Oil wars

January 8, 2007 By

It looks as though Russia’s neighbours have made a New Year’s resolution for 2007 – to demonstrate to Russia that they too can flex their energy muscles. In the past few days:

  • Belarus have slapped a tax on Russian oil transiting Belarus, and siphoning off Transneft’s oil to pay for it.  In response, Transneft

… Read the rest

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Turkmenistan President dies

December 21, 2006 By
Niyazov

The breaking news this morning is that Turkmenistan’s oddball dictator / President Saparmurat Niyazov died of a heart attack late last night.

The news was announced on state television, over the image of a Turkmen flag, surrounded by a black border:

“Turkmenbashi (Head of the Turkmen) the Great has died.”

Official confirmation came shortly… Read the rest

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Russia, China AND India to hold joint military exercises?

October 16, 2005 By

For China and India to become involved in a joint military exercise with Russia is a pretty far-fetched idea at the moment, I’d say,, but Russian Defence Minister Sergei Ivanov, in India to observe a joint Russian-Indian military exercise, has been busy talking up the idea.

Russian-Indian-Chinese military exercises could be held in the future

… Read the rest

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Closed cities from the inside

October 10, 2005 By

Last week I wrote about the disgraceful number of closed cities in Russia, another of those leftovers from an anarchic age that Russia remains addicted to, despite (or perhaps because of) the restrictions it places on the human rights of their 1.7 million residents.

In a rather timely decision, the BBC have just… Read the rest

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US military bases – the economic impact

July 14, 2005 By

Intel Dump has a post about US basing strategy which, as part of its argument repeats a claim that the US base in Manas, Kyrgyzstan, contributes so heavily to the local economy that it is worth around 5% of Kyrgyzstan’s GDP – a number that seems suspiciously high to me.

The original article – Read the rest

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China to send troops to Kyrgyzstan

May 31, 2005 By

Liu Jianchao, a spokesman from the Chinese Foreign Ministry, has reportedly said that China will "seriously consider" sending troops to Kyrgyzstan, RIA Novosti reports today.  The same report though goes on to say that the Chinese Foreign Ministry has issued no official comment.

The Chinese comment follows a statement from Kurmanbek Bakiyev, Kyrgyzstan’s acting… Read the rest

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Unrest in Uzbekistan

May 14, 2005 By

Protests on Friday in the Eastern Uzbek town of Andijan (Andizhan) have turned into a major flashpoint, with at least ten, possibly more than fifty, dead after a clash between troops and protestors.  Despite yesterday’s violence, it appears that protestors have re-emerged onto the streets of Andijon today to continue their demonstration, so the… Read the rest

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Russia's muted reaction

March 24, 2005 By

I’ve only been able to find one official comment from Russia about the events in Kyrgyzstan today. From the looks of it, Russia is keeping its mouth more or less shut while it reconciles itself to the changing face of Kyrgyz politics. This is from RIA Novosti:

"In the current situation the appeal

… Read the rest

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Kyrgyzstan: what chance peacekeepers?

March 22, 2005 By

Continuing protests in southern Kyrgyzstan are giving rise to speculation that Russia might intervene militarily.  Democracy Guy and Registan.net both correctly say, however, that the Russian military isn’t capable of an unwanted intervention (read: invasion), and the geo-political ramifications would be immense – certainly far more than the Kremlin wants to deal with… Read the rest

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Kyrgyzstan protests escalate

March 21, 2005 By

Anti-government protests in the southern Kyrgyz cities of Osh and Jalalabad seem to be spiralling beyond the control of President Askar Akayev and his government today. 

Nathan at registan.net is continuing to do a great job of covering the news and rumours as they come flying out:

As noted

… Read the rest

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Central Asia votes

February 25, 2005 By

Sunday is the big day for elections in Central Asia where voters will be going to the polls in both Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan.  Nathan at The Argus is posting daily news roundups – here’s the latest – and he’ll doubtless be analysing the outcome, too.

It seems like there’s plenty of the usual post-Soviet… Read the rest

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