The mysterious death by hanging of a jailed Bishkek traffic cop has highlighted concerns that a new government campaign against corruption may be fueling a dangerous rivalry between two of the country’s most secretive and powerful agencies: its police and its secret services.
Temur had a choice. When applying to university in Dushanbe, Tajikistan’s capital, he could try to win a scholarship that would cover his expenses and fees, or pay the annual $600 tuition. But there was a third, more practical option, too.
Rakhat Aliyev, the scandal-prone former son-in-law of Kazakhstani President Nursultan Nazarbayev, has stirred up trouble in his homeland and in Europe. Now, he’s tried to make waves in Washington. But he’s found that a spin war in the United States can quickly turn into a quagmire.
A customs union is still several months away from taking effect, but Russia already seems to be exerting influence over Kazakhstan’s trade. Concerned that its own market will become flooded with smuggled Chinese goods, Moscow is pressuring Astana to tighten controls at the Kazakhstani-Chinese border before July 1, when Russia is due to remove its checkpoints along its frontier with Kazakhstan.
Following Russia’s lead, Tajikistan’s main law-enforcement agency will soon drop its Soviet-era moniker, militsia, and refashion itself as the politsia. Beyond the name change, though, real reform is lacking, human rights advocates in Dushanbe say.
After 18 years on the police force, Major A. has a good relationship with his superiors: If he slips his supervisor a little cash, he says, he is excused from work and free to earn money at his second job, driving a taxi around Kyrgyzstan’s capital, Bishkek.
Nearly one month into Azerbaijan’s anti-corruption crackdown, both the government and general public appear puzzled about how far the campaign will actually go. But amidst the uncertainties, some signs of real change are beginning to emerge – a phenomenon that is encouraging popular expectations.
Angry demonstrators in Cairo most definitely don’t have the right to vote in Azerbaijan. But officials in Baku seem to be acting these days as though they do.
A line of 150 trucks waits to enter Kazakhstan. It takes so long to clear customs here that each rig usually only makes two round trips a month. And yet, contrary to appearances, documentary discrepancies suggest the checkpoint is a smuggler’s paradise.
Welcome to Khorgos, soon to become Russia’s new trade border with China.
