only blinked first, it also bent its knees while doing so. Brussels kept a straight face, though, assuring the world audience that it would "closely and continuously observe the human-rights situation in Uzbekistan … [and] assess progress made by the Uzbek authorities."

All the same, the EU decision is a good thing. It underscores a new degree of realism often lacking in Western policy towards the strategic Central Asian region. The West has been far too prescriptive towards a region whose civilization dates back several centuries further than Europe's. Besides, the dogma regarding democracy and "regime change" was alien to the steppes and somewhat irrelevant at this point in time.

Are we seeing the end of the "regime change" ideology? The signals are tentative. Statements made by United States Vice President Joseph Biden during his tour this month of Poland, the Czech Republic and Romania, hark back to the former president George W Bush era. But then, Biden was grandstanding in front of people upset over President Barack Obama's reversal on the Anti-Ballistic Missile system deployment in Central Europe.

....The fact that EU was making an exception that it isn't ready to contemplate yet for China should drive home the fact that the Afghan war is hitting the European capitals where it hurts.

Robin Forestier-Walker | Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan | Oct 28

CSM -

Turkmenistan has prevented dozens of students from travelling abroad to study at a US-sponsored university, and has harassed some that have come home.

The United States has in recent months sought to improve relations with Turkmenistan, the secretive former Soviet possession that is home to rich oil and gas deposits and straddles a strategically vital central Asian location, sharing borders with both Iran and Afghanistan.

But those efforts are being complicated by a government campaign against students seeking to study at the American University of Central Asia (AUCA), located in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan. Some students have been barred from travelling abroad to the school and others have been subject to surveillance and harassment when they come home.

Peter Grier | Washington | Oct 20

CSM - A US intelligence report on concerns about Kazakhstan's nuclear deals is misleading, said the Kazakh government Monday.

A Kazakhstan government official says that, contrary to recent reports, his country is not looking to do nuclear deals with countries that have a mixed record on proliferation.

Roman Vassilenko, chairman of the Committee for International Information at Kazakhstan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, says that his country does see itself as a potential nuclear power – but a "peaceful and responsible" one that has no interest in nuclear weapons or nuclear commerce with potential proliferators.

On October 15, The Christian Science Monitor published an article on a US intelligence report that expressed concerns about the geopolitical implications of some of Kazakhstan's nuclear deals.

Both the article and the report "seem utterly misleading", says Mr. Vassilenko.

Kazakhstan, formerly part of the Soviet Union, returned 1,000 nuclear weapons soil to Russia following the dissolution of the USSR. It shut down a former weapons test site where the Soviets detonated 650 nuclear bombs, points out Mr. Vassilenko in an e-mailed response.

"Kazakhstan has clearly seen enough of nuclear horrors to be firmly committed to peaceful nuclear energy," he says.

Ryskeldi Satke | Bishkek,Kyrgyz Republic | 09/28/2009

The Young Turks - Shocking case of slain outspoken journalist Almaz Tashiev reflects a current trend with human rights in Kyrgyz Republic which turned into a totally hostile environment for independent journalists and reporters as well as for ordinary citizens.Small country of Kyrgyzstan in Central Asia has become a little known around the world since 2005 "Tulip Revolution".

Most experts in the region believed that "Tulip Revolution" was sponsored and supported by US State Department during G.W.Bush presidency through various local based NGO's and programs funded by US although americans had no significant problems with past kyrgyz president Askar Akaev.As Akaev brought down,the presidency in Kyrgyzstan was handed over by the opposition to Kurmanbek Bakiev who promiced sweeping reforms in the country including changes to a Constitution.Since then Kyrgyz state transformed from "Island of Democracy" in Central Asia to a notorious regime backed by russian political establishment of the Kremlin.

Sept 11

Asia Times/IWPR -

A summit of Caspian states this weekend could foreshadow the emergence of a new regional economic grouping, according to Central Asia commentators.

On September 11-13, the presidents of Russia, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan and Azerbaijan will meet in the Kazakh city of Aktau, on the shores of the Caspian Sea. The fifth country with a Caspian coastline, Iran, will not be represented.

