July 10, 2007
The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has pointed out recently that radioactive tailings are still piled around Tajikistan. Ana María Cetto, IAEA Deputy Director General and head of its Technical Cooperation Department, visited Tajikistan this May. She met with Minister Asadullo Gulomov and Foreign Minister Hamrokhon Zaripov who apparently claimed that cleaning up radioactive debris in rural areas is a priority. The problem of course is the funding. Tajikistan has 10 abandoned tailings sites. And according to Ms. Cetto the IAEA can’t pay to clean them up rather can only “provide the expertise and the knowledge to Tajikistan that will assist it best help itself.” But still, good news after several years of little press and little priority?
Hardly. A IWPR report from 2005, two years ago for those keeping count, revealed similar visits from the IAEA and similar statements from the director of the Vostokredmet Mining Company: “Over the past few years specialists from the IAEA have come to Sogd region four times. Several evaluation projects were undertaken with the Russian nuclear ministry, but neither Russia nor Tajikistan have the necessary funds to go forward. At present, Vostokredmet can only monitor the situation. Around 10-15 million US dollars would be needed to make any progress.”
10 million USD doesn’t sound too bad. But that estimate may be a bit low to do the job properly. 9 sites in Western Colorado were recently cleaned up by the US Department of Energy for over $900 million, out of a program totaling $1.5 billion. Ongoing regulations and projects to prevent building on or near potentially radioactive land are also a far cry from the IAEA report that houses are actually being built out of tailings in Tajikistan, not just near them.
So if the UN agency and the US government won’t help, it’s possible that Europe might take notice (as they have in the past) or non-governmental like the Nuclear Threat Initiative can raise the private funds to clean up a potential threat to human health and regional security. But all indications seem to be that it could take quite a few more years.
Picture: Uranium mine tailings at Taboshar in Tajikistan. (P. Rickwood/IAEA)
July 1, 2007
Several news sources carried an AP story about Chevron’s new office in Ashgabat. The IHT, CNN Money, Turkish Weekly, and others all duly ran the meager geopolitical analysis provided to them by the AP, namely the recent death of Turkmenbashi and the importance of natural resources in the region. The story noted twice that the source was “state-run television,” as if imply that the information isn’t untrustworthy and yet wasn’t worth fact checking either. Sources from Germany managed even less information about the country and the implications of such an event. Meanwhile, Chevron has yet to post any press releases about the partnership.
TOL has already pointed out the lack of depth in such coverage and promises further analysis soon. As an addendum, this particular news bite seems characteristic of most widespread (at least English language) news coverage of Central Asia, which tends to come from a single source and make brief, broad generalizations about geopolitics. Even more typical, the story has quickly been supplanted by stories about the ridiculous resurgence of personality-cult-like behavior in Berdymukhamedov’s jewel bedecked gift to himself. But who would realistically expect the media to care more about Chevron or the Caspian pipeline than a 2 pound gold pendant?
Picture: AP Photo/ Alexander Vershinin (from Washington Post)
June 27, 2007
Richard Johnson, the graphics director at the National Post was recently embedded in the Canadian military for two months outside of Kandahar. He’s been posting remarkable sketches of Kandahar life with extended captions, including the one above and below this post. The material is published in the newspaper and blogged via the Post’s website. Postings from Afghanistan: a Kandahar Journal. Keep reading →
June 25, 2007
The Big Hillbilly Bluegrass Band will play at Bishkek’s main ex-pat bar on Tuesday. Their regular gig is at Madam’s Organ in D.C., which besides being know as one of the best bars in town was also Euan Blair’s favorite hang out while an intern in Congress. Clearly this means the Big Hillbilly’s have some connections in high places, besides their official ones as State Department-sponsored cultural ambassadors.
But seriously, having personally railed many times against assumptions that bluegrass is the same as generic “country,” I can attest that the genre comes from a culture born in the American mountains. Could mountains be the best way to connect with the Kyrgyz? Bluegrass has worked for politicians before, as in Virginia’s 2001 gubernatorial race were Yankee telecom millionaire Mark Warner won with the rural vote. His campaign song was sung by the Bluegrass Brothers and included lines like: “Mark Warner’s a good ol’ boy from up in Novaville. He understands our people, the folks up in the hills.” It went on to detail how folks should shout his merits from the coal mines to the stills of Southwest Virginia. Is it possible that with a little word play, a Kyrgyz version could induce similar goodwill from Kumtor to the kymyz chanach?
Image: http://www.boxcarforeverbluegrass.com/free.htm
June 22, 2007
Kazakhstan is South Carolina, Uzbekistan is Wyoming, Russia is New Jersey and Pakistan is Arkansas, according to this map.
