tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-293250622012-02-28T03:17:30.115-05:00Now also available at <a href="http://www.roberts-report.com">WWW.ROBERTS-REPORT.COM</a></li>Sean R. Roberts, PhDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17090985925875689358noreply@blogger.comBlogger1681100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29325062.post-36672951800718462412010-06-18T13:43:00.001-04:002010-06-18T13:54:41.139-04:00

With violence subsiding in southern Kyrgyzstan, the real dangers to regional stability are only starting to come into perspective. Yesterday's announcement by the UN that the refugee problem had ballooned to about 400,000 seems to have awakened the international community, but its response remains unclear. What is clear is that the scope of the problems that could now emerge as a result of

Sean R. Roberts, PhDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17090985925875689358noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29325062.post-17505086397483370362010-06-17T12:20:00.002-04:002010-06-17T12:37:11.773-04:00

As we watched the horrible news of violent chaos that overtook Southern Kyrgyzstan over the last week, the first question that came to mind was – why? Why would people who have been neighbors for decades be drawn into such senseless violence? Is it related to the overthrow of Bakiyev's government, or are we witnessing something completely unrelated? While information coming out of Osh and

Sean R. Roberts, PhDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17090985925875689358noreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29325062.post-90325870312377501122010-04-08T01:29:00.002-04:002010-04-08T01:38:01.118-04:00

About a month ago I was briefing a group preparing to do an assessment of development projects in Kyrgyzstan. When they asked me to describe the biggest threats of conflict in the country, I said corrupt governance and the question of succession. The group looked puzzled and said that they had understood that politics were completely controlled in Kyrgyzstan now that Bakiyev had “eliminated”

Sean R. Roberts, PhDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17090985925875689358noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29325062.post-63201191776022033332010-04-06T19:00:00.004-04:002010-04-07T03:49:22.872-04:00

(courtesy of RFE/RL)Today, news spread that Kyrgyzstan was engulfed in political turmoil once again. Just about five years after the protests of the “Tulip Revolution” forced former President Askar Akayev from office, all too familiar reports are coming from Kyrgyzstan that those in opposition to the present president are clashing with police in regions around the country and attempting to take

Sean R. Roberts, PhDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17090985925875689358noreply@blogger.com12tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29325062.post-71964716242508703732009-07-10T17:01:00.002-04:002009-07-10T17:13:45.424-04:00

Anybody who has recently attended an event where the policies of the Chinese government towards minorities are being criticized has encountered the propaganda shock troops of the new China. They protest nearly every public event involving the Dali Lama in the United States, they established counter-protests against Tibet during the Olympic torch relay last summer, and they were at my talk about

Sean R. Roberts, PhDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17090985925875689358noreply@blogger.com47tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29325062.post-61993747179930475792009-05-27T14:04:00.005-04:002009-05-28T16:02:33.228-04:00

The following is a piece, which Steve Levine requested I write for his blog, "The Oil and the Glory" on an important issue to the future of the U.S. Global War on Terror. It is posted on his blog as well.In the last two weeks, the issue of the 17 Uyghur detainees who have been in U.S. custody in Guantanamo Bay for the last seven years has come to the forefront of American politics. As somebody

Sean R. Roberts, PhDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17090985925875689358noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29325062.post-61900948684857209042009-03-25T13:48:00.007-04:002009-03-25T15:08:51.604-04:00

Visiting Almaty the week before last reminded me that it is a resilient city. Its people have lived through many crises, and their will is not easily broken. As a commenter to my previous post on the economic crisis in the country suggested, the people of Kazakhstan will likely be able to muddle through their present hardships as they have many before them. Nonetheless, the signs of economic

Sean R. Roberts, PhDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17090985925875689358noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29325062.post-69346638415775230172009-02-21T12:58:00.002-05:002009-02-21T13:36:59.211-05:00

Yesterday, the Century Foundation posted a white paper I wrote on U.S. democracy assistance policy in Central Asia. One of my major points in the paper is that the U.S. lacks a long-term strategy for the region, and, as a result, democracy assistance has been dictated too often by the ebbs and flows of America’s immediate needs from the Central Asian states. In the context of America’s present

Sean R. Roberts, PhDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17090985925875689358noreply@blogger.com14tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29325062.post-14778700109537147322009-02-13T12:01:00.002-05:002009-02-13T12:04:20.130-05:00

Simon James, a video documentarian at The Refugee Studies Center at Oxford University, has produced an interesting introductory educational/informational aid on Central Asia, entitled "Understanding Central Asia" that is worth sharing with you. It a basic video that highlights interviews with various experts in the field of Central Asia studies, providing commentary on some basic issues as they

Sean R. Roberts, PhDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17090985925875689358noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29325062.post-75833082034665298242009-02-04T00:56:00.002-05:002009-02-04T09:07:47.444-05:00

About a month ago, I spoke with a financial consultant close to the Kazakhstan market who said that things looked very bad. He said that the major banks, especially BTA (Bank Turan Alem) and KKB (KazKommertz Bank) were in serious trouble. He thought they were beyond “bailout,” and that the country was headed for serious trouble. This situation, of course, is not unique. Around the world,

Sean R. Roberts, PhDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17090985925875689358noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29325062.post-37340284308378778372008-12-03T23:17:00.002-05:002008-12-03T23:35:02.973-05:00

Thanks to Google, the Roberts Report on Central Asia and Kazakhstan is now able to become a more interactive website. With the addition of a new membership tool (see the box on the sidebar after my profile), you can now become a member of the Roberts Report on the website itself and chat or correspond with other members. Furthermore, you don't even need to open an account on the site - you can

Sean R. Roberts, PhDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17090985925875689358noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29325062.post-49613626981614217262008-12-03T09:53:00.000-05:002008-12-03T09:54:21.752-05:00

Will Richard Holbrooke become the top US diplomat for Central Asia?During the election, several journalists (mostly working for media outlets serving people in Central Asia) asked me to comment on the different positions of the candidates towards the region. In general, my response was that neither candidate is probably thinking much about Central Asia. My only caveat was that a Barack Obama

Sean R. Roberts, PhDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17090985925875689358noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29325062.post-19550313557255592282008-11-05T17:32:00.002-05:002008-11-05T18:27:41.117-05:00

