From the monthly archives:

June 2005

The Fashionable Tatar

by Nathan

Younghusband of Coming Anarchy sent me an NPR story about Tatar entrepreneurs who are meeting the fashion needs of religiously observant Tatar women.
Younghusband said he’s interested to know my thoughts about the story, though there are no pictures for me to mock or praise. If some Tatar women feel they need to cover themselves up [...]

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Not quite in the poorhouse, but…

by Nathan

Those who pay attention to the rare mentions of my personal life know that I am soon leaving Philadelphia to head back to the wonderful Pacific Northwest (here specifically). So, I was leaving my job soon anyway, and I want to be clear I’m not at risk of moving into a refrigerator box in an [...]

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Ariel Cohen: Eurasia in Balance

by Laurence

Just hours before Muhammed Salih testified in the Senate, the Heritage Foundation hosted a book party for Eurasia in Balance: US and the Regional Power Shift, edited by Ariel Cohen.
A number of the authors were present, including Ali Koknar, Svante Cornell, Stephen Blank, and Martin Spechler. Invited NSC staffer Matt Bryza, now [...]

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Karimov’s Report to Putin

by Laurence

Here’s what the President of Uzbekistan told the President of Russia about Andijan on June 28th in Moscow:

ISLAM KARIMOV: In the night of 12-13 May at 12:30 a.m., someone clearly gave a command. There was an attack on a patrol service, not just a service but a battalion. Around 200 automatic weapons and [...]

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Interfax: Nazarbaev Defends Karimov

by Laurence

Interfax has him “saying that ‘terrorism and murder’ must not be lumped together with ‘human rights and freedoms’ and that the crisis was ‘an internal matter’ of Uzbekistan anyway.”

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British Helsinki Human Rights Group Questions Andijan Accounts

by Laurence

Nathan says you can’t trust them, but this seems like an interesting alternative interpretation of the Andijan crisis from BHHRG. Just take it with a grain of salt . . .

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Mr. Salih Goes to Washington

by Laurence

Muhammed Salih may have surprised his colleagues from Human Rights Watch, the Institute for War and Peace Reporting, and the International Crisis Group when he testifed before Senator Sam Brownback’s CSCE committee on Capitol Hill yesterday. (A transcript should appear here, eventually.)
The Erk party leader asked for the United States to keep its [...]

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“Che Guevara Saved My Life”

by Laurence

Among the most dramatic testimony at yesterday’s Senate hearing on the Andijan crisis came from Galima Bukharbaeva, IWPR’s Uzbekistan correspondent, who gave an eyewitness account of the violent conflict in Andijan on May 13th. At one point, Bukharabareva held up a red notebook that stopped a bullet which had passed through her knapsack. On [...]

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Guardian Unlimited | Special reports | UK trained Uzbek troops weeks before massacre

by Laurence

Guardian Unlimited | Special reports | UK trained Uzbek troops weeks before massacre

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VOA News – Uzbek Opposition Leader Urges Continued US Military Ties

by Laurence

VOA News – Uzbek Opposition Leader Urges Continued US Military Ties
An Uzbek opposition leader is calling on the United States not to cut its military ties to Uzbekistan despite a bloody government crackdown in that Central Asian republic last month.
Muhammad Salih, an Uzbek opposition leader living in exile in Germany, is on his first [...]

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