Although the economies of countries like China and India are growing at an incredible rate, the US remains the nation with the highest GDP in the world – and by far: US GDP is projected to be $13,22 trillion (or $13.220 billion) in 2007, according to this source. That’s almost as much as the economies of the next four (Japan, Germany, China, UK) combined. The creator of this map has had the interesting idea to break down that gigantic US GDP into the GDPs of individual states, and compare those to other countries’ GDP. What follows, is this slightly misleading map – misleading, because the economies both of the US states and of the countries they are compared with are not weighted for their respective populations.
Click here for a list of countries by GDP.
June 20, 2007
From our newest contributor, Shannon Hiller:
The third annual Failed State Index, produced jointly by a The Fund for Peace and Foreign Policy magazine, came out with mostly depressing news. The index ranks 177 states on 12 indicators, meant to asses their “vulnerability to violent internal conflict and societal deterioration.” The 2007 report includes data gathered from May to December 2006. Compared to last year, Central Asia managed a mixed yet predictable showing. [Click here for the current table with all of the 12 indicators, here for last year's table and here for the non-truncated FP version listing all 60 failed states]
A primary conclusion for the region: the neighborhood matters a lot. From this principle, its easy to understand why Tajikistan made the worst progress, climbing three spots to #39. FP notes its proximity to Afghanistan with some handy arrows symbolizing the spreading heroin, AIDS, and discord. Reinforcing this assumption, Bosnia, Serbia, and Moldova seem to be moving rapidly to the bottom or entirely off the chart, reluctantly surrounded by an expanding European Union. There is some metaphor about gentrification to be had here, involving drugs, but I think it could drag on too long for comfort.
Keep reading →
June 13, 2007
Without question the world’s finest alcoholic dairy product, kymyz is a toothsome brew of fermented mare’s milk, and the intrepid inebriate who finds himself in these far reaches would be a fool not to embark on a kymyz-tasting tour.
A colorful, practical guide to drinking Kymyz in Kyrgyzstan. (Don’t be alarmed by its source : The Modern Drunkard) Full of suprising facts and sharp wit, Jake Fleming’s guide will surely brighten up your day and compel you to book the next flight for Bishkek, even if you’re a teetotalist. And if you’re not totally sold on “milk champagne” yet, picture yourself… Keep reading →
June 12, 2007
Posted yesterday at Jamestown, an intriguing response from US Embassy officials to three Eurasia Daily monitor articles about recent Kyrgyz opposition to the Ganci base in Bishkek. If you’re reading this site, chances are you’ve read the articles concerned (here, here and here) by Jamestown analysts John C.K. Daly, Erica Marat, and Roger McDermott. In reply to the accusations from US Ambassador to Kyrgyzstan, Marie Yovanovitch of “significant factual inaccuracies, misleading statements, and false conclusions,” the three analysts post some impressive rejoinders, including:
As authors deal with materials available at the time of writing, it is most disingenuous for government officials to subsequently request revisions based on materials that were not available when writing, but rather, to acknowledge such an effort at post-publication revisionism compromises the Jamestown Foundation’s commitment to true scholarship on important contemporary issues.
Keep reading →
June 9, 2007
Putin’s surprise offer for Dubya at the G8 summit to jointly work on a missile defense shield in Azerbaijan rather than the contentious Czech-based proposal has commentators buzzing. Even as Washington and Moscow have agreed to discuss such potential, many, such as the NYT and this blogger are listing “daunting, and possibly insurmountable, hurdles.”
James over at Neweurasia points to the proposal’s tremendous positive (but admittedly unlikely) potential for Central Asia.
American and Russian objectives in Central Asia are not so dramatically opposed as popularly portrayed, and there is no fundamental reason the two countries could not cooperate in Central Asia. Both countries are committed to opposing militant Islam, both favor stability in the post-Soviet space, and both have a stake in the global economy. It seems that there are too many Cold War bureaucrats left over in the foreign affairs ministries of both sides. The Cold War is over, and there is no Great Game (or if there is, it is a childish one).
Bishkek pundit Muratbek Imanaliyev is so giddy about the uncharacteristic proposal, he entertains direct cooperation if not unification between the Russian Kant base and the American Ganci base, 30 km apart from each other, just outside Bishkek. He floats possibilities for “single military infrastructural fields” tackling “group-strategy challenges [through] greater exchanges of information between the two bases.” Catching optimism:
Keep reading →
Martin Fluch, a German teacher based in Osh, has finished a marathon from Bishkek to Osh, covering some 680 miles and some rough mountain-passes (over 3500meters high) along the way. His goal was to raise awareness on Kyrgyzstan’s poor educational system and apparently help bridge 
