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Do They Or Don’t They?

by Nathan

Ferghana.ru reported yesterday in a nice, bold, straightforward headline that Uzbekistan’s opposition welcomes closer between the Uzbek government and the West. Of course, news like this is never so straightforward. Birlik in Kokand is the only organization mentioned in the report as supporting rapprochement.
Meanwhile, IWPR reports, in an equally straightforward headline, that Uzbek human [...]

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Japan in Central Asia, Part II

by Nathan

With Japanese Prime Minister Koizumi’s arrival in Kazakhstan, reports on his visit to Central Asia are drawing attention to Japanese overtures to Central Asian governments being out of step with Western governments’ policy in the region. In addtion to needing to secure stable energy supplies, Japanese policy in the region has an element of power [...]

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More Uzbek Refugees Head Home

by Nathan

A group of 41 Andijon refugees is returning to Uzbekistan, RFE/RL reports.
The returnees were due to board an Uzbekistan Airways (Ozbekiston Havo Yollari) flight today at New York’s JFK Airport. They are expected back in the Uzbek capital on August 25.
Bahadir Fayiz, a Pennsylvania-based Uzbek emigre who is in close contact with many of [...]

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Cockfighting in the Ferghana Valley

by Nathan

Ferghana.ru has a story on the popularity of cock fighting in the Ferghana Valley, which the author, Ivan Vasiliev, says is at its height of popularity. Vasiliev says the fights are held in a remote location–technically in Kyrgyzstan–to keep out undesirables. He says the fights run from 11 a.m. to early the next morning and [...]

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Russia Also Moves In

by Nathan

Perhaps I’ve been unfair in singling out China’s attempts to capitalize on western criticism of Uzbekistan. Russia is doing its best to be there right alongside China.
In addition, Russia may be planning to step up its military presence in the region with another military base in Kyrgyzstan. Though both Russia and Kyrgyzstan appear to be [...]

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Andijon Court Blinks

by Nathan

After the peaceful protest in Andijon supporting the 23 men charged with unconstitutional activities grew much larger, the courts put the trial on hold and prosecutors reduced charges. Wow. The government has now backed down in Kokand, Jizzakh, and Andijon in the face of protests.
Again, considering what little I know about the case and protest [...]

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Uzbek Protest Roundup

by Nathan

Throughout the week, we’ve had a number of posts on the protest at the US embassy in Tashkent by relatives and friends of Bakhodir Choriyev demanding that the Uzbek government return farmland seized from them. Choriyev’s farm and business was quite successful, and it appears that authorities seized his property for this reason.
Here is [...]

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Unrest Brewing in Ferghana?

by Nathan

EurasiaNet reports on a stillborn protest in the Ferghana Valley:
There is evidence that residents of the Ferghana Valley, Uzbekistan’s main agricultural region and a bastion of Islamic conservatism, are growing increasingly restive. Recently, human rights activists in the Ferghana Valley contacted foreign organizations and mass media outlets, informing them about plans to stage protests in [...]

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Tough Times Ahead?

by Nathan

That’s what Stratfor thinks Uzbekistan’s government is in for considering its backdown after the Jizzakh region protests. I’m not going out on a limb here, but the Uzbek government is starting to build a track record of backing down or failing to respond in the face of what are, to be quite honest, very [...]

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2004 in Central Asia

by Nathan

RFE/RL’s Daniel Kimmage looks back at the past year in Central Asia (via Jodi).
My super-compressed take on the year is that it wasn’t too good, but I’m not entirely pessimistic.
On the one hand, everyone started copying Kazakhstan’s triangulation foreign policy. For Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan especially, that has meant a turning [...]

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