Kovalev: I believe there is no clearly formulated strategic standpoint on this. The role of Russia in politics of the CIS provinces is being dictated by the current situation in those countries, their current state of affairs. That doesn't mean, however, that there are not constant factors influencing Russia's position.
What happened? The Aral Sea disappeared. Forty years ago, the Aral was the fourth-largest lake in the world. Today the sea, which straddles the border between Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan, has shrunk by half, creating a vast toxic desert. The Aral and the area around it have suffered an almost complete ecological collapse, devastating the region known as Karakalpakstan.
The US State Department evaluates human rights conditions of the eight nations of the Caucasus and Central in its twenty-second Annual Country Reports on Human Rights Practices. The country reports, released on February 25, describe conditions as "uneven" in Georgia and Kyrgyzstan; "poor" in Armenia, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan; and "extremely poor" in Turkmenistan.
The State Department reports reflect both new priorities in the US government's human rights agenda, and old problems inherent in this type of reporting.
A prominent Kyrgyz human rights activist warned that Central Asia faces a summer of tumult, saying that repressive political regimes in the region are pushing discontent to dangerous levels.
Much of the debate over Islam in post-Soviet Central Asia is cast in monolithic terms: Islam is contrasted to secularism, fundamentalism to democracy. In considering complex issues in mutually exclusive categories, we reduce each side to a homogeneous whole. Yet, Central Asia, in common with the rest of the Muslim world, is heir to a rich tradition of debate and contention.
Whilst the theme elaborated by Aitmatov seemed fairly innocuous his hopes for greater cooperation among Central Asian states in the 21st century the interview touched on some very sensitive issues that dominated Kyrgyz politics in 1999. The dispute has intensified with the approach of Kyrgyzstan parliamentary elections on February 20.
One of the human rights that has seen significant improvement since the fall of the Soviet Union is the right to free speech. Today, all but two CIS states --Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan -- have abolished state censorship. (Azerbaijan joined those ranks only last year, as a precondition for accession to the Council of Europe.)
On February 3, unknown assailants slashed the door at "Edil-Zhayiq" and ransacked its offices, destroying equipment and removing private documents. Political corruption makes it unlikely that a police investigation will uncover government involvement, if it existed.
The government's interests in the Barskoon incident are clear. Kumtor is a joint-venture between the Kyrgyz government and the Canadian gold mining company Cameco Corporation, with the government holding a two-thirds interest of the venture. Thus, it is understandable why the government has consistently sought to minimize the hazards associated with the spill.
