Read Clean Hands: Tajikistan’s Fights Against Corruption, by Livia Paggi, Central Asia Now’s latest piece of analysis.
Paggi’s article focuses on corruption and her themes are echoed in a piece on Italian site AsiaNews. The situation isn’t helped by food inflation, which has become a serious concern for citizens and governments alike. RadioFreeEurope/RadioLiberty reports a staggering 33% rise in the price of flour in Tajikistan over the past week. The Jamestown Foundation considers the possibility of civil unrest as a result of the inflation whilst the Institute for War and Peace Reporting suggests that people in Uzbekistan at least will be too frightened to protest.
Energy, however, remains at the top of the political agenda in Kazakhstan as the crisis over the Kashagan oilfield continues. A deadline of October 22nd has been set for resolving the dispute. During his visit to Ashgabat this week, Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev discussed gas exports with his Turkmen counterpart. The countries’ willingness to forge ahead with pipeline routes West across the Caspian and East into China is likely to irk their current largest customer, Russia.
A report by the watchdog Crude Accountability warned that Turkmenistan needed to consider the environmental impact of the race to exploit its energy resources. At the same time a report by the Blacksmith Institute lists the city of Mailuu-Suu in Kyrgyzstan is among the world’s most polluted, according to the Financial Times.
Uzbekistan mourned the death of one of its greatest creative talents this week. Mark Weil, who was murdered on 7th September. His loss is likely to contribute to the feeling of malaise amongst Tashkent’s embattled artistic community, reports Czech website Transitions Online.
Stay tuned to Central Asia Now for weekly news digests. Keep an eye out for our fortnightly analysis slots by regional experts.
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