So, last week a court in Kazakhstan banned Stan.tv from operating on the charge of extremism — and in a few weeks, Astana shall ascend to the UN Human Rights Council. There’s a full-on censorhip …

neweurasia’s Averroes sees a problem with the way we here at neweurasia talk about Central Asian nationalism: we’re too busy pretending it’s not real when in fact it is — and that it’s dangerous for the region.The real question is “whether Central Asian nationalism should happen,” he writes. “It’s a moral question, not a normative one.” What do you, our readers, think?

As the crisis in Libya continues, neweurasia’s resident speculator Averroes wants to know more about the two sides’ weaponry, and specifically whether there’s a Central Asian connection, however faint. There’s certainly a generally Soviet/ex-Soviet connection, but also a tiny hint of potential, probably untapped, for military trade between Kazakh-Libya. “I’m not saying there’s a direct link here,” he writes, “but it’s an interesting question, don’t you think?”

Harvard’s Berkman Center has produced this “map” of the Russian blogosphere (supplemented with a simplifying exegesis by RussianSphinx). It looks alot like a Petri dish under a micrscope, with the core of the infection around …

I’ve noticed some critical comments appearing on neweurasia’s Turkmenistan posts lately. Then there’s this little tidbit from RFE/RL:
Turkmen President Gurbanguly Berdymukhammedov has called on the National Security Ministry to fight against those who “disseminate …

Re: Alpharabius’ comment to my boss Schwartz’s chapter on religion for Cyber-Chaikhana, here’s a rather patriotic YouTube video with this interesting remark by the user about Zoroastrianism in Tajikistan:
A Tajik can be an adherent of …

neweurasia’s resident ideologue, Averroes, offers up some visual satire of four of Central Asia’s most authoritarian leaders. Take a peak!

A global currency for a globalized world — that’s the proposal of Kazakhstan’s President Nazarbaev, which he made during an informal meeting of OSCE foreign ministers in Almaty earlier this month. neweurasia’s resident ideologue, Averroes, reviews the history of the idea and wants to know your opinion.

So, on the one side, we’ve got the CSTO saying they’ve got “something” in mind for the crisis in Southern Kyrgyzstan, and on the other side we’ve got the UN saying they need an aid …

Perhaps the biggest puzzle piece missing is Russia: why didn’t Moscow leap all over Bishkek’s invitation to basically invade Osh?  My guess is because Medvedev et al actually perceive the proposed constitutional reform by Otunbayeva …