Registan’s Turkmenistan News & Analysis Archive

Has War in Afghanistan Ruined Central Asia?

by Nathan Hamm
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While Central Asia’s international political profile has risen considerably since 2001, it has primarily been seen in the West through the prism of Afghanistan. The policies of Western governments towards Central Asia as a whole and as individual states have widely fluctuated, but in almost every case, been heavily shaped by policies toward Afghanistan. US [...]

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Focus on the “Social” in Social Media

by Nathan Hamm
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Earlier this week, Small Wars Journal published an article by Matthew Stein, a research analyst currently working at the Foreign Military Studies Office at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, discussing the role of videos recorded and posted by citizen bystanders in the information battle to control the narrative over the police’s violent crackdown on protesters in Zhanaozen [...]

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Showdown! Who Wins?

by Nathan Hamm
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Georgia’s president paid a visit to the race track recently. He offered to resign if Russia returns South Ossetia and Abkhazia. Sure, that’s interesting, but the more important question is whether Saakashvili or Berdimuhamedov would win on the track. So, who has your vote? or For those who need video: vs.

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Another Peace Corps Rejection [UPDATED]

by Joshua Foust
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Update: I got in touch with a spokesperson at the State Department about this. The spokesperson disputed some points I made, specifically over the visa issue compared to a broad push against the Peace Corps, and offered the following: Six U.S. Peace Corps Volunteers departed Turkmenistan at the end of March 2012. They departed after [...]

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Particular Concern

by Nathan Hamm
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The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom released its annual report this week, recommending the State Department list several states in Central Asia as “countries of particular concern,” places where the government commits or tolerates egregious violations of religious liberty. Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan are, of course, well-established members of this club. However, Tajikistan is recommended [...]

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Facing up to illiberal democracy

Kazakhstani ballot box (Wikipedia). by Christopher Schwartz

In the last two months, we’ve born witness to more incidents of illiberal democracy or democracy’s “doubles” here in Central Asia/Eurasia, from Kazakhstan’s parliamentary elections which many say was an experiment in pseudo-pluralism; to Turkmenistan’s surreal presidential election that has left those of us on the outside (and, indeed, many of those on the inside) [...]

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Why Central Asia Isn’t Revolting

by Joshua Foust
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Scott Radnitz has a provocative take in Foreign Policy: On the surface, Central Asia would appear to be ripe for a popular uprising modeled on the Arab Spring. The “stans” are home to repressive governments, high unemployment, inequality, and widespread corruption. Over a year has passed since the wave of protests began to spread across [...]

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Turkmenistan’s Ridiculous, Predictable “Election”

by Joshua Foust
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In a surprise no one could have possibly predicted, Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov swept the Turkmen presidential election this weekend. Turkmenistan’s President Gurbanguli Berdymukhamedov won a new five-year term by capturing 97 percent of the vote, election officials said Monday, but a Western expert called the vote a democratic sham. All of Berdymukhamedov’s seven opponents praised his [...]

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Geldy Kyarizov’s Deteriorating Condition

by Joshua Foust

A few weeks ago, I highlighted the plight of Geldy Kyarizov, a former horse trainer turned political prisoner in Turkmenistan. Amnesty International has just released an Urgent Action alert on his deteriorating condition: Amnesty International has received credible reports that Geldy Kyarizov is currently suffering from serious heart illness, enlarged liver and high blood pressure, [...]

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Turkestan Album

by Nathan Hamm
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For at least the last seven or eight years, the Prokudin-Gorskii collection of color photos of the Russian empire taken in the early 20th century, gets noticed and reported by journalists, history buffs, and photography enthusiasts. Less well known is that the Turkestan Album, a series of volumes on the people, architecture, history, and economy [...]

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