Note on Photo: This was obviously created by an anti-Obama Republican - it is untrue that Obama's father was Muslim, that he is atheist, or that he has no experience. Still, I couldn't resist it given its Kazakhstan connections. In the past few weeks, I have given a couple of interviews to media outlets broadcasting to the former Soviet Union (VOA Uzbek Service and BBC Russia Service) on the

Sean R. Roberts, PhDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17090985925875689358noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29325062.post-3362923793603616252008-10-01T20:41:00.002-04:002008-10-01T21:04:48.708-04:00

I often feel as if the international community dismissed the Tulip Revolution in Kyrgyzstan almost before it had been completed. While the Rose and Orange Revolutions in Georgia and Ukraine were led by political personalities who could easily be seen as reformers in the west, Kyrgyzstan’s Tulip Revolution lacked leadership. It was almost spontaneous, and it lacked the organizational order seen

Sean R. Roberts, PhDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17090985925875689358noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29325062.post-25386326415603710532008-09-29T14:51:00.004-04:002008-09-29T22:42:03.609-04:00

Enlarged frame from a tourist's photo taken in Kashgar on August 4, 2008.The Sunday New York Times ran an extremely interesting article that calls into question the entire narrative of Uyghur separatist terrorism that emerged around this summer’s Olympics. The article questioned the official account of what had happened early in the morning of August 4 in the town of Kashgar. According to

Sean R. Roberts, PhDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17090985925875689358noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29325062.post-7044186287871661002008-08-26T00:06:00.001-04:002008-08-26T00:13:15.727-04:00

Recently, a friend of mine who had visited me in Central Asia in the later 1990s sent me a picture of a bag we had gotten in the Tashkent bazaar. In the 1990s, the plastic bag one brought to the bazaar was an important marker of one’s identity. In what was a quite eco-friendly policy born of necessity, shoppers always paid extra for bags, and there was a tendency to reuse them indefinitely.

Sean R. Roberts, PhDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17090985925875689358noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29325062.post-70333688180382479812008-08-11T11:03:00.002-04:002008-08-11T11:11:41.838-04:00

The only leverage the US has ever had in Central Asia relates to our implicit counter-balance to Russia. The Central Asians have lived under Moscow’s shadow for decades, and they have constantly sought ways to slowly distance themselves from Russian control. With the fall of the U.S.S.R., the U.S. presented itself as the obvious source for counterbalancing Russia in the region. While no

Sean R. Roberts, PhDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17090985925875689358noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29325062.post-86537928923334513502008-08-05T01:47:00.003-04:002008-08-05T02:08:20.715-04:00

Photo by Joshua KuceraToday’s news carried yet one more item about alleged Uyghur terrorism in China. According to Chinese sources, two Uyghur men, aged 28 and 33 respectively, drove a truck into a group of Chinese border guards during their morning marching exercises at a border post outside the city of Kashgar. The two Uyghur “terrorists,” then got out of the truck and reportedly stabbed

Sean R. Roberts, PhDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17090985925875689358noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29325062.post-83404760902503538962008-07-21T13:46:00.007-04:002008-07-22T17:09:28.175-04:00

Stephen Payne with Timur Kulibayev (center)Stephen Payne doing some shooting practice with VP Dick CheneyA look at the Department of Justice’s database of official lobbyists for foreign states indicates that only two U.S. firms are officially employed by the Government of Kazakhstan at the moment. One is a law firm based in New York called DLA Piper. The other is APCO Worldwide, Inc., whose

Sean R. Roberts, PhDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17090985925875689358noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29325062.post-5754898142870057282008-07-15T12:40:00.003-04:002008-07-15T13:39:29.240-04:00

A few months ago, I wrote about how Bill Clinton had been snagged in the infamous and wealthy web of the “Kazakhstan Triangle”– which I characterized as “that mysterious and dangerous territory of shady international business dealings covered by the area between Almaty, Astana, and Atyrau.” Well, it looks like it has snagged another victim – and it appears that hardly a more deserving one could

Sean R. Roberts, PhDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17090985925875689358noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29325062.post-18440692150568881672008-07-14T11:52:00.001-04:002008-07-14T12:10:40.507-04:00

Uyghur Prisoner being Brought to Execution in ChinaAt the end of June, in the first case concerning a Guantanamo detainee tried by an American civilian court, A District of Columbia Court of Appeals found that the evidence accusing Parhat Huzaifa, a Uyghur prisoner, of involvement in terrorism was virtually non-existent. In its decision, the court even compared the evidence to a Lewis Carroll

Sean R. Roberts, PhDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17090985925875689358noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29325062.post-36377698967194569022008-05-13T10:31:00.002-04:002008-05-13T10:38:30.240-04:00

Yesterday’s Wall Street Journal has a very interesting investigative piece that touches on both ”Kazakhgate” and the seedier side of US companies that do consulting for foreign governments (warning the article’s link will only last seven days). According to the article, Dariga Nazarbayeva had hired a US firm called GlobalOptions (which appears to be a “fixer” for foreign governments and

Sean R. Roberts, PhDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17090985925875689358noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29325062.post-18187704521801030342008-05-13T09:17:00.002-04:002008-05-13T09:39:56.228-04:00

The events that took place in Andijan three years ago today on May 13, 2005 remain a subject of controversy. On the one hand, eyewitness accounts tell a story of senseless and bloody slaughter of innocent people. On the other hand, ">some western academics have tried to justify the response of the Uzbek government and have endorsed the government’s alleged video evidence of the events’ links to

Sean R. Roberts, PhDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17090985925875689358noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29325062.post-66777906560428339962008-04-28T18:47:00.002-04:002008-04-28T18:56:46.809-04:00

Central Asians have been through a lot over the last century. They are not strangers to famine and hardship, but that does not mean that they will just be able to brush off what is turning out to be a global crisis in food prices. Over the last several weeks, there has been increased media attention to the rising prices of foodstuffs around the world. The Economist has called it the “Silent

Sean R. Roberts, PhDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17090985925875689358noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29325062.post-45035549471402861392008-04-09T11:46:00.001-04:002008-04-09T11:47:18.063-04:00

