Quick Hits

Ben Paarmann is in Kazakhstan and he’s already wading hip-deep through bureaucracy.
Alan Cordova has an interesting post about political consciousness in Kyrgyzstan
T-Moor has photos from a trip to Samarkand.
Last Friday’s Terrorism Monitor included an article on Salafi Islami in Azerbaijan.
Kazakhstan and China have signed a strategic cooperation agreement. That doesn’t in any way mean they’ve stopped triangulating in foreign policy though.
Roger McDermott writes that Kazakhstan is prepared to use force to quell political unrest. He notes that military hardware has recently been put under police control.
Also writing for Jamestown, Erica Marat discusses tensions ahead of Kyrgyzstan’s presidential election on the 10th.