Kazakhstan's ambassador to Azerbaijan, Serik Primbetov, told a press conference in Baku that the four presidents will discuss border issues and regional cooperation, the Caspian Energy website reported.

Analysts say that one of the main topics for discussion is likely to be Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev's proposal to set up the Caspian Economic Cooperation Organization.

He first floated the idea last October, but after some initial interest, no further progress was made. Medvedev revived the plan at a meeting on Caspian issues in early August.

Experts say one of the Kremlin's motives for creating a regional bloc is to forestall plans by Turkmenistan and Azerbaijan to export oil and gas to the West without it going through Russia.

By Jean MacKenzie | KABUL | September 2

GlobalPost - KABUL — The United States Agency for International Development has opened an investigation into allegations that its funds for road and bridge construction in Afghanistan are ending up in the hands of the Taliban, through a protection racket for contractors.

Selected quotes from the article:

- "USAID’s Inspector General has only one investigator in Afghanistan and two auditors tracking the billions of tax payers’ dollars that go to NGOs in that troubled country."

- "One source, with direct knowledge of such payments, estimated the Taliban can take upwards of 20 percent from many contracts awarded in unstable areas, which would include about half of the country."

Roman Kupchinsky | Sept 1

Asia Times - Pipelines running along the bed of the Black Sea are the frontline for Russia in its attempt to impose its energy policies on the European Union. Now nationalism and alleged corruption over hydrocarbon resources beneath the seabed highlight energy anarchy on the EU's frontier.

Ryskeldi Satke | Norway | 08/28/2009

http://www.theyoungturks.com/s - Interviev with Ivar Dale,head of the Norwegian Helsinki Committee in Central Asia.

Ryskeldi Satke - On October 12 2008 you were turned back by Kyrgyz Border Control at the Manas airport in Kyrgyzstan refusing to grant entry into the country. There were no grounds presented by Kyrgyz Government officials to such move explaining reasons for ban.What's your side of the story?

Ivar Dale - When I arrived at Manas Aiport from Moscow on 12 October 2008, I had already been living in Kyrgyzstan for 2 years, and had an apartment and an office in Bishkek. As normal, the consular services issued a visa without any problems. However, when I went through passport control, I was told by the border guards that I was denied entry for 10 years, and would not be let out of the airport. A representative of the Presidential Administration came to the airport, but was unable to resolve the situation. The decision had been made by the security services a few weeks before, on the same day as I left Kyrgyzstan for a short vacation in Norway.

Interviev with Ivar Dale,head of the Norwegian Helsinki Committee in Central Asia.

Ryskeldi Satke - On October 12 2008 you were turned back by Kyrgyz Border Control at the Manas airport in Kyrgyzstan refusing to grant entry into the country. There were no grounds presented by Kyrgyz Government officials to such move explaining reasons for ban.What's your side of the story?

Ivar Dale - When I arrived at Manas Aiport from Moscow on 12 October 2008, I had already been living in Kyrgyzstan for 2 years, and had an apartment and an office in Bishkek. As normal, the consular services issued a visa without any problems. However, when I went through passport control, I was told by the border guards that I was denied entry for 10 years, and would not be let out of the airport. A representative of the Presidential Administration came to the airport, but was unable to resolve the situation. The decision had been made by the security services a few weeks before, on the same day as I left Kyrgyzstan for a short vacation in Norway.

Zoltán Dujisin | Pamir Mountains, Tajikistan | Aug 27

IPS - The collapse of the Soviet Union has brought misery to Tajikistan's remote eastern half. People are being driven once again to live as nomads.

Tajikistan is a former Soviet republic that became independent in 1991. It borders the two former Soviet republics Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan, China on the east and Afghanistan in the south.

The country of seven million went from being the poorest Soviet republic to being one of the world's poorest nations. Independence brought the end of state farms, mines, irrigation channels, transport networks and energy plants.

Some Western analysts celebrate the locals' return to "ancestral traditions", but many adapting to the realities of the free market see it quite differently.

"I wouldn't be here if I didn't have to," says Timurbek, formerly a Russian philologist and now a pensioner who has taken to animal husbandry. "Before, nomadism was a matter of choice, now it's one of necessity," he told IPS.

