Is Kyrgyzstan’s Bakiyev Now Belorussian?
It’s no secret that former Kyrgyz President Kurmanbek Bakiyev, a fugitive in his own country, has been hiding Belarus. He’s held news conferences there and has even, sources in Minsk tells us, been...
View ArticleKazakhstan: Recent Archeological Finds Clarify Historical Record
Copyright show: No It is time for a pop quiz on Kazakhstani history. Going back more than 2000 years ago, the peoples who called what is present-day Kazakhstan home were:A) Blood-thirsty barbarians....
View ArticleRussia and Kazakhstan: What’s Behind the Baikonur Spat?
Copyright show: No Russia and Kazakhstan seem headed for a showdown over rocket launches at the Baikonur cosmodrome. Although Moscow and Astana are trying to downplay their differences, both sides...
View ArticleKyrgyzstan: LGBT Groups Fighting for Rights
Copyright show: No Issues of Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender (LGBT) rights have been much in the news in the former Soviet Union over the past year. In Russia and Ukraine, proposed legislation...
View ArticleKazakhstan: Baikonur Talks Floating in Space
In crowd scenes in plays and movies, background actors in Russia are known to repeat the following tongue-twister when trying to feign conversation: “what do you talk about when there's nothing to talk...
View ArticleKazakhstan: Authorities Bust Illicit Gold Mining Operation
A band of crooks in Kazakhstan seems to think that a mine is a terrible thing to waste - but authorities see things differently. Officials in Kazakhstan have announced they charged “several” people...
View ArticleTashkent Puts the Car Before the Horse
An update on the story we brought you earlier regarding a possible bicycle ban in Tashkent, Uzbekistan. Authorities, it turns out, are introducing an array of new traffic rules in the city – and not...
View ArticleCentral Asia & Caucasus: E-Book Highlights Shady Offshore Practices
The International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ), the group responsible for the recent, enormous data dump exposing offshore banking practices, is making its articles available in one...
View ArticleFestival Showcases Central Asian Films in New York
A festival of films from Central Asia, Turkey, and Central Europe was set to conclude in New York on May 24 with the screening of the highly acclaimed Uzbek film “Parizod.”The New York Eurasian Film...
View ArticleShady E-Currency Site Busted for Global Money Laundering
Four former-Soviet immigrants appear to be at the center of what federal prosecutors in the United States are calling a $6 billion money laundering operation conducted entirely on the internet,...
View ArticleTurkmenistan: Was a Turkmen Militant Captured in Syria?
The Kremlin-aligned Vesti.ru website is reporting that a Turkmen citizen fighting with Islamic militants in Syria has been captured by pro-government forces near Aleppo. The prisoner, identified as...
View ArticleRussian Speakers Celebrate LGBT Pride – in New York
They carried banners advertising a virtual tweet-march through Moscow, where a real Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) Pride Parade was banned in 2012 for the next 100 years, and calling on...
View ArticleUzbekistan Bans Iftar, Kills Fun – Report
This just in from the Uzbek Ministry of No Fun: For the remainder of the holy month of Ramadan, government employees, which in authoritarian Uzbekistan includes not only ministry and law enforcement...
View ArticleKazakhstan: For Boston Bomber's Alleged Helpers, Will Punishment Fit Crime?
A former lawyer for one of the two students from Kazakhstan implicated in the Boston Marathon bombing has published an impassioned plea for leniency, arguing that the prospect of 25 years in prison for...
View ArticleRussia: Do Labor Migrants Have an Unexpected Ally?
Aleksei Navalny, Russia’s most prominent opposition figure and a candidate for Moscow mayor, has reached out to the city’s migrant communities, meeting with eight migrant rights activists on August 16,...
View ArticleCentral Asia: Trying to Give Social Entrepreneurship a Boost
A non-profit alliance co-founded by organizations including the Agha Khan Foundation, USAID and Ashoka, is aiming to promote social entrepreneurship in Central Asia.On February 11, the Alliance for...
View ArticleRussian Economist Blames Corruption for Downturn
Copyright show: No A leading Russian economist says that corruption and a “bad political equilibrium” are primarily to blame for Russia’s current economic stagnation.read more
View ArticleRussia Seeks to Tally Dual Citizens
Russian legislators are tripping over themselves to tighten rules on dual citizenship after President Vladimir Putin hinted at a need for stricter oversight.On March 31, Russia’s State Duma agreed to...
View ArticleSodiqov Charges Spur Worries about Academic Freedom
As news trickled out of Taijkistan on July 22 that the government was releasing, albeit with some restrictions, international scholar Alexander Sodiqov after five weeks in jail, a group of scholars and...
View ArticleUkraine: How Will Voting Go in Eastern Ukraine?
Copyright show: No Ukrainians head to the polls on October 26 to vote for a new parliament. How the voting goes in the strife-torn east could go a long way toward determining whether the elections...
View Article
