OCT. 16 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — Uzbekistan’s state-owned energy company Uzbekneftegaz has denied reports that households across the country are facing a shortage of gas supplies, local media reported. People living in rural areas of Uzbekistan have previously talked of gas shortages to a Conway Bulletin correspondent.
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(News report from Issue No. 157, published on Oct. 23 2013)
OCT. 13 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — Hundreds of ethnic Russians in a suburb of Moscow rioted against migrant workers from the South Caucasus and Central Asia. The trigger for the violence was the alleged murder of a Russian man by an Azerbaijani. Remittances from migrant workers are vital to the economies of Central Asia and the South Caucasus.
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(News report from Issue No. 156, published on Oct. 16 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. 4 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — The number of people with consumer loans in Azerbaijan has doubled in the past year to 1.75m, roughly 18% of the population, Eurasianet reported. It said that banks have been increasingly eager to hand out loans, relaxing barriers and paperwork. Some analysts have warned that the consumer boom is unaffordable.
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(News report from Issue No. 155, published on Oct. 9 2013)
OCT. 9 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — Momentum is building inside Kazakhstan’s parliament to pass a law that restricts homosexuals. Homosexuality has been legal since 1998 in Kazakhstan but a handful of lawmakers want to reverse this. Earlier this year Russia banned so-called homosexual propaganda.
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(News report from Issue No. 155, published on Oct. 9 2013)
OCT. 6 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — Around 12,000 supporters turned out for a rally in Tbilisi by Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili, media reported, one of the biggest of the year. A presidential election is scheduled for Oct. 27. Mr Saakashvili is ineligible for the election but the rally will act as a major show of support for his candidate.
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(News report from Issue No. 155, published on Oct. 9 2013)
OCT. 9 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — Where Russia goes, Kazakhstan often follows. This mantra is certainly true of economic and international affairs and now it appears to extend to social law-making.
Kazakh parliamentarians have been making speeches and canvassing support to bring in a law similar to the one passed by Russia earlier this year that banned so-called homosexual propaganda from being taught at schools.
The Russian law triggered an international outcry and calls to boycott Russia’s Winter Olympics in Sochi next year.
But a group of reactionary parliamentarians in Kazakhstan have seized on the Russian experience as their chance to push through a similar law.
Bakhytbek Smagul, a member of the lower house of the Kazakh parliament for President Nursultan Nazarbayev’s ruling Nur Otan party, has been leading the drive to ban so-called homosexual propaganda in Kazakhstan.
And he has built support, despite homosexuality being legalised in Kazakhstan since 1998.
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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. 7 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — The twitter account of Gulnara Karimova, eldest daughter and potential successor of Uzbek President Islam Karimov, has closed without explanation. Ms Karimova had used her twitter account to respond to criticism and also to post photos from her latest music video or yoga class.
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(News report from Issue No. 155, published on Oct. 9 2013)
SEPT. 27 2013 (The Conway Bulletin) — An opinion poll commissioned by AzVision.az, a pro-government website, said 88% of people would vote for President Ilham Aliyev in Azerbaijan’s election. The poll is likely to be inflated but not substantially. Mr Aliyev is expected to win a third consecutive term in office at the Oct. 9 election.
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(News report from Issue No. 154, published on Oct. 2 2013)
