Global Voices Online

An American businessman in Kazakhstan, Marc Seidenfeld, has been arrested in what appears to be a frame-up by local business interests to retaliate against him for selling his business in an open auction, raising its final sale price. Bonnie Boyd says that this points to a serious problem with rule of law in Kazakhstan.

Recent Links also in Central Asia & Caucasus

Musafirbek says that the president of Uzbekistan officially thanked the cotton-growers for gathering the harvest of this strategic product for Uzbekistan. However, those who sweat away, collecting this cotton (including children) were not mentioned in the president’s address.

Alexander Visotzky writes about the opening of a monument in Astana, the new capital of Kazakhstan, where the authorities uncovered a 15-foot high bronze statue of incumbent president Nursultan Nazarbayev.

Dafydd reports that the EU has lifted the arms embargo on Uzbekistan. Reasons given are abolishment of the death penalty and release of political prisoners.