Sean R. Roberts, PhDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17090985925875689358noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29325062.post-74411680782995896592008-03-14T11:34:00.003-04:002008-03-14T11:43:08.991-04:00

Forbes’ list of billionaires has added another Kazakhstan name to its list – Bulat Utemuratov– bringing the country’s “official” members in the elite billionaire club to 8. Before one gets too excited about what appears to be Mr. Utemuratov’s rapid rise to wealth, let’s keep in mind what gets a Kazakhstan billionaire on Forbes’ radar screen. First, the Forbes list appears to operate on

Sean R. Roberts, PhDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17090985925875689358noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29325062.post-69347497453092862892008-03-11T01:59:00.001-04:002008-03-11T02:11:28.055-04:00

The “Global War on Terror” (GWOT) has been very hard on the Uyghurs. Taking advantage of the September 11th terrorist attacks on the U.S., the Chinese government since 2001 has stepped up its repression of Uyghur dissent both inside and outside China’s borders, justifying its actions by branding Uyghur nationalists as terrorists. More importantly, however, the Chinese government has effectively

Sean R. Roberts, PhDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17090985925875689358noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29325062.post-32393922444199419252008-02-05T15:11:00.000-05:002008-02-05T15:14:46.623-05:00

While this story does not seem to have legs in the Super Tuesday battle around America today, a few national media outlets have brought it up. NBC nightly news, for example, did a decent job in putting together a piece on it – But, the most interesting one I saw came from none other than “fair and balanced” Fox news. It is interesting to see Hillary struggle with this one because it really

Sean R. Roberts, PhDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17090985925875689358noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29325062.post-70044035149635068222008-02-01T14:29:00.001-05:002008-02-13T11:03:42.156-05:00

(NOTE: This post has also been reprinted in Russian by a Kazakhstan site here) Ok – you were probably thinking the Roberts Report was defunct, but that indeed is not the case. I have lots of excuses for my conspicuous lack of postings, the most persuasive of which has been the overall depressing nature of recent news in the region since my last post. Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan adeptly turned

Sean R. Roberts, PhDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17090985925875689358noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29325062.post-87711250388205614762007-11-14T13:55:00.000-05:002007-11-14T22:22:10.174-05:00

Alisher Usmanov – he even looks like he could be from BuffaloUsmanov or any other post-Soviet oligarch would not get this kind of reception from a Buffalo crowd (as long as they are not letting their two best stars escape to free agency)The charging Buffalo could be replaced by a Marco Polo sheep or a nomadic warrior as long as it represents Buffalo.One of the joys of blogging is being contacted

Sean R. Roberts, PhDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17090985925875689358noreply@blogger.com13tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29325062.post-39449604481431738102007-11-11T12:39:00.000-05:002007-11-11T12:52:07.505-05:00

Today, we have another exclusive interview for the readers of the Roberts Report. This time it is with Edil Baisalov, the well known political figure and democracy activist from Kyrgyzstan. While only born in 1977, Edil has already established himself as one of the most important political figures in Kyrgyzstan and one of Central Asia’s most vocal activists for democracy. For several years, he

Sean R. Roberts, PhDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17090985925875689358noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29325062.post-73427819579260940802007-10-29T21:05:00.000-04:002007-10-29T21:14:14.954-04:00

This post is a first for the Roberts Report – an exclusive interview. Steve Levine, author of the recently released book "The Oil and the Glory", agreed to answer some questions for me about current events surrounding oil and politics in the Caspian region, a topic which is the focus of his new book. I first met Steve Levine in the late 1990s when he was covering Central Asia mostly for the

Sean R. Roberts, PhDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17090985925875689358noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29325062.post-11605964901204734622007-10-28T04:13:00.000-04:002007-10-28T04:22:14.605-04:00

The shot-gun parliamentary elections in Kyrgyzstan this December could be the biggest test yet of which way the country is headed. The last parliamentary elections in March 2005 were so flawed that it brought the government down. But, one of the curious aspects of the “Tulip revolution” was that while it was sparked by flawed parliamentary elections, the parliament that was elected in that

Sean R. Roberts, PhDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17090985925875689358noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29325062.post-31021752396681081912007-08-18T03:46:00.001-04:002007-08-18T03:46:35.016-04:00

Nursultan Nazarbayev has a skill for calling timely elections. Over the years, he has called numerous shot-gun elections that prevent opposition groups from preparing and often catch the international community off guard. This week’s parliamentary elections in Kazakhstan, however, may be the best example of this phenomenon to date. With the future of Ukraine being decided through an election

Sean R. Roberts, PhDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17090985925875689358noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29325062.post-76981081312626944072007-05-30T00:10:00.001-04:002007-05-30T00:55:25.860-04:00

First, I must say that I have been immersed in working on my house over the last six to seven weeks and have not been posting to the blog. I hope this has not chased my readers away, but it has been a necessary break. That being said….what is going on in Kazakhstan at the moment has motivated me to come out of hibernation (literally since I am presently in Siberia) and try to make sense of the

Sean R. Roberts, PhDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17090985925875689358noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29325062.post-9187436449805226802007-04-11T10:57:00.000-04:002007-04-11T10:58:11.485-04:00

Picture of the sign hanging on the White House gates courtesy of Edil Baisalov’s blog Yesterday in Bishkek, the latest series of prolonged protests began in the city’s main square. On the surface, it would seem that these protests differ little from those from last November. Groups have arrived from various regions in the country, and yurts have been set up on the main square to house people

Sean R. Roberts, PhDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17090985925875689358noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29325062.post-9938457143351160332007-04-07T01:01:00.000-04:002007-04-07T01:03:43.415-04:00

I am happy to offer my readers a piece put together by David Hoffman who reports with suspicion from Pakistan about recent fighting in Waziristan between Pashtun tribal groups and the IMU. Having spent significant time in both Uzbekistan and Afghanistan, Dr. Hoffman gives us an interesting perspective on what may really be happening in Waziristan. I have added some hyperlinks to give the

Sean R. Roberts, PhDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17090985925875689358noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29325062.post-49069359544569322612007-04-02T01:48:00.000-04:002007-04-02T01:50:37.461-04:00

In the last week, Kyrgyzstan’s political situation has taken another unexpected turn that will likely further obscure the machinations already evolving in the country’s political arena this spring. Finding himself increasingly backed into a political corner by his former ally Felix Kulov, President Kurmanbek Bakiyev has once again done what he does best – sought compromise with the opposition.

