Michael Hancock-Parmer

Critical Journalism and Janaozen

by Michael Hancock-Parmer

Prologue   Criticism and Critique are often confused. This might be partly because their adjectival forms are usually written the same way. Is a critical report critical in the sense of important? I think that definition is the least confusing from context. But what about other meanings? Is the report critical because it judges the [...]

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Book Review: A Small Key Opens Big Doors

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Chen, Jay, ed. A Small Key Opens Big Doors. 50 Years of Amazing Peace Corps Stories, Volume Three: The Heart of Eurasia. Travelers Tales: Palo Alto, 2011.336 pages, includes Foreword, Preface, Introduction, Acknowledgments. Disclosure: Jay Chen is a friend and fellow Returned Peace Corps Volunteer (RPCV). We served in the same group in Kazakhstan starting in [...]

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Oil is the Wealth of the Nation

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The events in Kazakhstan on its Day of Independence have made headlines around the world, but the motivations and consequences of the events continue to evade observers inside and outside the country. Several videos capturing both the violence and the shocked onlookers’ comments have surfaced on Radio Free Europe /Radio Liberty and their affiliate Radio Azattyq. [...]

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Post in the works

by Michael Hancock-Parmer

Now that we have a little bit of time between us and the Janaozen events, I’m hoping to prepare a little more in depth post. This is hopefully going to also be the start to a more regular course of writing from myself. Writing is work and deserving of criticism, so I accept and hope [...]

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FLASH: PC Kazakhstan Closing

by Michael Hancock-Parmer

This is not verified or official, but from a source (a volunteer in Kazakhstan) who has been informed that following a conference next week (on Thanksgiving) in Almaty, the Peace Corps staff in Kazakhstan will begin processing the exit of Peace Corps Volunteers from Kazakhstan. Why? Why now? This is likely either the result of [...]

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Why Uzbekistan should be left alone

by Michael Hancock-Parmer

Just to show there isn’t a monolithic thing called Registan, I thought I would voice my opinion. I think of Afghanistan as being separated from Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, and Tajikistan by a 700-foot tall magical wall of ice. This ice wall represents the historical trajectory of the 19th and 20th centuries that took two locales connected [...]

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Kazakhstan – 20 Years After Independence

by Michael Hancock-Parmer

Prologue Kazakhstan twenty years into its first independent statehood is a difficult animal to categorize, describe, analyze, etc. Why would we want to? My aim in this exercise is to find a general sense of how Kazakhstan has changed since the late 1980s and how it has stayed the same. I am treating the year [...]

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Kazakhstan in Time

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[UPDATE: In response to some of the comments, I would reiterate that there is a place for everyone's opinions on Kazakhstan. Even this piece, and certainly other writings that I disagree with or that disagree with me. Each has the right to write whatever they want and publish it. It is my right to respond [...]

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Some thoughts on Google.kz

by Michael Hancock-Parmer

I’ve been following this story more openly on Facebook than on Registan, largely because before today I had not heard enough to really form a solid opinion. Fortunately, others who seem to know a bit less of the situation have saw fit to jump in and opinionate at will… so at least I have someone [...]

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New Elections in Kazakhstan, Readysetgo!

by Michael Hancock-Parmer

Not that long ago, it seemed possible (if not likely) that Nazarbaev would be President of Kazakhstan without election until 2020.  One group claimed they had collected over 4 million signatures, with the signers pleading that the President take the reigns through the next decade.  This group was part of a wave of popular support [...]

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Can you believe this guy?

by Michael Hancock-Parmer

Professor Fred Starr, chairman of the Central Asia Caucasus Institute at Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies, on Turkmenistan: I have the most positive experiences of contemporary Turkmenistan. I am grateful to the head of state, President Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov, for the opportunity provided to see Turkmenistan in its various dimensions: this includes ancient [...]

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