"Corruption is afraid of transparency.." Shouted the First Deputy Prime Minister Omurbek Babanov of Kyrgyzstan.

The government has recently launched its anti-corruption website. An instrument to combat daily acts of corruption, a platform for whistle blowers, and more importantly a high-end transparency tool. Currently Kyrgyzstan ranks 164 in the 2010 Corruption Perceptions Index, which is published annually by Transparency International. Since the government's harsh stance on corruption was started the state treasury has seen a positive growth of more than 22 million soms ($463,000). This is one more example of e-governance enabling positive results for the progress of democracy and transparency. Kyrgyzstan has had a tumultous history of nepotism and overpowering corruption. The current president Roza Otunbayeva has vowed to rid the government of such acts, and more importantly initiated modern techniques to combat age-old problems. Visit Anticorr to report anything you might see as wrong, or just visit to show your respect for democracy.

Recently there has been some interesting opinions coming out of Nazarbayev's native village. According to local legend, and glossy magazine gossip, Nazarbayev's grandmother had a prophetic dream when Nursultan was just a little Kazaczek.In the dream Nursultan was riding a white horse through the clouds, this inspired his grandmother to wake up the next morning and make a sacrifice to Allah. She asked God to make her grandson "wise and spiritually rich to serve his people". Through the power of propaganda and historical fabrication the Nazarbayev camp has been successful in creating local legends to justify his ruling. Today there is a museum dedicated to him, there is a very complex family tree that has been created linking him to many other great figures in history, and 'Life and Deeds of the First President' is required reading at all schools in Kazakhstan. There is one thing to admire and recognize one person's achievements, but it is another to be placed on the same level as a Pope. Nazarbayev has been successful in courting world leaders, bringing his country to optimal economic standards, and one could even say a diamond in the rough of the post-soviet republics. Now is the time to address social conditions, social progress, and the needs of the people. Islamic banks are moving in and industries are flourishing, the future looks hazy but promising. If anything, Nursultan will win this election not by the power of intelligent voting, but by the power of the simple masses and their masters.

It might not be as important as Kate and William's soon to be wedding, but can they boast that they are marrying for peace? Can they say their marriage is uniting conflict stricken peoples? I think not. Allow me to introduce the first beneficiaries of the Kyrgyz cash for peace program that was initiated in the southern city of Kara-Suu. Arsten Kalbaev, and ethnic Kyrgyz, and Zilola Jamalidinova, an ethnic Uzbek, have come together to profess their love for one another and peace.

The program was initially started to persuade local teachers from leaving the region. By giving them financial incentives, a whopping 100,000 soms ($2,100),and a chance to create the best PR for Kyrgyzstan the people jumped right to it. The local mayor was quoted as saying that his ambitions were to "strengthen interethnic concord in the district". Later on the program was extended to offer the same benefits to all mixed couples.

In mid-June last year, violent clashes between Uzbeks and Kyrgyz in the southern region of Osh and Jalal-Abad killed more than 400 people.

In the upcoming days we will start to see more preparations for the Nowruz celebrations. Primarily a holiday that is celebrated by people of Persian backgrounds,and extends as far as Albania and Kosovo. In Tajikistan and other Central Asian countries the festivities before the 20th of March start with Buzkashi games. The term Buzkashi means 'goat grabbing' and it involves players on horseback, called Chapandaz,galloping through a field at amazing speeds fighting over a decapitated dead goat. The goal of the game is to successfully pick up the goat and clear it over the other teams goal line. The game has no other rules, there is no protection worn on the players and horses; and strangely enough it has no rounds or time limits. Here is a clip of a game going into full action:



