Stories about Central Asia & Caucasus from March, 2010
Global: Furs And Fashion
Last month the fashion world went literally “wild” during the unveiling of fall collections. They had models strutting the catwalk in so much fur, it was scary enough to make animal rights activists and environmentalists jump out of their skins.
Georgia, Russia: Commentary on Imedi's Fake Broadcast
Giorgi Kvelashvili of Jamestown Foundation Blog and Vadim Nikitin of Foreign Policy Association's Russia blog comment on the mock news broadcast on the Russian invasion of Georgia, aired on Imedi TV channel last Saturday.
Kazakhstan: Flood Kills 47, Leaves Hundreds Homeless
Thousands of people were moved out of threatened areas after two dams burst in Kazakhstan on Thursday and Friday. The tragedy has taken place in the Aksuisky district north of the country's business capital, Almaty.
Kyrgyzstan: Filtering of independent web-sites
Kyrgyz blogger writes that internet users in Kyrgyzstan have been deprived of access to Ferghana.Ru, the popular independent web-site that is critical of Central Asian governments.
Kazakhstan: Government reshuffled
KZBlog reports on a number of large changes to the Ministries of Kazakhstan.
Kazakhstan: No gifts, no celebrations
KZBlog opines on the Kazakhstan president's recent speech, in which he condemned the gift-giving tradition among the bureacrats and warned against personal gifts to him on his looming 70th birthday this year.
Afghanistan: Attacks in Khost
Joshua Foust reviews the background of a recent suicide attack in Khost, Afghanistan.
Uzbekistan: Analyzing the extremists groups
Joshua Foust analyzes some questionable points from the SWJ essay about the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan.
Afghanistan: Photo-project for youth
Afghan PenLog reports on the international photography trainings project for the young men and women of Aghanistan, which has taken place in Philadelphia and ended up with an exhibition.
Afghanistan: Talking with insurgents
Joshua Foust criticizes the American push to negotiate with insurgent leaders in Afghanistan.
Kazakhstan: Libel Laws and OSCE
Joshua Foust reflects on Kazakhstan's libel laws, and how they might be undermining its chairmanship of the OSCE.
Georgia: Mock news report causes panic
A mock news program broadcast on television reporting that Russia had once again invaded and that the president was dead caused panic in Georgia this weekend. Bloggers react.
Azerbaijan: “Ordinary people with extraordinary talent”
Flying Carpets and Broken Pipelines comments on today's appeal court ruling upholding the sentencing of video blogging youth activists Adnan Hajizade and Emin Milli. Adopted as prisoners of conscience by Amnesty International, the blog posts two video tributes and says that both men are “ordinary people with extraordinary talent” and...
Azerbaijan: Appeal court upholds ruling against video blogging youth activists
Rufatagayev tweets that an appeal court in Baku, Azerbaijan, today upheld a previous court ruling sentencing two video blogging youth activists to 2 and 2.5 years in prison. Most observers consider the case again Adnan Hajizade and Emin Milli to be politically motivated and Amnesty International have since declared the...
Azerbaijan: Confusion over Internet problems with Azadliq site
In the past few days in Azerbaijan, some users have complained that many sites, including Yahoo Mail, Gmail and Facebook, were inaccessible. When one news site was affected, however, some Internet users feared the worst.
Azerbaijan: Youth, human rights and the Blogosphere
HumanRightsUN posts a video of part of the presentation made by Ruslan Asadov, co-founder of the OL! Azerbaijani Youth Movement [AZ/EN], at the Geneva Summit for Human Rights, Tolerance and Democracy. One of the other co-founders of OL!, video blogging youth activist Adnan Hajizade, is currently in prison on what...
Kazakhstan: Politics, ethnic balance and opposition
Bloggers in Kazakhstan continue to discuss issues centered around governance and political stability.
Armenia: S.O.S. Save Cinema Moscow's Open Hall
Unzipped comments on plans to demolish Yerevan's only open air cinema hall to make room for the construction of a new church. Although the cinema itself was constructed after the demolition of a previous church standing in the same spot, the blog says that there are enough churches in the...
Armenia: International Women's Day
Ianyan marks International Women's Day with an extended post reflecting on gender in Armenia and its Diaspora. The blogger examines several issues related to Armenian women including marriage, education, work, and sex.
Armenia-Turkey: Response to U.S. Genocide Resolution
Following last week's resolution urging the US government to recognize the 1915 massacre and deportation of Armenians in the Ottoman Empire as Genocide, reaction in the blogosphere appears to be muted. However, other alternative voices are making their voices heard.
Azerbaijan: Suspect real estate deals in Dubai
Thoughts on the Road comments on recent news reports that $44 million in real estate deals were recently made in Dubai in the name of a 12-year old who happens to have the same name and date of birth of the Azerbaijani president's son. Another $35 million worth of deals...
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