JAN. 12 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) – Kurbanguly Berdymukhamedov, Turkmenistan’s autocratic president, sacked the head of the state’s natural gas company in a government reshuffle, media reported. Gas is Turkmenistan’s biggest income earner. Sahatmyrad Mammedov had headed Turkmengaz for less than a year.
ENDS
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(News report from Issue No. 120, published on Jan. 18 2013)
JAN. 16 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) – Georgia’s prosecutor-general has accused the military police under the former government of President Mikheil Saakashvili of setting up gay honey traps to blackmail prominent Georgians into supporting them, media reported. Since losing a parliamentary election in Oct., Mr Saakashvili’s former administration has faced a series of criminal and misconduct accusations.
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(News report from Issue No. 120, published on Jan. 18 2013)
JAN. 16 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) – Georgia’s prosecutor-general has accused the military police under the former government of President Mikheil Saakashvili of setting up gay honey traps to blackmail prominent Georgians into supporting them, media reported. Since losing a parliamentary election in Oct., Mr Saakashvili’s former administration has faced a series of criminal and misconduct accusations.
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(News report from Issue No. 120, published on Jan. 18 2013)
DEC. 29 2012 (The Conway Bulletin) – David Usupashvili, speaker of Georgia’s parliament, has suggested that the national legislature may move back to Tbilisi as early as spring 2013, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty reported. Since October 2012, Georgia’s parliament has been based in a new building in Kutaisi, 230km from Tbilisi.
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(News report from Issue No. 119, published on Jan. 11 2013)
DEC. 17 2012 (The Conway Bulletin) – Azerbaijan’s state oil fund, SOFAZ, bought a $285m building in central London, its first significant purchase for its new international property portfolio, media reported. Azerbaijan’s wealth fund is worth an estimated $33b.
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(News report from Issue No. 118, published on Dec. 28 2012)
DEC. 20 2012 (The Conway Bulletin) – Russia’s energy monopoly, Gazprom, bought Kyrgyzstan’s national gas company for $1 in what appeared at a first glance to be a simple bargain buy.
Strategically, though, Gazprom’s buyout of Kyrgyzgaz is far more than just a drive to increase its customer base. The buyout has also strengthened the Kremlin’s leverage over Kyrgyzstan where Russia is battling with the US and China for influence.
Russia and the US have airbases in Kyrgyzstan while China has won favour by funding infrastructure projects. Influence over Kyrgyzstan is considered key to influence over Central Asia.
Kyrgyzstan is one of the poorest countries in the former Soviet Union, relying on remittances and a handful of mines to prop up its economy. Its, mainly Soviet-built, infrastructure is crumbling, including the gas system.
Thousands of Bishkek residents have had to shiver through this winter after neighbouring Kazakhstan cut gas supplies over Kyrgyzstan’s unpaid debt. This is dangerous for Kyrgyzstan’s leaders as energy shortages tend to bring people out on to the streets and even trigger revolutions. They needed a solution and turned to Moscow.
In return, Russia’s control over Kyrgyz gas potentially gives it enormous power.
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(News report from Issue No. 118, published on Dec. 28 2012)
NOV. 29 2012 (The Conway Bulletin) – At her first meeting with her new Georgian counterpart, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton publicly criticised Georgia’s new government for arresting several officials linked closely to the previous government. The previous government has described the arrests as a witch-hunt against them.
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(News report from Issue No. 115, published on Nov. 30 2012)
NOV. 16 2012 (The Conway Bulletin) – Police in Georgia arrested more senior officials, mainly linked to the opposition, throughout the week in an operation some have described as a witch-hunt by the new government. Highlighting the alarm felt by Georgia’s foreign allies, the US publicly asked the authorities to stop the arrests.
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(News report from Issue No. 114, published on Nov. 23 2012)
NOV. 20 2012 (The Conway Bulletin) – After five years in exile, Georgia’s former defence minister Irakli Okruashvili returned to Tbilisi to face accusations of bribe-taking and forming an illegal armed group. Mr Okruashvili had been an ally of Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili before becoming an opposition leader in 2007 and then fleeing.
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(News report from Issue No. 114, published on Nov. 23 2012)
Nov. 15 2012 (The Conway Bulletin) – Police in Georgia arrested nine more interior ministry officials linked closely with the previous United National Movement party (UNM) government for abuse of power. Senior NATO and EU officials have expressed their concern at the arrests which UNM leaders likened to a witch hunt.
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(News report from Issue No. 113, published on Nov. 16 2012)