M K Bhadrakumar | Aug 24

Asia Times - With the signing of military agreement between the United States and Uzbekistan at Tashkent last Thursday by the US Central Command chief General David Petraeus and Uzbek Defense Minister Kabul Berdiyev, Uzbekistan's geopolitical positioning has phenomenally shifted.

Kenan Guluzade | Baku | Aug 19

Asia Times - Political experts are baffled by a Turkmen announcement that it will take Azerbaijan to court over their maritime boundary, saying the decision does not seem to make political, business or legal sense.

European plans to diversify gas supply, by building the Nabucco pipeline from the Caspian region to Austria, could be under threat from the unexpected Turkmen claim, which would disrupt development of Caspian oil and gas fields and interrupt two years of improving relations between Baku and Ashgabat.

Turkmen President Gurbanguly Berdimukhamedov said just a month ago his country was keen to join the Nabucco project, but the legal challenge could harm the route by blocking production from fields on or near the Azerbaijan-Turkmenistan maritime border.

Sainshand, Mongolia | August 1

BBC - Rare Buddhist treasures, not seen for more than 70 years, have been unearthed in the Gobi Desert.

The historic artefacts were buried in the 1930s during Mongolia's Communist purge, when hundreds of monasteries were looted and destroyed.

M K Bhadrakumar | Aug 1

Asia Times - China's bold offer to effectively underwrite the entire Moldovan economy shows that it may now regard the post-Soviet space as its own "near abroad". Beijing's concern is palpable in the face of the rise in militant Islamist activities in Central Asia, and Russia is entirely sympathetic.

July 24

BBC - European monitors have described Kyrgyzstan's presidential election as a "disappointment", saying it failed to meet key international standards.

The Organization of Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) said Thursday's poll was "marred by many problems and irregularities."

Partial results show incumbent Kurmanbek Bakiyev with an overwhelming lead of 85% of the vote.

The main opposition candidate has denounced the vote as fraudulent.

Almazbek Atambayev has already claimed widespread ballot-stuffing and intimidation of monitors.

But the central election commission has ruled the vote valid.

** Landslide victory by Kyrgyz president "marred by irregularities"
** Osce Mission Disappointed In Kyrgyz Presidential Elections

July 16

BBC - Turkmenistan to create desert sea

Turkmenistan has launched the latest stage of a plan to channel water across thousands of kilometres of desert to create a vast inland sea.

The lake will be filled with drainage water from the country's cotton fields.

President Kurbanguly Berdymukhamedov said the "Golden Age Lake" plan showed his country was preserving nature and improving the environment.

But critics say the water will be full of fertiliser and insecticides, and will evaporate quickly.

The project is one of the biggest and most ambitious in the world, and could cost up to $20bn (£12bn).

President Berdymukhamedov, wielding a spade, opened up the first tributary to bring water to a natural depression in the Karakum Desert. The desert covers more than 80% of Turkmenistan.

He told the crowd that the lake would make the desert bloom.

Ashgabat | July 11

DPA - Gas-rich Turkmenistan has indicated an interest in the Nabucco gas pipeline, just days before an accord for the multi-billion-euro European Union project is due to be signed in Turkey, reports said Saturday.

Geologists have determined that Central Asian country has enough natural gas to become involved in the supply of gas to Europe, President Kurbanguly Berdymukhamedov told Parliament, according to a report by the RIA Novosti news agency.

The countries involved in Nabucco pipeline - Austria, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria and Turkey are due to sign an agreement in Ankara on Monday.

The EU intends to use the pipeline to reduce its dependency on Russian gas.

According to Berdymukhamedov, Turkmenistan has 'a surplus of natural gas that can be sold abroad. Local geologists had confirmed 'colossal' natural gas reserves, he said.

Ainagul Abdrakhmanova/Bishkek & Abdraim Ysmanov /Jalalabad | July 9

IWPR - Kyrgyzstan’s porous southern border, compounded by the inability of its under-funded security forces to patrol it adequately, is helping make the country a destination for Islamic militants who are believed to be coming in from Afghanistan and Pakistan, observers say.