In recent news there has been a lot of publicity given to the famous Persian poet Rudaki. Born in the village of Rudak (Panjurd) in Khorasan, now located in Tajikistan, Rudaki was the first great literary genius of the modern Persian language who composed poetry in "New Persian," which is written in the Perso-Arabic alphabet script. Now the great Rudaki can be found in four different languages. The cultural ministries of Tajikistan and Iran have gotten together to translate a selection of his poetry from 858 to 941. The languages that were chosen were, English, Russian and also incorporating the Cyrillic alphabet into the translations. This has been good news in Tajik-Iranian relations considering there has been plenty of animosity towards each other in the past few years. There was even speculations that modern relations between the two countries would be cut with no chance of reconciliation. There was even loud speculations within the Tajik government that Rakhmonov would not receive the yearly invite from Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. It was announced yesterday that the invite was given along with President Karzai, the three will celebrate Nowruz in Iran.

Some of the actions initiated from the Tajik side were putting up red lights in international circles, especially the Tajik's government call for all Tajik student to abandon their education in Iran and other Middle Eastern countries to come back to Tajikistan. The main underlying reason for this was Rakhmonov's anti-terrorism strategy. The country has been going through many reforms to try to phase out any chance for terrorist-like activity. The problem here is that the government is very subjective in their interpretation of what is terrorist-like and not what the international community would approve. By pulling out the students from Iran the Tajik government made a firm stance against extremist actions and views, inciting speculation that Tajikistan regards Iran as a extremist country. Many other Central Asian countries have been instantiating similar programs, mainly to avoid what their counterpart republics have been going through, i.e. Chechnya.

Also in recent news Kazakhstan has started construction on a solar panel plant. The city of Astana will be the new home of Kazatomprom Solar Panel Plant. The project will cost 33 to 34 billion tenge (233 million US dollars). The company has projected a 50 MW worth of solar cell panels on a yearly basis, and a future expansion to 100 MW. Kazatomprom is Kazakhstan's national operator for exports of uranium and its compounds, rare metals, nuclear power plant fuel, special equipment, and dual-use materials.

All the big names of the Kazakh pop world have come together to create a medley entitled 'Vote for Kazakhstan (Проголосуй за Казахстан)'. The song is primary is Kazakh with a few lines in Russian. The significance of the song is that the opposition parties in Kazakhstan are calling for a boycott in the elections claiming that the surprise call for elections by president Nazarbayev hindered their chances of preparing properly. A lot of people in Kazakhstan have been accused of being apathetic to the current politics of the state. Many young people have been voicing their discontent for the current regime and their unwillingness to accept this current election as legitimate. I personally believe that because fort the first time in Kazakh history the government has invited 60 OSCE delegates to monitor the elections we might just get a positive ruling by the end of this month and if anything this song might just stir up some action among the younger crows. Election boycotts do not work in practical terms, they only work in principle. So go out and vote! (but you won't find Kazakhstan on the ballot, you'll find a dictator, communist, environmentalist, and a Patriot choose one carefully and push hard).

The song includes a forward by two of the pop singers, and here are some of the lyrics translated into English:

"You choose the right to live in a bright world.
Do not be aloof; it is you who decides your country's fate....
Your motherland's tomorrow is in your hands.
Don't be timid on the path of your life.
Shine like a flame, like the star of your country's independence.
If our unity is really strong, our star will be really high
And may our wings take us as far as we want!"

Here is the video (it reminds me of French-Canadian stage sing-alongs) enjoy:

Ever since the great people of Kazakhstan have petitioned their government to extend the great leaders office term we have been on a roller coaster ride of epic proportions. Nazarbayev has modestly rejected these proposals and has called on early elections in order to create a fair consensus amongst his people. Since the call for elections there has been more than 22 candidates who saw themselves as the top dog, interestingly enough we had a large female turnout in the early stages. Now the official number has been trimmed down to 4 active candidates who have been deemed as worthy by the election committee of Kazakhstan. As of today the platforms of each candidates has been finalized and the talking heads have taken off on a tour of interviews, fundraisers, baby smooching, and the occasional photo-op with the prettiest horse in town.

