Alexander Sodiqov · September, 2012

Latest posts by Alexander Sodiqov from September, 2012

Kyrgyzstan: Virtual Farming, Real Harvest

  26 September 2012

You can now grow real organic vegetables and raise livestock online. Caravanistan reports about a new project [ru] in Kyrgyzstan which allows users to purchase a plot of land or an animal on a virtual farm. The proceeds then go to real farmers who do the work and supply the users with vegetables...

Tajikistan: Singer Praising Putin Draws Anger

  13 September 2012

Since the beginning of the year, Tajik singer Tolibjon Kurbonkhonov has recorded three songs that extol the virtues of Russian president Vladimir Putin. The songs have become hits on YouTube and made the singer famous in Russia. Back in Tajikistan, however, the songs anger Kurbonkhonov's compatriots who accuse him of "sycophancy" and "disgracing the country".

Turkmenistan: The End of One-Party Rule

  12 September 2012

[The second political party] has formally brought to end Turkmenistan’s twenty-year-old system of single party rule. The question is whether it [has] brought it to an end really, and that remains to be seen. Annasoltan on NewEurasia.net suggests there is little substance behind the recent establishment of the second political party in Turkmenistan.

Kyrgyzstan: Two Years After the Conflict

  8 September 2012

Much like physical marks the conflict left on the city, the damage left in individual lives and on the city as a community is healing in many places—and where it doesn’t heal, it seems at least to fade into the background of other scars, other challenges. Noah Tucker on Registan.net...

Tajikistan: Xenophobia on Facebook

  8 September 2012

[O]ur society – to be more exact, that part of our society which has internet access and actively uses social networks – is increasingly witnessing the expansion and strengthening of unhealthy nationalist beliefs. Blogger Harsavor ponders [ru] the rise of xenophobia in Tajikistan, particularly among the country's Facebook users.

Tajikistan: Bribes and Neckties in Universities

  8 September 2012

Now students pay bribes to be admitted to universities, study only to get their [diplomas], but happily wear neckties to classes… Temur Mengliev summarizes [ru] the changes that have taken place within Tajikistan's colleges and universities over the recent years.