The sudden cancellation of an exhibit at the Museum of Fine Arts in the Kyrgyz capital of Bishkek, along with the subsequent sacking of the chief of the Central Asian nation's culture agency, is stoking a debate over freedom of expression.
Central Asian states are no strangers to free-speech controversy, but the brutal murder of a journalist from Kyrgyzstan in neighboring Kazakhstan marks a new low in the region's media environment.
On paper, the US Department of Defense wants to turn the Northern Distribution Network into an engine for economic development in the Caucasus and Central Asia, one that helps regional companies and US-based firms alike.
Muhtar Yusupbekov has no regrets about his decision to send his 12-year-old son Muhammad abroad to Egypt to study. Muhammad, his father says, used to attend a local Russian-language school in his native Bishkek, but "he always had a passion to study religion, especially the Koran."
No country in the Caucasus or Central Asia saw its ranking rise in this year's Freedom in the World report, released January 12 by the democratization organization Freedom House.
Kyrgyzstan's political system has deteriorated over the past year, according to Freedom House, which characterized the country as "not free,"slipping from "partly free" in last year's report.
Umed Saidov, a 23-year-old Tajik, flew to the United States in the spring of 2009 with a single goal: to improve his English.
That skill would translate into better opportunities for him and his family back home. For now, Saidov, who studied in the northwestern US city of Seattle for four months before relocating to New York City, is taking it one step at a time.
President Barack Obama's decision to escalate the US military presence in Afghanistan has generated heated debate. Largely lost in the swirl of discussion is the surge's hidden cost on neighboring Central Asian states.
As the globe marks World AIDS Day today, the United Nations is warning that the spread of the disease is particularly acute in Eastern Europe and Central Asia, where the UN says "HIV prevalence clearly remains on the rise."
Kazakhstan, Georgia and Azerbaijan all showed significant decreases in corruption over the past year, according to a recently published worldwide survey by a Berlin-based watchdog group. The survey also showed that Armenia's rating declined, and the rest of the Central Asian states remained near the bottom of the rankings.