Sean R. Roberts, PhDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17090985925875689358noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29325062.post-28465404342051708052007-03-05T03:02:00.000-05:002007-03-05T03:06:34.058-05:00

Having weathered several political crises since being elected to office in July 2005, President Kurmanbek Bakiyev may soon face his biggest challenge from his former Prime Minister, Felix Kulov. Despite moving into the Bishkek White House in 2005 backed by popular sentiment calling for an end to corruption and the adoption of political reforms, President Bakiyev has yet to initiate any of the

Sean R. Roberts, PhDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17090985925875689358noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29325062.post-90802683757535671792007-02-16T16:58:00.000-05:002007-02-17T05:54:09.905-05:00

Numerous people have requested that they be notified by email of updates to my blog. In an effort to keep people abreast of new postings via email, I have recently opened an account through FeedBlitz. This will enable me to send digests of my postings to you when I update my page. All you need to do to be included on my list of subscribers is to send me an email at sean@roberts-report.com

Sean R. Roberts, PhDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17090985925875689358noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29325062.post-30064104823787066632007-02-16T16:30:00.000-05:002007-02-16T16:32:00.943-05:00

Rakhat Aliyev’s political and business career in Kazakhstan has been a blessed, albeit rocky, one. Marrying into the Nazarbayev family as the eldest son-in-law has obviously assisted Mr. Aliyev’s political rise and financial enrichment. He is alleged to control Nurbank, the Karavan media group, and numerous other critical assets. In addition, he has served in high-level governmental positions

Sean R. Roberts, PhDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17090985925875689358noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29325062.post-8077346837695203092007-02-12T06:03:00.000-05:002007-02-13T15:15:09.108-05:00

Yesterday, Turkmen citizens went to the polls to vote for a new president. For the Turkmen government, which kept foreign journalists out of the country during the polling, the election’s completion is likely a major relief. It seems, at least from the surface, that the elections mark the last stage of a calculated and orderly succession that began immediately following Saparmurat Niyazov’s

Sean R. Roberts, PhDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17090985925875689358noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29325062.post-90788238193424452192007-02-03T02:52:00.001-05:002007-02-03T02:54:08.469-05:00

There is a Simpson’s episode entitled “Homer Defined” where Homer saves the Springfield nuclear plant from a disaster of his own jelly donut’s making by randomly picking a button to press. Without going further into the plot, Homer eventually becomes a world-renown example of the lucky klutz, and people all over the world adopt the saying “to pull a Homer” to characterize any klutzy act that

Sean R. Roberts, PhDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17090985925875689358noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29325062.post-67109410883451863882007-01-31T02:46:00.000-05:002007-01-31T02:52:26.032-05:00

When Turkmenbashi passed away under a cloud of secrecy in Ashghabad in late December, one can assume that the other Central Asian presidents thought long and hard about what would happen if they experienced a similar heart failure, whether naturally or induced. Given Kazakhstan’s relative stability, Rakhmanov’s young age, and Bakiyev’s numerous other political problems, events in Ashghabad

Sean R. Roberts, PhDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17090985925875689358noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29325062.post-56423206616439686582007-01-29T00:43:00.000-05:002007-01-29T15:38:02.073-05:00

Will Minister of Justice Balieva begin registering independent political parties?Since the dismantling of Dariga Nazarbayeva’s party Asar this past summer, there has been a gradual attempt to consolidate the political representation of all of President Nazarbayev’s political allies under the umbrella of a new enlarged Otan party, recently renamed “Nur-Otan.” At the same time, there seems to be

Sean R. Roberts, PhDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17090985925875689358noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29325062.post-49327223510226107682007-01-23T00:57:00.000-05:002007-01-23T00:58:58.130-05:00

Will Felix Kulov be nominated Prime Minister again?In September when the Kyrgyzstan opposition began protesting the lack of progress in the reforms promised by President Kurmanbek Bakiyev, they were counting on Felix Kulov eventually joining them. When Kulov held his course in backing Bakiyev throughout the protests, the opposition felt betrayed and increasingly turned against the Kyrgyz Prime

Sean R. Roberts, PhDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17090985925875689358noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29325062.post-42414808445099186142007-01-22T17:39:00.001-05:002007-01-22T17:43:30.872-05:00

Kazakh workers striking at an Agip construction site late last weekSome of the increasing workforce of Chinese oil companies active in KazakhstanThose who have been working for foreign oil companies in western Kazakhstan for some time are well aware of the fact that there will come a time when Kazakhstan wants to take total control over its own resources. While there have long been waves of

Sean R. Roberts, PhDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17090985925875689358noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29325062.post-41144041405872525212007-01-11T02:23:00.000-05:002007-01-11T03:00:11.914-05:00

Before going to bed, I noticed that the Kazakhstan government had already changed significantly. Without going into too much detail, the following changes have been announced:Nurtay Abykayev will no longer be the speaker of the senate and will become the ambassador to Russia.Tokayev has taken over as speaker of the senate, while Marat Tazhin takes over Tokayev's old job as Minister of Foreign

Sean R. Roberts, PhDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17090985925875689358noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29325062.post-23305039704249805272007-01-10T00:47:00.000-05:002007-01-10T01:28:24.398-05:00

Does the front runner in Turkmenistan’s presidential elections really want to change the country?In the last week, several articles have emerged in sources as well known as the New York Times and Businessweek highlighting the seemingly progressive election platform of the front runner in the election to succeed Turkmenbashi as the second president of independent Turkmenistan - Gurbanguly

Sean R. Roberts, PhDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17090985925875689358noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29325062.post-39094318162682905632007-01-08T14:53:00.000-05:002007-01-10T01:31:34.554-05:00

Karim Masimov, first Uyghur Prime Minister of Kazakhstan? After some three and one-half years as Prime Minister of Kazakhstan, Daniel Akhmetov stepped down on Monday. According to at least one source, President Nazarbayev has already nominated Karim Masimov as his choice to take the place of Akhmetov. While people have been speculating about Masimov’s candidacy to succeed Akhmetov for some