Before the official kick off of the 2011 election there were reports made by Radio Free Europe and the NGO Kaznet Freedom that many websites have been shut down or temporarily suspended by the government. Observers have noticed a pattern sweeping the Central Asian countries since the massive political unrest in the Middle East has broken out. There were 14 websites reported as blocked or limited viewing capability, some of which were social media websites like blogger.com, wordpress.com and the opposition website Eurasia.org.ru. Majority of websites in Kazakhstan go through two main servers operated by KazTeleCom and Nursat. These companies have been found in the past to collaborate with the central authorities and have been very active in the censorship of internet material within the Kazakh borders. There was one very important point made by a commenter named Michael from Astana on the Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty website, he stated that this kind of activity happens on a regular basis and one way to get around this is for websites to start producing full articles in RSS feeds. The ability to access censored material like blogs and media websites can be overcome by ways of RSS feeds through Google reader.



Nazarbayev has started off his campaign with the typical political agenda, lowering poverty rate by 6% and reduce unemployment to 5%. The other pledges he has made are to increase the average lifetime to 72 years and cut maternal and infant mortality by half. Both of which I personally believe, as well as others, such factors as average life span and maternal/infant rates are long-term initiatives and are heavily influenced by economic activity and least influenced by political agenda. This call for average lifespan coincides with Nazarbayev's personal obsession with immortality, as has been reported in the past by different media sources, Nazerbayev works tirelessly to find the best scientists the world has to offer to create an elixir that would help him in governing his country for decades to come. The platform for Nur-Otan (Nazarbayev's Party) is based on past mistakes and past promises that have not yet been filled. The party has announced an agenda called 'Country's Development Program 2020' and has created a slogan for the 2011 election: 'Let's Build A Future Together.' The one interesting point that I have read from the Nazarbayev's camp is that they are planning on pushing an agenda of offering stocks to the public from the countries largest companies. Seems that Nur-Oten is the only group who has interest in furthering the position of Kazakh businesses with capitalist initiatives.



The Patriots Party led by Gani Kasimov has been the most original and unique in its initiatives. The party has opened its' platform with plans to upgrade all branches of government, transform into a presidential-parliamentary form of government, and abolish all regional establishments. The government would then work directly with with regional administrations through the ministries. This agenda seems to be very unique in that it calls for a complete revamp of the present establishment, a gutsy road for one man in a small group. The other points that the Patriots Party have highlighted are the reintroduction of collective farming (to this date this system has not worked effectively in any part of the world) and the right for women to retire at 55. Gani has expressed many drastic changes that his party would like to make, other points of interest is the elimination of taxes on home-production level businesses and the imposition of a special tax on foreign labor. The Gani camp has focused heavily on the function of the government and how to improve in the effectiveness of its role for the Kazakh people. Many will criticize him for being so theoretical but there is something to be said about a man who welcomes reforms that enable efficiency and encourages internal growth with the goal of international competition in mind. Gani's party has insisted on taking urgent steps to revive historical heritage and national culture, furthering a quasi-nationalist agenda that would focus on Kazakhness in a very shallow and manufactured light.



Mels Elevsizov who is the leader of the Environmental Union - or in Kazakh 'Tabigat' - has been the only self promoting candidate in the 2011 election. Elevsizov's camp has been focusing on social media networks to spread its message and raise campaign funds the groups headline reads, "New Line, New Way." The main points that the party has made so far is that it sees Russia as the only priority in Kazakhstan's foreign policy initiatives. The party has also expressed its dissatisfaction with Kazakhstan joining W.T.O., citing the countries infant stages in production levels and its improper allocations of human resources to achieve international standards. Elevsizov also called for the elimination of citizen resettling programs that bring people into the cities and out of the rural villages. He has stated that agendas like this are not in line with societal progress and would only benefit politicians egos, the party recommends instead to raise living standards in remote areas of Kazakhstan to further overall stability. The foundation of his campaign is based on nature, conservancy, environmental awareness, and proper allocation of natural resources.


