Global Voices Online

James reports on the continued reforms being implemented by Tajikistan's President Rahmon. The president argues that his cultural reforms are designed to cut back on excessive spending by impoverished citizens, while others say they are invasively micromanaging Tajik lives.

Posted by Nathan Hamm

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Recent Links also in Central Asia & Caucasus

Polandian writes about president Lech Kaczyński's Mongolian doctorate and his airplane misadventure at Ulan Bator airport.

Unzipped: Gay Armenia comments on reported changes to legislation concerning HIV/AIDS in Armenia. In particular, the blog notes, this looks likely to include mandatory sex education classes in Armenian schools.

Unzipped comments on news that the Armenian government is considering polling citizens on policy issues, with much speculation that the initiative is linked to ongoing negotiations with Azerbaijan to resolve the conflict over Nagorno Karabakh. The blog believes such a development is fraught with dangers and says that if such a referendum is intended to work for peace, it could also achieve the opposite.