Sean R. Roberts, PhDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17090985925875689358noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29325062.post-78213827843801280482007-01-04T00:43:00.000-05:002007-01-04T01:04:30.462-05:00

The holidays and my recent move-in into a new house have slowed down posts on the Roberts Report, but coverage of the on-going events in Central Asia and Kazakhstan will continue into 2007 soon enough. In the meantime, I wish all readers of the Roberts Report a belated happy holidays and a great 2007! May this latest year of the ”Fire Pig” be one which you will remember fondly! For those

Sean R. Roberts, PhDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17090985925875689358noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29325062.post-52940839735309364142006-12-27T01:47:00.000-05:002006-12-27T01:53:27.392-05:00

Turkmenbashi’s casket at the state funeralTurkmenbashi’s image being washed off a building in AshghabadTurkmenbashi's legal wife and son at the funeral Turkmenbashi’s likely successor Gurbanguly BerdymukhammedovYesterday's People’s Congress (Khalk Maslikhaty) meeting that has anointed him The funeral of Turkmenbashi on December 24 was the last act in Saparmurat Niyazov’s ostentatious show-like

Sean R. Roberts, PhDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17090985925875689358noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29325062.post-55017021666733966072006-12-23T14:22:00.000-05:002006-12-23T22:50:00.627-05:00

While several days have past since the death of Turkmenbashi the Great, the succession situation appears no clearer. Although sources in both the U.S. and Russia stress the geopolitical significance of the country and its future, any international attempts to influence the succession process appear to be happening only behind closed doors. With the security situations in Iran and Afghanistan

Sean R. Roberts, PhDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17090985925875689358noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29325062.post-35947654008896920822006-12-21T18:01:00.000-05:002006-12-21T18:05:23.555-05:00

There are numerous people in the U.S. government who have been following the situation in Turkmenistan closely enough to provide well-informed input on how the U.S. should react. The question is whether the U.S. will take the initiative to use such people in order to engage the situation or whether it will decide to play it safe. The safe position is to say that the U.S. regrets the passing of

Sean R. Roberts, PhDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17090985925875689358noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29325062.post-62495026364170344652006-12-21T10:03:00.000-05:002006-12-21T10:52:56.353-05:00

News is trickling in about the death of Turkmenbashi the Great. Preliminary reports suggest that the infamous totalitarian leader of Turkmenistan died of a heart attack today and will be buried on December 24 (Christmas eve). The People's Council is scheduled to have an extraordinary meeting to discuss succession on December 26. In the meantime, opposition groups in exile are claiming they are

Sean R. Roberts, PhDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17090985925875689358noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29325062.post-5835486858322625592006-12-19T15:28:00.000-05:002006-12-19T15:36:22.559-05:00

Pictures from the December 1986 Ethnic Kazakh Student Protests in Alma-AtaTwenty years this past weekend, an event took place in Almaty, Kazakhstan that has often been described as the beginning of the end of the Soviet Union. After Moscow had removed an ethnic Kazakh named Dinmukhamed Kunayev from the position of First Secretary of the Communist Party of the Kazakh SSR and replaced him with a

Sean R. Roberts, PhDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17090985925875689358noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29325062.post-79065444416696821382006-12-15T02:05:00.000-05:002006-12-15T02:13:12.519-05:00

This past week, the government of Kazakhstan ran yet another large infomercial in the Washington Post. This time, however, the pitch was somewhat novel. The half-page quasi-article had a catchy headline – “Who Needs Borat? Here’s the Kazakh President.” The article also begins with a catchy introduction: “In this exclusive article, Nursultan Nazarbayev presents a different picture of his

Sean R. Roberts, PhDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17090985925875689358noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29325062.post-4793257033577884542006-12-13T05:04:00.000-05:002006-12-13T05:06:34.318-05:00

On November 30th, I gave the seventeenth annual Nav’ai Lecture in Central Asian Studies at Georgetown University. The title of my talk was the same as that which is featured above. I was inspired to speak on this topic by the recent glut of literature on “clan politics” in Central Asia. This recent literature includes Oliver Roy’s influential introduction to Central Asia, The New Central Asia,

Sean R. Roberts, PhDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17090985925875689358noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29325062.post-63626096861650809742006-12-05T11:23:00.000-05:002006-12-05T11:24:11.161-05:00

An international Hare Krishna group called the Isvara Network has released an interesting video on You Tube. The video features the comments of Borat (Sacha Baron Cohen) about Kazakhstan’s religious tolerance during his mock press conference in front of the Kazakhstani embassy in September juxtaposed with footage of the recent brutal destruction of a Hare Krishna settlement near Almaty. While

Sean R. Roberts, PhDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17090985925875689358noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29325062.post-37066983860278291942006-12-04T12:00:00.000-05:002006-12-04T12:07:03.277-05:00

President Nazarbayev and Queen Elizabeth II in London last monthSir Richard Evans, the new Chairman of Samruk This past summer, an acquaintance in Kazakhstan’s financial sector told me that his country was most likely to become a corporate state devoid of any ideology beyond a drive for economic development. In many ways, this has been the image that President Nazarbayev has been cultivating

Sean R. Roberts, PhDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17090985925875689358noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29325062.post-42751261633435544942006-12-02T02:09:00.000-05:002006-12-02T02:10:42.541-05:00

Almost a month since opposition protests prompted a political crisis in Kyrgyzstan, it appears that president Bakiyev may be launching renewed attacks on the country’s opposition. These renewed attacks began about a week ago when Bakyt Kalpetov of Omurbek Tekebayev’s “Ata-Meken” party was arrested under accusations that he had attacked the General Director of Kyrgyz State Television during the

Sean R. Roberts, PhDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17090985925875689358noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29325062.post-10940396682394686322006-11-21T23:57:00.000-05:002006-11-22T00:02:04.467-05:00

While there has been much talk about the compromise constitution agreed upon between the government and the opposition in Kyrgyzstan, this alone is unlikely to smooth over relations between competiting political groups in the country. For this reason, one can expect that the winter will be a tense time of political negotiations in the country. To see how heated those relations got on November 7

Sean R. Roberts, PhDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17090985925875689358noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29325062.post-55047156305533764732006-11-21T23:05:00.000-05:002006-11-21T23:10:03.474-05:00