In the past ten days, nine suspected militants have been killed in two operations in the south of the country.

Bishkek | July 9

Reuters - Russia, seeking to offset growing U.S. influence in Central Asia, has asked Kyrgyzstan to allow it to open another military base in the impoverished nation, a senior Kyrgyz official said on Thursday.

Russia and the United States both operate their own military bases in Kyrgyzstan, an arrangement security analysts see as a symbol of Moscow's rivalry with Washington for control over the strategically important region bordering Afghanistan.

A senior Kyrgyz government official told Reuters Moscow had asked Kyrgyzstan to allow it to open another military base in southern Kyrgyzstan.

"Russia voiced this request itself," the source said on condition of anonymity, citing the sensitivity of the issue. "Russia wants to restore its influence."

A Russian delegation led by Igor Sechin, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin's powerful deputy, was in Kyrgyzstan for closed-door talks this week. Officials in Moscow and Bishkek have declined to comment on the nature of these talks.

Tolkun Namatbayeva | Bishkek | June 23

AFP -

The United States and Kyrgyzstan signed a deal on the transit of non-military cargo to Afghanistan that will effectively keep open a US air base Bishkek had ordered closed, officials said.

Kyrgyzstan had troubled Washington by ordering the closure of the US airbase at Manas, a key transit point for operations in Afghanistan, at a time when US President Barack Obama was ordering an intensified campaign against the Taliban.

"The US and Kyrgyzstan agreed on the opening of a centre for the transit of goods to Afghanistan at the Manas airport," a source in the Kyrgyz government told AFP, confirming that an agreement had been signed on Monday.

The source added that the base -- which had previously been used for ferrying troops to Afghanistan and the refuelling of military aircraft -- would from now on only be used for the transit of non-lethal goods.

"The status of the airbase has changed. It will now transport non-military cargo to Afghanistan," the official said.

The agreement should be debated Tuesday by the Kyrgyz parliament ahead of ratification, the government source said, while parliament officials confirmed that it would examine the issue in an extraordinary session.

Did you see that article back in February that predicted this Iranian revolution? No? Neither did I. As far as anyone can tell this revolution was unexpected. When millions of people in Iran take to the streets to shout “death to the dictator” – meaning President Ahmadinejad – and when hundreds of demonstrators are injured with many killed by roving militias, something of great significance is occurring. Too bad the world was unprepared for this.

In the United States it is easy to blame the press. After all, this trouble in Iran was brewing right during the middle of American Idol, when the US takes time out to vote for the least objectionable amateur singer. The UK was equally preoccupied this year what with all the fuss over Susan Boyle. It was only a week before the election in Iran than most people who follow the news in the US or Europe even heard about Moussavi vs. Ahmadinejad. But you had to search for the news – the main stream press coverage was spotty or non-existent.

Shabtai Gold | Geneva | June 15

DPA - Child rights activists have hailed the move by several big-name companies to boycott Uzbek cotton over allegations of child labour - but warned it was just the first step against such abusive practices.

'Every year Uzbekistan is turned into a giant labour camp,' said one activist from the Central Asian republic, recalling conditions in the cotton fields.

Children work in freezing cold temperatures and in searing heat, witnesses said. Their jobs tend to clash with school, so they end up losing out on education while the state benefits by an estimated billion dollars annually, for a product dubbed 'white gold.'

Key companies, including Asda Wal-Mart, the British Tesco, Marks and Spencer and Gap, the clothing retailer, have all agreed in recent months to pull out of Uzbekistan as the evidence of forced child labour in return for meagre salaries mounted.

Ryskeldi Satke | Central Asia | June 1

http://en.jetigen.org - Ryskeldi Satke

The problem of afghan drug trafficking (heroin and opium) through Central Asia to Russia and Europe has become one of the most serious and difficult tasks for the Governments of Central Asian States for 17 years since the dissolution of the USSR with deteriorating situation every few years especially since the beginning of large-scale military operations by coalition forces of NATO and the United States since 2001 in the Afghanistan. Increased flow of the afghan heroin and opium to former soviet states characterized by complexity of the political,social and economic diversities in Central Asia.