"Authorities Have Power, We Have The Truth!" cries Zhambyl Ahmetbekov who is a member of the present Kazakhstan Communist Party and the fourth and last candidate in the 2011 election. Mr. Zhambyl vows that he and his party will find a way to redistribute the country's natural resources in the most appropriate fashion. He wants to restore state control over energy, oil, mining, railway, and majority of the transport sectors. There is also talk that the party wants to introduce legislation that would halt the export of cotton, wool, wood, and raw-stock. This believe is rooted in the assumption that Kazakhstan has been distributing its natural resources inefficiently and too many outside interests have benefited from Kazakhstan and not enough internal markers have been achieved. The remedy for this problem, as stated by Ahmetbekov, is to set quotas on the exports of ferrous and non-ferrous metals, and expanding production of metal domestically. To sum up the platform for Ahmetbekov is less than a few words is to say that he believes in old-communist principles (tried and failed) and truly believes that an isolationist ideology is the best option for a growing nation like Kazakhstan.

The candidates have only until April 1 to propose and reiterate their platforms. After the 3rd of April the will of the people will choose the next president of Kazakhstan. For the first time in Kazakh history 60 OSCE PA Deputies have been assigned to the elections and Tonino Picula has been assigned as the head of the mission. Lets us hope for a fair and smooth transition of power and for peace and prosperity in Central Asia.

The campaigning has started off with a full swing and massive international attention in Kazakhstan. The betting has started to see who of the few that are brave enough to oppose the 'leader' of the Kazakh people Nazarbaev will actually have a chance at gaining numbers in the polls. Originally the central election committee started out with 22 candidates, these candidates had to raise 90,000 signatures to even be considered; and to top it of pass a Kazakh language test. Unfortunately like most of us in this world Kazakh does not come easy to us, about 11 of the candidates did not pass the language test and have been disqualified. The remaining few are, the eccentric Gandi Qasymov who has been the most outspoken individual in this race; frequently making outlandish comments just to be on the front page news. The second man of the hour is Zhambyl Akhmetbekov who is the secretary of the Peoples Communist Party. Zhambyl has admitted that his party has very little money to play with ($135,000) and will be heavily focusing on social media and other forms of web based platforms. The last candidate is Mels Eleusizov who is Kazakhstan's most notable ecologists. Mels is the head of the Tabighat (Nature) environmental organization and has publicly stated that his party has little to nothing in campaigning money, therefore they will rely solely on the financing of the central elections committee. Apart from the two latter candidates the outspoken Gani seems to have a chance at advancing in the polls, interestingly enough Nazarbaev has refused to partake in the physical aspects of campaigning and has assigned people from his party to do all the campaigning foot work. There has also been some dissatisfied candidates that have been disqualified due to whatever reason. Serik Saparghali has tried to organize a press conference to announce his dissatisfaction with the present race and to call for Azerbaev's resignation. Unfortunately the authorities have refused to allow this sort of media attention and he was forced to hold a makeshift press meet outside.

There are a couple of interesting points to make with the Kazakh election in its' early stages. The fact that Nazarbaev has officially called for an early election would make you think that there is something up his sleeve. But as I have predicted before the middle east uprising have inspired a lot of king of the hill dictators (the smart ones) to rearrange their positions and try to appease to the blood thirsty crowds (or in this case hungry crowds). The call for election not only takes the media attention away from Libya and Yemen it also brings new headlines for society to squabble about. If anything this is something that most politicians should have done in order to either save themselves or the stability of a country/region. The other point that needs to be addressed is the complete apathy that Nazarbaev has shown towards his camp. He has refused to meet with people, he has very little to say about the election in general. It is almost like the 70 year old is loosening his grip on the state and slowly transferring it to someone else. But as we say in Poland 'he'll only give it up through his teeth', and someone will have to fight him for that special seat. So there are two outcomes here, either he transfers the power to someone else (in the direct-indirectly kind of fashion)or he will push for another couple more years. The disgruntled candidate Serik made a very good point at his outdoor gathering, "I do not believe that a man, who was not able to run a country properly before he reached 70, will be able to run the country after he is 70." The candidates have till April 1 to wine and dine the people of Kazakhstan, anyone care for a Nazarbaev key chain?

