· June, 2010

Stories about Central Asia & Caucasus from June, 2010

Armenia-Azerbaijan: More Conflict Voices

As mentioned in previous posts on Global Voices, new and social media is increasingly playing a role in facilitating communication between Armenians and Azerbaijanis online. Locked into a bitter conflict over the disputed territory of Nagorno Karabakh, there are few other possibilities for connecting other than meeting in third countries.

28 June 2010

Afghanistan: Drug use keeps on rising

Nick Fielding reviews a report from the UN's Office of Drug Control, which indicates that almost a million people in Afghanistan – roughly 8 per cent of the population between...

24 June 2010

Australians Challenge Afghanistan War Commitment

Even before Barack Obama sacked General McCrystal, Australia bloggers were questioning the commitment of troops to the Afghanistan war. This has intensified with the deaths of five soldiers in the last couple of weeks.

24 June 2010

Afghanistan: Reintegrating Taliban fighters

Nick Fielding reviews a new report by the Lowy Institute for International Policy in Australia, devoted to the issue if the Afghan Government's reintegration and reconciliation efforts bring peace to...

15 June 2010

Kyrgyzstan: “The Prince” is Caught?

murzaki reports that the son of the ousted Kyrgyzstan President was detained by UK Border Agency, after he landed in Farnborough Airport. He was accused of embezzlement and abuse of...

15 June 2010

Uzbekistan: Aral Gas

Michael Hancock writes that the international consortium consisting of state-run Uzbekneftegaz, LUKoil Overseas, Petronas, Korea National Oil Corporation, and China National Petroleum Corporation found gas in the Uzbek part of...

15 June 2010

Kyrgyzstan: Provocateurs seen behind ethnic clashes

Clashes between the ethnic Kyrgyz and Uzbek population in the southern Kyrgyzstan have developed into large-scale violence. After three nights of shooting in the isolated conflict zone - the population still has limited access to telephony, electricity and food.

14 June 2010

Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan: Initial Coverage of the “Osh Massacre”

RuNet Echo

On June 10, 2010, local clashes between the ethnic Kyrgyz and Uzbek population in the Kyrgyz part of the Ferghana valley turned into a full-blown massacre and further exodus of the Kyrgyzstan-based Uzbeks. It seems that the conflict had been incited by the Kyrgyz organized criminal gangs in order to destabilize the region and might be connected with the revolutionary events in Kyrgyzstan two months earlier. The post summarizes initial coverage of the event by local bloggers.

13 June 2010

Armenia-Azerbaijan: Conflict Voices

In the 16 years since a ceasefire agreement put the conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan over the disputed territory of Nagorno Karabakh on hold, successive attempts to broker a final peace have faltered. Could blogs and other online tools now offer alternative voices the opportunity to have their opinions on the conflict heard?

12 June 2010

Armenia-Azerbaijan: Finding mutual ground online

As Global Voices looks back at the success of a Rising Voices project, Ceasefire Liberia, a citizen media site dealing with conflict and reconciliation, activity in the same area is starting to be noticed in the Caucasus. New and existing projects working towards establishing dialog and eventual peace in the region are starting to use new and social media in their activities.

8 June 2010

About our Central Asia & Caucasus coverage

Nurbek Bekmurzaev
Nurbek Bekmurzaev is the Central Asia editor. Email him story ideas or volunteer to write.

Arzu Geybullayeva
Arzu Geybullayeva is the South Caucasus editor. Email her story ideas or volunteer to write.