Voices from Central Asia · Global Voices
Ben Paarmann

Kids from near Batken in southern Kyrgyzstan wave you welcome to the latest roundup of blogging activities in Central Asia brought to you by neweurasia.
Let's go through the countries alphabetically:
Kazakhstan:
Leila of neweurasia has taken over the roundups from the Kazakh blogosphere on Global Voices. Keep your eyes peeled for the freshest conversations from the largest (and arguably most cyber-active) Central Asian country which appear on this site every second Thursday.
Kyrygzstan:
A well-known cleric from southern Kyrgyzstan, who has been known to allow members of the outlawed Hizb-ut-Tahrir into his mosque, died in an anti-terror raid. CXW has the whole story and Ataman Rakin provides background in the comments.
Tajikistan:
Dans le meilleur des mondes possibles has a great discussion of the decline of the Russian language in Tajikistan.  Learning Russian is much less strictly enforced in Tajikistan, with much less emphasis on the language in education and standardized testing.  This has led to a decline more rapid than in neighboring countries, as well as a variety of jokes about Tajiks speaking poor Russian; this post has some amusing examples of such anectdotes. Is flying with the Tajik national carrier really that bad? Vadim thinks so and his readers share his opinion.
Turkmenistan:
Turkmen blogger Paikhas has assembled an exhaustive list of Internet sites on Turkmenistan. Among the listed sites, are Turkmenistan's small handful of largely Russian-language blogs, news  and opposition sites, and sites on archeology, horses and contemporary culture. The content spans across a number of languages, including Russian, Turkmen, English and Farsi (RUS).
Uzbekistan:
Afisha reports that on the 12th of August in Uzbekistan the UN will be hosting an International Youth Day, an event that will garner participation throughout the world.  Youth can go to the site www.you.doda.uz to exchange ideas and discuss current problems in Uzbekistan and elsewhere.  Do check out the forums on that site – there really is a lively discussion about real issues facing Uzbekistan.  Elyor writes, “It's time we move toward the European system of education,” to which another responds, “Uzbekistan has its own path to development!”  The debate is thoughtful, lively, and fierce, and all hosted on an Uzbek website. Vseyusnyi Blog has a photo shoot showing the beautiful side of Tashkent.  The weather in Tashkent has been both beautiful and strange this year, says Afisha (all links RUS)
Regional:
Grace E. Jackson is traveling through Central Asia, and she makes you wish you were too.