There have been many attempts to bring peace to our world, our countries, our villages, and even our homes. But the latest attempt by the Kyrgyz government is in my opinion one of the most interesting and perplexing. The federal government of Kyrgyzstan has initiated a proposal to combat low birth rates and the ongoing tension between its neighbors. The proposal specifically targets teachers, mainly due to the fact that teachers in Kyrgyzstan are the lowest paid state employees, around $63 a month. The proposal calls for soon to be married individuals to consider prospective partners from other countries, in this case Uzbeks. If a teacher marries an Uzbek he or she will receive 100,000 Som ($2,000), a pretty hefty reward for a 'small' act for peace. The government has at the moment only promised this sum, but time will only tell if these couples will live the life of international peace and short term luxury. So if this unique take on peace-building takes off, I propose we recommend it to our friends in the Balkans, Kosovar-Serbian marriages for $2,000 a piece. A small price tag to our friends at USAID, for a lifetime of conflict ridden babies.

It's interesting that these politicians are wasting their time on legislation of this kind. They don't focus on political/economic reform so people would have a natural inclination to pursue peace and avoid conflict. When you give your people a chance to make a livable wage, a chance to prosper socially, and a willingness to progress; then ridiculous procreation-cross-border political agendas will become unnecessary.

Turkmenistan marks on Saturday the State Flag Day, the second most significant holiday in the national calendar after the Independence Day.

The flag of Turkmenistan was adopted on January 24, 2001. It features a green field with a vertical red stripe near the hoist side, containing five carpet guls (designs used in producing rugs) stacked above two crossed olive branches; a white waxing crescent moon, typical of Turkic symbolism, and five white five-pointed appear in the upper corner of the field just to the fly side of the red stripe. The green and red colors appear in this flag because they have been venerated historically by the Turkmen. The waxing crescent moon symbolizes the hope of the country for a shining future and the stars represent the five provinces of Turkmenistan. The five traditional carpet designs along the hoist represent the five major tribes or houses, and form motifs in the country's state emblem and flag.

“The flag is the guarantor of the state’s sovereignty,” Turkmen President Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov said in his address to the nation. “The history of the Turkmen state flag, like the history of our nation, goes back thousands of years.”

Large-scale celebrations and cultural events are traditionally conducted throughout the country every year to mark this day. Timed to coincide with the holiday, the country’s biggest marketplace, the Altyn Asyr (Golden Age) with an area of 100 hectares has been opened in the vicinity of the capital city of Ashgabat.

It appears that a new candidate has made headlines across Central Asia and pretty much the rest of the printed world. Amantay Asilbek has tried to run for office already twice before, once in 1998 and for the second time in 2005. The infamous Asilbek has come at it again, this time starting his campaign on issues such as Afghanistan and nuclear energy, but how does one really make the headlines in the pretty much apathetic Kazakh world? Asilbek has decreed the women of Kazakhstan as lonely, unmarried, and numerous, which is troubling for him due to his own personal believe that men who spend majority of their time in the Kazakh air are fruitful up into their 80s. Mr. Asilbek has publicly stated that polygamy would be a solution to this problem, he even has considered this himself, unfortunately Mrs. Asilbek has not passed any of the candidates as worthy of second wife status.

The country has been experiencing a negative birth rate due to many Kazakh men going abroad to Russia and other countries of Asia for better chances of finding higher paying jobs. Many of these men do not come back, or many just find a wive from abroad and try to bring her back. Whatever the cause may be, the people of Kazakhstan have been experiencing a great depression in the marriage bed, the birth rate is toppling and unmarried women are rampant. Could Mr. Asilbek save this country? The only hurdle that he has now is to pass the grueling test of the Kazakh language, a qualifying prerequisite to run for office in Kazakhstan. Even if he passes the test, which 3 out of the 15 candidates have already failed, he still needs to collect at least 90,000 signatures to get his name on the ballot.