The Roberts Report will have a slow down over the next week due to the Thanksgiving holiday and a conference about the modern history of the Uyghurs that I am attending in Tokyo. If I have a chance (and a handy internet connection), I may try to post from Japan, but if not I will make sure to be back posting by December 1. I wish everybody a happy Thanksgiving whether or not they celebrate the

Sean R. Roberts, PhDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17090985925875689358noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29325062.post-69057053428679233682006-11-21T01:15:00.000-05:002006-11-21T01:25:06.068-05:00

Gulnara and Yudashkin at fashion show in TashkentIn my last post, I noted the growing middle class that sets Kazakhstan apart from the rest of Central Asia. This middle class could be the driving force of gradual change in Kazakhstan as the country’s elite will need to address the needs of this emergent class in order to retain the economic stability that is keeping pockets (or Swiss bank

Sean R. Roberts, PhDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17090985925875689358noreply@blogger.com12tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29325062.post-8504464090806553012006-11-17T04:43:00.000-05:002006-11-17T04:44:32.568-05:00

Casino in Almaty soon to be movedYou won’t be able to register this car soon in KazakhstanKazakhstan’s economic reforms and natural resource wealth has helped to spawn a growing middle-class. While the concept of a middle class is difficult to define and is ultimately dependent on context, in Kazakhstan it probably would be best defined as that portion of the population that can take subsistence

Sean R. Roberts, PhDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17090985925875689358noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29325062.post-60643423208400753592006-11-14T10:50:00.000-05:002006-11-14T10:51:53.212-05:00

In the last couple of months, the landscape of political parties has once again transformed in Kazakhstan. Various pro-presidential parties have been combined under the umbrella of a new “Otan” mega-party that now includes the recently liquidated “Asar” and “Civic” parties. A new party named “Atamaken,” which is led by Yerzhan Dosmukhamedov and appears to have the backing of important people,

Sean R. Roberts, PhDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17090985925875689358noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29325062.post-6866153058559470502006-11-11T14:53:00.000-05:002006-11-11T14:55:49.228-05:00

Given the rather specialized audience of this site, it occurred to me that many who visit it regularly are also interested in content from the internet in Russian. For this reason, I have added an additional newswire of Central Asian news from websites in Russian. I hope this is a useful feature.

Sean R. Roberts, PhDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17090985925875689358noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29325062.post-30835900330404592392006-11-10T19:08:00.000-05:002006-11-13T09:33:39.670-05:00

Presidents Akayev and Bakiyev of KyrgyzstanFor people who get their news from American newspapers and television, the protests that forced president Bakiyev to sign a new constitution this week appeared to come out of nowhere. Like most political developments of this kind, however, the frustrations and problems leading to change have a history, which, when viewed with hindsight, explain why

Sean R. Roberts, PhDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17090985925875689358noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29325062.post-66272093326881937222006-11-09T10:09:00.000-05:002006-11-09T10:41:46.153-05:00

Parliament celebrates after accepting draft of new constitution (Kommersant)Today, president Bakiyev signed a new constitution into law for Kyrgyzstan. While it is not clear how the new constitution will affect the political situation in the country at present, it does suggest at least slightly increased powers for the parliament and slightly decreased powers for the president (KyrgyzReport

Sean R. Roberts, PhDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17090985925875689358noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29325062.post-80051856546176976762006-11-08T13:47:00.000-05:002006-11-08T14:10:28.788-05:00

Protesters relaxing in the evening (courtesy of Theodore Kaye)Daytime…tense…nighttime…optimistic. That seems to the story of the last several days in Bishkek as the resolution of the ongoing political struggle over the constitution in the country has see-sawed back and forth between hope for compromise and conflicts between mobs of protesters. The latest news is that the parliament has prepared

Sean R. Roberts, PhDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17090985925875689358noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29325062.post-62765327323330489672006-11-08T03:10:00.000-05:002006-11-08T03:14:55.864-05:00

Pro-Bakiyev Protest in front of parliament (courtesy of KyrgyzReport)After it looked like a compromise may have been within reach, it now looks like the Bakiyev-Kulov tandem is on the offensive in trying to discredit the opposition. As reported yesterday, the government has rallied its employees to participate in a large protest in front of parliament, where ten yurts have reportedly been

Sean R. Roberts, PhDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17090985925875689358noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29325062.post-80670361161732026842006-11-07T16:23:00.001-05:002006-11-07T16:40:02.484-05:00

Opposition camp at nightAs Bishkek went to bed tonight, it looked as if compromise might be within reach through constitutional changes. While it is too early to say that the political crisis that has evolved over the last several days has ended, reports claim that opposition deputies and pro-Bakiyev deputies have reached a compromise to consider a third version of the constitution. Speaker of

Sean R. Roberts, PhDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17090985925875689358noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29325062.post-79215513743231155792006-11-07T09:36:00.000-05:002006-11-07T09:44:00.303-05:00

A wall of police holds back opposition protesters from pro-Bakiyev protesters near parliament building (courtesy of KyrgyzReport)An ominous show of force in front of the American University of Central Asia (courtesy of KyrgyzReport)As the political standstill continues in Bishkek, the stakes have been raised by dueling protests and the first signs of violence. Tuesday began with the opposition

Sean R. Roberts, PhDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17090985925875689358noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29325062.post-20643754923544130652006-11-06T22:16:00.000-05:002006-11-06T22:18:53.567-05:00

Special Forces guard Kyrgyzstan’s White House yesterday (courtesy of KyrgyzReport)As people in Bishkek begin to awake from a long night of political crisis, it is unclear where the dust settled last night. The last news from Akipress suggested that the parliament had not succeeded in establishing the quorum it sought for voting on its new constitution. While 34 parliamentarians had signed off

Sean R. Roberts, PhDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17090985925875689358noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29325062.post-12157134444360271802006-11-06T12:29:00.000-05:002006-11-06T12:30:29.407-05:00

Protesters on the streets of central Bishkek on Monday (courtesy of KyrgyzReport)As promised, Monday was a critical day in the standoff between the government and opposition protestors in Bishkek. It began with Bakiyev presenting his version of the constitution to the parliament, which is overtly pro-presidential in form. This move was not only boycotted by pro-opposition deputies, but even

