Stories about Central Asia & Caucasus from October, 2010
Georgia: Halloween protests & revelry
The Young Georgians examines the history of Halloween, and not least in Georgia where controversy often results in religious groups objecting to young people holding their own events. This year is no exception with Orthodox Christians planning to stage protests while several events in clubs and public gatherings are scheduled...
Armenia: Nationalist backlash against Azerbaijan film festival
Unzipped and Le Retour (in 3 Parts) comment on the nationalist backlash to a festival of films from Azerbaijan to be staged in Yerevan, Armenia, next week. The former says that the negative reaction is hypocritical when the same nationalists decry attempts to prevent artistic expression and freedom of speech...
Video: One Minute Jr video nominees for 2010 Awards
The nominees for each of the 3 categories in the One Minutes Jr project competition 2010 have been selected. In each of the categories of (Self)-portrait, Inside-Out and One Minute of Freedom there will be one winner who will be awarded a JVC Piscio HD Hand-Camera. The nominees are all...
Kyrgyzstan: Parties Get Down to Coalition-Building
With no clear winner in Kyrgyzstan’s parliamentary election, the five parties that gained seats have immediately plunged into a race to build a ruling coalition with the right to choose the next prime minister, Dina Tokbaeva writes.
Uzbekistan: Facebook blocked
The authorities of Uzbekistan have banned Facebook, possibly in an attempt to block Uzbek users from the opportunity to read the content of the banned independent websites via the social network, Abulfazal reports.
Kazakhstan: Fake repatrates scandal
Albika reports that several thousand ethnic Kazakh repatriates have never existed, but the government spent 300 million tenge for their benefits in result of the massive fraud.
Kyrgyzstan: Assassination or provocation attempt?
Marat Sartpaev writes about the post-electoral scandal in Kyrgyzstan as the currently leading parliamentary party’s member said he was allegedly attacked by “the armed spec-op officers”, who, though, were “defeated” by unarmed guards at his house.
Kazakhstan: Education System Flaws
KZBlog refects on the classc post-Soviet problem that school teachers in Kazakhstan are too often treated like members of an office staff, and their loyalty is more important than their being able to be productive.
Afghanistan: Another Taliban official involved in peace talks
Nick Fielding informs his readers that Afghan Taliban deputy leader Mullah Abdul Ghani Barodar after having been released from custody in Pakistan, is at the centre of peace efforts, amidst the spread of instability into the North.
Armenia-Azerbaijan: Online campaigns for the return of casualties of war
A campaign represented as being organized by ‘Armenian bloggers’ has been established to demand the return of the body of Manvel Sarinbekyan, an Armenian who reportedly hung himself while in detention after crossing the border with Azerbaijan.The campaign has been launched in both Russian and English. Meanwhile, and as the...
Georgia: Teach and Learn English
Dream is Destiny [GE] posts the addresses of the blogs established by some of the 350 native English-language speakers documenting their stay in Georgia as part of the new official policy to have English replace Russian as the second-language spoken by its citizens.
Armenia: Domestic Violence petition submitted
Following the recent outrage expressed by some Armenian bloggers following the death of a 20-year old woman at the hands of her husband and mother-in-law, Blogian says that the petition it set up to lobby the government to pass a law on domestic violence was signed by 3,196 individuals before...
Armenia: Prolific blogger suspended on LiveJournal
Kornelij Glas [RU] details the case of Pigh, an Armenian blogger prolific in the mutual tit-for-tat online information war with Azerbaijan and Turkey. Speaking to Global Voices, Pigh says that his blog on LiveJournal was suspended on 8 October after some Azerbaijanis made complaints to the site's administration which included...
Azerbaijan: Free Expression under Attack
Global Voices Advocacy features a guest post from Rebecca Vincent, Article 19's Advocacy Assistant for Azerbaijan. The post details the situation with freedom of expression in the oil-rich former Soviet republic and the case of imprisoned video blogging youth activist Adnan Hajizade.
Kazakhstan: Governance matters
Kazakh bloggers keep on discussing their favorite topic – the quality of public administration. Megakhuimyak raises the issue of professionalism of the higher officials and says that often it appears to be secondary to the “family affairs”. Cronyism remains a serious problem in Kazakhstani human resource management both in business...
Azerbaijan: Visa restrictions ahead of parliamentary vote
Back in a Bit confirms that new visa restrictions on foreigners wishing to visit Azerbaijan are now in place, and ahead of parliamentary elections scheduled for 7 November. Having arrived at the airport in the oil-rich country's capital, Baku, without a visa and with no warning from even the airline,...
Kyrgyzstan: Elections, a view from within
neweurasia’s Bermet toured 12 polling stations in Kyrgyzstan to observe the balloting procedure and shares impressions of what many experts say were the nation’s most important elections since independence.
Kyrgyzstan, Afghanistan: Counter-insurgency campaign faces fuel supply pressures
Eugene Iladi reports on the decision by Kyrgyz authorities to investigate fuel supply contracts to the Manas Transit Center and how this could detriment the American campaign in Afghanistan
Tajikistan: The bitter truth in Rasht
Tajikistan’s government has offered rebels in the Rasht Valley an amnesty in exchange for a cease-fire, but neweurasia’s Botur doesn’t think they’ll take the offer.
Afghanistan: Peace strategy based on flawed assumptions
Nick Fielding analyzes a new report by the Afghanistan Research and Evaluation Unit, which reveals that the Afghan government's Afghanistan Peace and Reintegration Programme is based on flawed assumptions.
Mongolia: Fashion designer wins prize in France
Mongolian fashion designer Tsolmandakh Munkhuu picked up the “Public Prize” at the annual Hyeres Festival of Photography and Fashion, heesco informs.
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