Global Voices Online

With Rakhat Aliev, the son-in-law of Kazakhstan's President Nursultan Nazarbaev, having been arrested in Austria and released on bail awaiting extradition to Kazakhstan to face kidnapping and other criminal charges, Bonnie Boyd examines some of the possible outcomes of his extradition hearing and what they might mean for relations between Kazakhstan and the EU.

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.