Sean R. Roberts, PhDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17090985925875689358noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29325062.post-24355960479318947952006-11-05T22:42:00.000-05:002006-11-05T22:43:53.644-05:00

Deputy Teklebayev leads protestors on a march from Alatoo Square to the State Television station (courtesy of KyrgyzReport)Policemen Protect State Broadcasting Headquarters from Protestors (courtesy of KyrgyzReport)Sunday’s protests continued to push both opposition and government further from compromise. According to the KyrgyzReport, protests were organized Sunday in Tokmak, Lebedinovka, and

Sean R. Roberts, PhDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17090985925875689358noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29325062.post-60769605363454634602006-11-05T20:18:00.000-05:002006-11-07T20:10:07.343-05:00

Talk given at a panel on the Tajikistan election at IFES in Washington, DC on November 1, 2006As Tajikistan gets ready for its presidential elections next week, the thought that continues to go through my mind is that the government of Tajikistan is passing up an important opportunity to demonstrate its interest in more fully integrating into the international community. Taking serious strides

Sean R. Roberts, PhDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17090985925875689358noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29325062.post-78885320875747998842006-11-04T13:48:00.000-05:002006-11-05T22:00:24.915-05:00

Protests continued for the third day on Saturday, and thanks to the new Kyrgyz Report blog, we have photos of the activity. Leaders of movement speaking before crowd during daytime rally (courtesy of the KyrgyzReport)Crowd listening to speakers on Alatoo Square this Saturday (courtesy of the KyrgyzReport)The government continues to view the protests as essentially anti-constitutional, accusing

Sean R. Roberts, PhDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17090985925875689358noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29325062.post-63864284990065397872006-11-03T23:52:00.000-05:002006-11-05T10:14:49.368-05:00

For those who have not been able to catch the Borat film yet, make sure that you stay for the credits if you do go. At the very end, the film has its own satirical version of the Kazakhstan national anthem. Interestingly, the very final frame of the montage that accompanies the anthem shows the face of a president superimposed on the waving flag of Kazakhstan....only, it is not Nursultan

Sean R. Roberts, PhDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17090985925875689358noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29325062.post-84081482662559125442006-11-03T01:21:00.000-05:002006-11-05T22:00:38.663-05:00

While people were fairly tense concerning the protests that began in Bishkek yesterday, by the end of the day people in Kyrgyzstan’s capital seemed more relaxed. Tents remained on the square overnight, and people in Bishkek seem to suggest that they may stay there for some time. Edil Baisalov provides some first hand accounts of the position of the protests’ organizers on his blog. Edil

Sean R. Roberts, PhDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17090985925875689358noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29325062.post-24602357485361985192006-11-03T01:04:00.000-05:002006-11-05T22:00:53.118-05:00

Sean R. Roberts, PhDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17090985925875689358noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29325062.post-29237450614091583102006-11-03T00:11:00.000-05:002006-11-03T00:13:43.681-05:00

The public relations department at 20th Century Fox loves the Kazakhstan government, which has done more than anybody to promote the studio’s new film, Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan. For over a year, the Kazakhstan government has been complaining about Borat’s negative portrayal of its nation. The film’s real joke, however, is not about

Sean R. Roberts, PhDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17090985925875689358noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29325062.post-6746162337009458932006-11-02T00:09:00.000-05:002006-11-05T22:01:08.265-05:00

Crowd in Alatoo square at protest during 1st anniversary of Tulip revolution this past MarchBy the time most of you are reading this, the opposition protests in Bishkek should have begun. According to several sources, Bakiyev had agreed yesterday to accept a new constitution that gives increased power to the parliament , but the opposition bloc “For Reform” wants to see it signed today in

Sean R. Roberts, PhDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17090985925875689358noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29325062.post-34536715574622081812006-10-31T12:00:00.000-05:002006-10-31T12:05:57.768-05:00

Ex-President Askar Akayev meeting with President Bush at the White House in 2002NBC news investigative reporters apparently got their hands on leaked information from the FBI on the Askar Akayev investigation. While the investigation has been public knowledge for some time, this new report ties the Akayev family’s economic empire into criminal activity that may have also taken place on U.S. soil

Sean R. Roberts, PhDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17090985925875689358noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29325062.post-91760066316206896322006-10-31T04:08:00.000-05:002006-10-31T04:24:33.491-05:00

Former Turkish President Turgut Ozal, Kazakhstan President Nursultan Nazarbayev, and Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip ErdoganThe riots between Kazakhs and Turks that took place in Tengiz a week ago last Friday have generated much discussion and interest around the world. Filipino authorities have expressed concern for their workers in Kazakhstan, and the Turkish embassy in Kazakhstan initially

Sean R. Roberts, PhDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17090985925875689358noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29325062.post-41306040195281348172006-10-28T00:32:00.000-04:002006-10-28T03:58:20.738-04:00

Next week will be a big week in news for Central Asia. Three very different events for which people have awaited for some time will finally take place. The three events, which relate to Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Tajikistan respectively, are demonstrative of how different politics in these countries have become in the last fifteen years. The first event, which will take place on Thursday

Sean R. Roberts, PhDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17090985925875689358noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29325062.post-26739368968045873192006-10-25T11:53:00.000-04:002006-10-25T14:32:56.056-04:00

Alexander Mashkevich of the Eurasian Natural Resources CorporationWhen the Dariga Nazarbayeva’s Asar party was devoured by the ruling Otan party in Kazakhstan over the summer, there remained questions about the other “pro-presidential” parties in the country. Would they also become part of the new “Mega-Otan,” or would they remain separate political instruments ready to be employed when needed?

