OCT. 30 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — Kyrgyzstan plans to sell a 51% stake in RSK Bank, the largest state-owned bank, by 2017, media quoted the IMF representative in Bishkek, Koba Gvenetadze, as saying. Over the past three years, Kyrgyzstan has tried, and often failed, to sell off various state assets. Investors are wary of instability.
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(News report from Issue No. 158, published on Oct. 30 2013)
OCT. 23 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — Utter the word Borat to a Kazakh diplomat and he or she may cringe.
It took years to purge the image of Kazakhstan — which wants to be seen as a modern, progressive country — from Borat, the boorish fictional character created by British comedian Sacha Baron Cohen for his 2006 film “Borat: Cultural learnings of America make benefit glorious nation of Kazakhstan”.
Now, though, it appears that the BBC has created another comedy to, potentially at least, poke more fun at the Central Asian republics.
The BBC will broadcast the first episode of its new three-part comedy on Oct. 23 called “Ambassadors”. It’s essentially a sideways, tongue-in-cheek look at the British diplomatic service and the challenges of a foreign posting in a little-known and far-away country.
The twist, for Central Asia at least, is that the fictional little-known and far-away country is called Tazbekistan. No prizes for guessing the mish-mash of republics it is based upon.
And there’s more. The pre-broadcasting blurb goes further. The plot is based around an incoming British ambassador’s attempts to get to grips with Tazbekistan’s idiosyncrasies. This includes being oil-rich and having a woeful human rights record.
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(News report from Issue No. 157, published on Oct. 23 2013)
OCT. 18 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — A mob of 200 people attacked the office of Manas Resources, an Australian mining company, in southern Kyrgyzstan where it is developing a gold mine, Reuters reported. Over the past few years, disgruntled nationalists have targeted foreign-owned mines to win concessions from companies and to destabilise the government.
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(News report from Issue No. 157, published on Oct. 23 2013)
OCT. 18 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — Uzbekistan skipped a meeting in Bishkek to discuss details of a dam Kyrgyzstan intends to build across the Naryn River, Kyrgyz media reported. Kyrgyzstan’s plans to build a dam upstream of Uzbekistan have strained already tense relations between the two countries.
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(News report from Issue No. 157, published on Oct. 23 2013)
OCT. 18 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — The US military started withdrawing from the Manas airbase outside Bishkek. It has leased the base from the Kyrgyz government since 2001 and turned it into one of the biggest transit centres for forces flying to Afghanistan. The US has to complete its withdrawal from Manas by July 2014.
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(News report from Issue No. 157, published on Oct. 23 2013)
OCT. 9 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — For a few weeks at least stamp collectors around the world were captivated by Kyrgyzstan. Online reports had emerged, with apparent photographic evidence, that Kyrgyzstan had issued stamps featuring pictures drawn by the 20th century American artist Eric Stanton.
Eric Stanton specialised in sexual fetish drawings, particularly of dominant women. The online photos of the Kyrgyz stamps showed scantily-clad women spanking men. On one of the six stamps, a man wore a dog collar and leash while he knelt on the floor and ate from a bowl.
For Central Asian watchers, news that Kyrgyzstan had issued these stamps came as a surprise. Kyrgyzstan is a predominantly Muslim country with traditional, fairly macho, conservative mores.
For collectors discussing the issue online, the reason Kyrgyzstan had apparently released the stamps was all too obvious; to make money from selling them.
Now, though, they have been revealed as fake. The head of the Kyrgyz department that issues stamps, Abdykadyr Abdallayev, told Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty that this year Kyrgyzstan has released several sets of stamps. They featured mountains, animals, fruits and nuts.
Kyrgyzstan has not, Mr Abdallayev confirmed, issued stamps featuring women wearing stockings and brandishing canes.
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(News report from Issue No. 155, published on Oct. 9 2013)
OCT. 7 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — Around 200 people protested in east Kyrgyzstan against a potential deal between the Kyrgyz government and Toronto-listed Centerra Gold over ownership of the Kumtor Gold mine. Media reported that the protesters kidnapped the regional governor briefly. Anti-government groups are likely to have organised the protests.
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(News report from Issue No. 155, published on Oct. 9 2013)
OCT. 2 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — The IMF has predicted strong economic growth for Kyrgyzstan because of rising output at the Kumtor gold mine, Reuters reported. Kumtor is Kyrgyzstan’s largest industrial asset. Problems with the pit at Kumtor slowed production last year. This year, the IMF said, Kyrgyzstan’s GDP would grow by nearly 8%.
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(News report from Issue No. 155, published on Oct. 9 2013)
OCT. 1 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — Uzbek soldiers are expected to withdraw from disputed territory on the border with Kyrgyzstan, media reported. Local Kyrgyz accused the Uzbek soldiers of occupying the land days earlier. Tension has been rising on the Uzbekistan-Kyrgyzstan border for the past year.
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(News report from Issue No. 154, published on Oct. 2 2013)
SEPT. 24 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — Centerra Gold, which is listed in Toronto, plans to look for another Kyrgyz mine to invest in once it has finalised an ownership deal for the Kumtor mine, its CEO Ian Atkinson told Bloomberg News. The Kyrgyz government and Centerra have been arguing over ownership of Kumtor, Kyrgyzstan’s largest industrial project.
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(News report from Issue No. 153, published on Sept. 25 2013)
