Global Voices Online

Steady State comments on a televised address given by Georgian president Mikheil Saakashvili to inhabitants of the country's two breakaway regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia. However, the blog says that apart from at times of clashes, there is little actual dialogue occurring between the sides and that Saakashvili fails to understand one important reality. That is, that Abkhazians and South Ossetians show no sign of wanting to be reintegrated back into Georgia.

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.