For the leaders of Central Asian states surrounding Kyrgyzstan, the early April upheaval in Bishkek constitutes a nightmare scenario: an angry mob looting the capital, marching on the seat of government and driving an authoritarian-minded leader from power.
United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon began his first official Central Asian tour in Ashgabat on April 1. He is expected to focus on improving regional cooperation, disarmament, and environmental issues.
Yet advocacy groups fear Ban will miss an opportunity to address the region's dismal human rights record.
Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan have gone on a weapons spending spree over the past decade, collectively increasing their defense spending five-fold, according to a report recently released by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute.
A company with ties to Blackwater, the controversial private security firm now known as Xe, has been ferrying US government-directed cargos over the past five-plus years across Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Afghanistan and Pakistan.
The US State Department noted some modest improvements in human rights conditions in Central Asia in its annual Human Rights Report, although, overall, the region remained one of the worst in the world in terms of respecting basic freedoms.
China wants to build a high-speed railway across Central Asia, a leading Chinese rail expert says.
Wang Mengshu told the South China Morning Post that Beijing plans to link the Western Chinese city of Urumqi with Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan. The railway could later be extended to Europe.
"China's overseas high-speed rail projects serve two purposes.
With the onset of spring fast approaching, Russia is preparing for a new, incoming wave of labor migrants. Government officials in Moscow, including the head of the Federal Migration Service, acknowledge that the Russian economy needs guest workers in order to promote a steady growth rate.
A reticent Richard Holbrooke completed a lightning tour of Central Asia on February 21, a trip designed to bolster regional support for NATO efforts in Afghanistan. Publicly, the Obama administration's special envoy for Afghanistan and Pakistan received vague promises of support from Central Asian leaders.
US special representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan, Richard Holbrooke, will kick off a Central Asian tour on February 19 in Kyrgyzstan.
In Bishkek, Holbrooke will hold talks with Kyrgyz President Kurmanbek Bakiyev. The US envoy's exact itinerary has yet to be confirmed, Mark C. Toner, a spokesman for the State Department said during a February 17 press briefing.
