It's a strange sensation when a book written in French and translated into English resonates with the Russian literary tradition. In Chienne De Guerre, as in some of the best Russian literature from Akhmatova to Solzhenitsyn, the writer exposes the nation's suffering.
Armenian President Robert Kocharian sacked Prime Minister Aram Sarkisian on May 2. The president suggested the move was designed to reestablish a balance of power between the executive and legislative branches of government that has been lacking since the October parliament shootings.
On April 26, a court case opened in the southern Kyrgyzstani city of Osh in which several members of an opposition part, Hizb ut-Tahrir, faced charges of inciting interethnic hatred. The trial marked the latest stage of the Kyrgyz government's intense campaign against its political opponents.
The government effort to neutralize the northern-based opposition alliance, which centers on the El and Ar-Namys parties, has received considerable attention in the international arena.
An ongoing crackdown against organized criminal gangs in Tajikistan may have far-reaching political implications. The crackdown is essentially an extension of a bitter struggle for political power. The neutralization of crime bosses would provide a boost to President Imomali Rahmonov, who is currently striving to reassert his authority over Tajikistan's state institutions.
In his interview with Scott Horton, a prominent American attorney, Kulov claimed that one of the three charges -- arranging for the transfer of military and security materiel to Tajikistan in 1994-95 without government authorization -- is false. He insisted that the necessary government authorization for the transaction was obtained.
In one of only two publicized interviews since being imprisoned on March 22, Felix Kulov, head of the Ar-Namys Party and Kyrgyzstan's most prominent opposition leader, denied any illegal activity.
Iran's powerful conservatives, still reeling from their overwhelming defeat in last February's Parliament elections, took aim on Sunday at their most powerful and persistent foe: the independent, reformist press.
For well over a year, the Uzbek government has been engaged in a campaign against Islamic "extremism," which it also calls "Wahhabism." The net has been cast broadly: the campaign has targeted all expressions of Islamic piety beyond the direct control of the government's own religious administration. And it is not just the so-called extremists who have suffered.
CEP: Last month, Human Rights Watch issued a report documenting the government crackdown on human rights defenders in Uzbekistan. Please describe the campaign.