Sean R. Roberts, PhDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17090985925875689358noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29325062.post-80715363042156938632006-10-25T10:32:00.000-04:002006-10-25T10:40:09.841-04:00

Felix Kulov (left) and Kurmanbek Bakiyev (right) after announcing their coalition to run the Kyrgyzstan governmentAs the date of November 2 approaches, observers of Central Asian politics are focused on what will happen at the protests threatened by the Kyrgyzstan opposition on that date. Will this be another attempt to use threats of protests to attain concessions from President Bakiyev, or

Sean R. Roberts, PhDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17090985925875689358noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29325062.post-68354529656939405792006-10-24T00:08:00.000-04:002006-10-24T00:12:48.428-04:00

I was finally able to find on youtube this advertisement, which ran during "Good Morning America" while President Nazarbayev was in the United States. Somebody in Washington told me that he felt bad that the Kazakhstan government probably paid good money for this adverisement, which has far lesser production values than the "ever wandered?" spot. In fact, if I didn't know better, I would have

Sean R. Roberts, PhDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17090985925875689358noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29325062.post-91260625286808690672006-10-22T20:48:00.000-04:002006-10-23T17:38:41.030-04:00

Rakhat Aliyev from 1990s (left) and Borat today (right)As the PR surrounding the Borat movie approaches a fever pitch ahead of the film’s worldwide opening on November 3 of this year, more and more articles are written about the reaction of the Kazakhstan government to the Borat figure and his portrayal of its country. Most western observers are amused by the outrage that the Kazakhstan

Sean R. Roberts, PhDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17090985925875689358noreply@blogger.com18tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29325062.post-64993900222253927952006-10-22T11:54:00.000-04:002006-10-22T11:58:08.630-04:00

Sean R. Roberts, PhDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17090985925875689358noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29325062.post-24810272972916877022006-10-20T23:37:00.001-04:002006-10-20T23:37:42.570-04:00

Kazakhs and Turks fighting at the Tengiz oilfield siteReports from the Tengiz oilfield suggest that what started as a personal brawl between three Turks (from Turkey) and a Kazakh (all workers for Tengizchevroil) quickly developed into an inter-ethnic/international riot on Friday. While the initial Reuters report only mentions that ten people were injured in generic “riots,” Kazakhstani sources

Sean R. Roberts, PhDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17090985925875689358noreply@blogger.com13tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29325062.post-14323779461771250392006-10-18T17:38:00.000-04:002006-10-18T23:44:09.720-04:00

Rakhat Aliyev (top) and Borat Sagdiyev (bottom)Perhaps Rakhat Aliyev had read the three points of advice provided by Forbes columnists and PR consultants Marc E. Babej and Tim Pollak last week to the government of Kazakhstan in their attempt to steal Patton Boggs' business, or perhaps the two consultants have already been hired by Aliyev. Regardless, Mr. Aliyev is taking their third point of

Sean R. Roberts, PhDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17090985925875689358noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29325062.post-86292371158628808182006-10-17T17:51:00.001-04:002006-10-17T17:54:54.864-04:00

Prime Minister Kulov (left) and President Bakiyev (right)As the deadline for opposition protests in Bishkek approaches, there seems to be many in the opposition who are hoping that Prime Minister Felix Kulov will throw his weight to the side of the protestors and give up on his partner in the present ruling tandem, Kurmanbek Bakiyev. An editorial-styled article in the anti-Bakiyev “Belyi

Sean R. Roberts, PhDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17090985925875689358noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29325062.post-41943083280150435972006-10-17T15:43:00.000-04:002006-10-17T15:47:51.495-04:00

Tohir Yoldoshev, leader of the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan and the alleged Islamic Movement of TurkestanMakhmasaid Jurakulov, the head of the Department to Combat Organized Crime in Tajikistan’s Ministry of Internal Affairs, says just that. At a press conference on Monday in Dushanbe, Mr. Jurakulov noted that the Islamic Movement of Turkestan is a fictional invention created by the Uzbekistan

Sean R. Roberts, PhDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17090985925875689358noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29325062.post-43509076862141923872006-10-16T22:49:00.000-04:002006-10-16T22:54:49.402-04:00

Rabiya Kadeer with Bill Gates in 1994 (above) and Kofi Annan in 2006 (below)In 1998, I was eating laghman at a Uyghur ashkhana (eatery) in the Uyghur section of Urumqui. The owner, hearing that I spoke Uyghur, began to talk with me. Upon learning that I lived in Almaty, we exchanged information about the Uyghur community in Kazakhstan. Then, he asked me if I had ever met Rabiya Kadeer. I said

Sean R. Roberts, PhDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17090985925875689358noreply@blogger.com16tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29325062.post-30242009755406618062006-10-15T12:18:00.000-04:002006-10-15T12:30:26.301-04:00

About a week ago, I posted a request for remembrances of Nurbulat Masanov and contacted scholars who knew him well from around the world. I wanted to re-alert people to this post, which now has several comments from various scholars including myself, Ed Shatz of the University of Toronto, Gregory Gleason of the University of New Mexico, Michele Commercio of the University of Vermont, and Bhavna

Sean R. Roberts, PhDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17090985925875689358noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29325062.post-48888215553830888812006-10-13T17:00:00.000-04:002006-10-13T18:49:50.674-04:00

Dr. Yerzhan Dosmukhamedov of the Atameken Union of Entrepreneurs and KazMunaiGazWith the widespread talk about political reforms, and especially about the establishment of a parliamentary form of government chosen by a nationwide party-list vote, it is not surprising that the constellation of political parties in Kazakhstan is transforming once again. Earlier this summer, Zharmakhan Tuyakbai

Sean R. Roberts, PhDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17090985925875689358noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29325062.post-72334744916261823292006-10-13T12:37:00.000-04:002006-10-13T18:53:27.744-04:00

President Islam Karimov’s daughter Gulnara (aka Googoosha)Googoosha (aka Gulnara Karimova) continues to move ahead with her music career. According to ferghana.ru, she recently released her own version of the famous Mexican song Besame Mucho, which has been sung by some 700 singers from Diana Ross and Frank Sinatra to the Beatles and Elvis Presley. In case you are not familiar with the song,

Sean R. Roberts, PhDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17090985925875689358noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29325062.post-76078994698533122582006-10-12T09:56:00.001-04:002006-10-12T10:09:06.634-04:00

The pressure on President Bakiyev in Kyrgyzstan is mounting. With the date of November 2 set for a large protest that will demand the President’s resignation if his election promises are not fulfilled, Bakiyev is looking for ways to establish a dialogue with those who oppose him. A similar strategy worked for Bakiyev last May when he diffused the impact of a large opposition protest by inviting

Sean R. Roberts, PhDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17090985925875689358noreply@blogger.com2