Turkmenistan: Ashgabat Sidesteps Global Credit Crisis, But Faces Inflation Fight (EurasiaNet)
BY DEIRDRE TYNAN While other countries in the Caucasus and Central Asia grapple with the global financial crisis, Turkmenistan seems set to sidestep trouble. But this is not because Turkmenistan’s leaders have been particularly savvy, prudent or even lucky, analysts say. Rather it is the insular attitude of the gas-rich state’s leadership — past and present — that is protecting Ashgabat.
Iran, Turkmenistan agree on further energy co-op (mehrnews.com)
TEHRAN, Oct. 27 (MNA) – Iranian Oil Minister Gholam-Hossein Nozari and Turkmenistan President Gurbanguly Berdymuhamedov made agreements on reinforcing bilateral ties in different fields of energy sector during a meeting held in Ashgabat on Monday.
Uzbekistan: ‘Getting Away with Murder’ (OneWorld)
OneWorld.net’s take: “The [European Union] is letting Uzbekistan’s brutal dictator get away with murder” by lifting sanctions on the country less than a year after the assassination of a local journalist who wrote critically about the state’s 2005 massacre of peaceful protestors, says journalist Michael Andersen .
Freedom Needed for Turkmen Arts to Flourish (Institute for War and Peace Reporting)
The Turkmen authorities have decided that the best way to foster the arts is by setting up a government commission which will rule on which novels, films and plays are up to standard.
Laura Barton meets Gillian Tett, assistant editor at the Financial Times (Guardian Unlimited)
Through a telescope in the boardroom of the Financial Times you can look out over the City of London; beneath this morning’s clear blue sky stand the Natwest Tower, the Thames Exchange building and the Gherkin. Boats scud along the river. A man strolls its banks. I count the cranes on the horizon – said to be an indicator of a city’s prosperity – and spot more than 20. Despite the news of …
Tajikistan smelter case adds to Deripaska woes (Financial Times)
Oleg Deripaska, the Russian billionaire whose meetings with senior British politicians have triggered controversy, faces fresh scrutiny about his company’s role in an alleged $500m fraud in Tajikistan, one of central Asia’s poorest countries.
Tajiks Fear Another Cold Winter Without Heat Or Electricity (EurasiaNet)
BY FARANGIS NAJIBULLAH Hanifa says she and her husband have spent all their savings to purchase enough coal and wood to keep their three-room apartment warm this winter. A EurasiaNet Partner Post from RFE/RL
Turkmen gas reserves audit to continue in 2009 -GCA (Reuters via Yahoo! Malaysia News)
ALMATY, Oct 31 (Reuters) – Britain’s Gaffney, Cline & Associates (GCA), commissioned by Turkmenistan to evaluate its gas resources, plans to audit a number of fields there next year to provide a fuller picture of the nation’s total reserves.
