Is neweurasia’s Schwartz, much less neweurasia itself, accurately representing Turkmenistan? If so, who gave them the right? Schwartz responds to criticisms from an anonymous Turkmen reader, exploring the dynamics of Turkmenistan’s “marginal” geopolitical status, the dynamics of social media, and even religious faith. “I won’t mince words,” he writes. “My credibility is indeed subject to real debate.”

We here at neweurasia have been fortunate enough to get a healthy amount of coverage from much bigger news agencies around the world, but few have been such enjoyable experiences as our appearances on al-Jazeera’s …

Information about the WordPress ban in Kazakhstan is slowly trickling out. On 15 July, it was revealed that the ban is ostensibly due to two WordPress blogs that fell afoul of Kazakh censors, but one of the blogs appears not to have existed and the other was taken down from WordPress for violating the latter’s terms of service. neweurasia’s Schwartz reports.

Ferghana.ru has uploaded an amazing video of the Abadan blast. At 0:31 there is an explosion, the shockwave of which appears to topple the cameraman.
Meanwhile, a report from RFE/RL’s Turkmen Service makes Ashgabat sound …

neweurasia‘s Annasoltan reported three hours ago via sms that there has been a large explosion in southern Turkmenistan.
RFE/RL has been quick to develop the story. Apparently the explosion took place in the afternoon at …

The ongoing WordPress problem is now entering its third weekend, and unfortunately, there is no change in the situation and nothing to report. Some remarks by neweurasia’s Schwartz.

WordPress has been mysteriously inaccessible in Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan while spam-bots assault neweurasia. Just a coincidence? It’s uncertain, but it’s also part of a disturbing trend. neweurasia’s Askhat and Schwartz report. [Updated]

In light of the one-year anniversary of the June 2010 events in southern Kyrgyzstan, neweurasia’s Schwartz reflects upon ethnic identity in Central Asia, and comes up with a peculiar notion: could there be such a thing as an “ethnic Post-Soviet”? He finds evidence for this in the content of some blogs and the professions of many of his own colleagues at neweurasia, and even thinks that Kazakhstan’s Nazarbayev may be the biggest Post-Soviet at the moment.

The Aigine Cultural Research Center is planning to conduct a Seminar on Manas on 1-12 July 2011, aimed at preserving and developing the Manas epic. The event will be carried out with the financial support …

As most of our readers will no doubt already know, there’s an impressive Central Asian diaspora in Turkey — “diaspora” here being perhaps a relative, Soviet-era term, as both before and prior to communism there …