If anything, the idea of polygamy has been raised and practiced in many parts of the world. The bible speaks of it, the Koran talks a great deal about it, and we hear about it in the news constantly. It can only be considered natural for humans to want to multiply, especially when you have a nationalistic ideology to back up your multiplying efforts. What good is a sovereign nation when there is no work force or a tax paying populous to push the nation into a new era? Mr. Asilbek's addressed issues are legitimate, his solutions might be old world but still none the least practical and feasible. The only concern that needs to be addressed here is the issue of extremism and religious zealotry. One can predict that some fanatics will be born out of this system and there would be issues of human rights and personal rights being infringed on. But as history has shown us polygamy is only a temporary fix to a problem, the concept dies out when the scales have become balanced within the population.

After watching HBO's Big Love for the past four seasons I can soundly say that it is the men in polygamist marriages that get screwed mentally, not the women, power in numbers.

The new prime minster of Kyrgyzstan has sponsored a bill in parliament to officially name one the peaks in Kyrgyzstan after the not-so-great friend Vladimir Putin. The peak is a mere 4,446 meters, but still impressive considering Mt. Yeltsin is 1,000 meters shorter. But as we all know the great Lenin Peak located on Kyrgyzstan-Tajikistan border is still the highest and proudest of the natural phallic symbols of tyranny.

One can only speculate as to why this is occurring in Kyrgyzstan, considering the parliaments hard stance on the Russian language and the expansion of the State Language Committee. International observers are not only baffled by these choices but lead many to speculate on the strange diplomatic relations of the two countries. It is a custom for visiting dignitaries to bring presents of all kinds to their hosts, Kim Jung ll even has a museum dedicated to all the presents he has received in his life time. What is interesting about this story is the difference in the honoring of heroes between the east and the west. In the west they tend to wait years after someone has died to honor that persons achievements and legacy. Just now has the building began for the Martin Luther King Jr. memorial in DC, 25 years after his death. Yet in many post-soviet countries we still see the glorification of living persons, the constant naming of streets, squares, statues, and even children has been a tradition carried over from the days of Stalin and Franz Ferdinand.

Time will only tell how many times Mt. Putin will change names, we have already seen the government in Azerbaijan grappling with the issue of what to do with the statue of Mubarak in Central Baku. Maybe some of these countries need to start handing out Visa gift cards to their hosts as opposed to Italian marble statues, and hell cards are cheaper and then its easier to break up a dwindling friendship you just need to click un-friend.

Key

Rank	Nation	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total
1	Kazakhstan (KAZ)	32	21	17	70
2	Japan (JPN)	13	24	17	54
3	South Korea (KOR)	13	12	13	38
4	China (CHN)	11	10	14	35
5	Mongolia (MGL)	0	1	4	5
6	Iran (IRI)	0	1	2	3
7	North Korea (PRK)	0	0	1	1
7	Kyrgyzstan (KGZ)	0	0	1	1
Total		69	69	69	207

Iran ----->Belarus ----> Tunisia ------> Egypt ----->Yemen -----> Jordan ------>Algeria ------> Russia ------->Azerbaijan? Tajikistan? Belarus again? We wait.

Analyst have started to predict that the two countries in Central Asia, which are considered to be the poorest and hardest hit by the world economic situation, will come to a point of revolt. Martin Sieff a news analyst of Central Asia Newswire has written that both countries seem to be in a different political corners. Both have been criticized for having authoritarian regimes, and more importantly centralized deteriorating economies. The governments have been highly criticized by international observers for having rapid corruption, lack of technical reform, and miss-allocation of resources. The Egypt revolution is an on-going event that will have an impact on Central Asia without any doubt. There are many factors that need to be watched closely in Central Asia such as the massive crack down on Islamic extremism and the government control of religion as a whole. It will be interesting to see the next couple of weeks unfold and how much of an influence it will have on the oppressed masses of Central Asia. Time will only tell.

       
 


Rank
Nation
Gold
Silver
Bronze
Total

 Kazakhstan (KAZ) 1st.
18
17
12
=47

 South Korea (KOR) 2nd.
10
6
8
=24

 Japan (JPN) 3rd.
8
15
11
=34

 China (CHN) 4th.
8
6
9
=23

 Iran (IRI) 5th.
0
0
2
=2

 Mongolia (MGL) 6th.
0
0
2
=2

Really weird, enjoy.

Could we see the Egyptian revolution cause a chain reaction in the Central Asian countries? The Jasmine Revolution of Tunisia has sparked a fire that has been blowing eastward for the past couple of months. What is really interesting is the stories coming out of Syria and Russia of protests that are very much similar to the Tunisian and Egyptian revolts. There are many factors that need to be disseminated when discussing the reasons and circumstances as to why a revolution is needed. We cannot lump all the states together and brush it with one giant western stroke, but what we can say it that these countries have had rulers that have occupied their ruling seats for over decades. The events in Egypt have brought the presidents of the Central Asian countries to a halt. They are now closely watching how the events will unfold and how other leaders of the world will react to the change of powers. The main countries in Central Asia that I am mostly talking about are Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, and Tajikistan. The presidents of all three countries along with other Central Asian nations have had mini dictatorships which have been ruling the countries with iron fists for the past decade. So what does the future hold for these countries? could Nursulan Nazarbayev's recent refusal of a referendum be seen as a point taken due to current events? could we see the people of Central Asia mimicking the people of Egypt? Could these be the last years for the presidents of Central Asia?

For some reason the Turkmen government thinks that everyone in the country is of the same background, ethnicity, religion, and more important aesthetic style. But now through the power of social media like Youtube and Facebook we are seeing more and more cracks in the homogeneous distant lands like Turkmenistan.

Allow me to introduce you to Maxim, who believes he is the first and one of only 18 goths in the city of Ashgabat. Throughout the years when the country was going through its economic change, not only did it move into a new economic system it also gave way to new ideas of norm. Turkmenistan is still seen by many as a place of strict social norms, highly controlled dress codes, and never ending puritanical rhetoric. Maxim and his counterparts have been successful in displaying their outfits by sticking to the modesty rules, they believe this has been easier for them due to almost all of them being of Russian background. Only a couple of the goths have mixed parents and even then underneath all the makeup and pleather they can hide their Central Asian roots. For these kids being goth is the ultimate reaction to their everyday lives.

Anyways, enjoy the photos, and even if you don't enjoy the music (like me) or the goth scene try to rejoice the fact that no matter where a young person is living, they now have the opportunity to download and express.

Photos from: www.neweurasia.net

The Kyrgyz government has been in heated discussion on how to raise revenue to improve its religious sites, many that have been built during the days of the Silk Route trading. Many of the sites have not been updated or even seen a construction worker since the days of the Russian Czars. Finally new legislation is being drawn up to gain some control over the tourism sector in Kyrgyzstan, and more importantly new rules and fees will be introduced to collect for the restoration of ancient mosques and other various religious sites. Here are some of my favorite Kyrgyz mosques that need work and/or need new fans. You be the judge.

Watch this trailer for the new edition of Operation Flashpoint: Red River. The game is set in Tajikistan, the creators have used the post-soviet country as a backdrop for this war themed game. When watching the trailer you hear the middle-eastern tones playing in the background the the constant usage of the 'terrorist like' appearance of the Tajik soldiers. Once again a display of beaten stereotypes? or a cruel move to put a country like Tajikistan on the lips of every youngster in middle America? Watch.