· July, 2006

Stories about Central Asia & Caucasus from July, 2006

Georgia: United National Exams

  31 July 2006

Ana praises Georgia's new higher education entrance exams, which are designed to limit opportunities for corruption and ensure that students entering higher education institutions are adequately educated and prepared for higher degrees.

Georgia: Kodori

  31 July 2006

Vasili Rukhadze has a detailed and informative post on Georgia's recent capture of the Kodori Gorge from a rebel warlord, noting the significance of the event in Georgian and regional politics. He says that Georgia's success mark the beginning of a new era in Georgian politics.

Azerbaijan: Oil

  31 July 2006

At neweurasia, Delia explores whether oil revenues will be good or bad for Azerbaijan.

Uzbekistan: Revoked Licenses

  31 July 2006

The Long and Winding Road has a report on Uzbek pop musicians losing their licenses to perform in public after a journalist accused their lyrics of not being authentic Uzbek poetry and them of being bad musicians.

Kazakhstan: Nuclear Age

  28 July 2006

neweurasia reports on Kazakhstan's entry into the nuclear age, the construction of several nuclear power plants in partnership with Russia.

Afghanistan: Religious Police

  28 July 2006

Azad Afghan says it is a terrible news that Afghan government decided to create a religious police [Fa]. The blogger adds Afghanistan had already suffered a lot because of religion.

Uzbekistan: Privatization

  28 July 2006

Ben Paarmann discusses plans for land privatization in Uzbekistan that, he says, will not likely do much to improve the economic situation in the country as it will not include the privatization of agricultural land.

Voices from the Caucasus

  27 July 2006

Russian tourists rest in the shade in the Novy Afon (New Athos) monastery near the capital of the Georgian breakaway region of Abkhazia – by eurutuf What follows is a roundup of notable blog conversations from the Caucasus that took place over the last week. For a change, how about...

Georgia: Excuse to Invade

  27 July 2006

Matt Jay rounds up news on Georgia's military operations against a local warlord who controls the Kodori Gorge, the only part of the breakaway region of Abkhazia controlled by Tbilisi. The blogger says that the escape of the warlord, Emzar Kvitsiani, into Abkhazia may provide Georgia to invade the region.

Armenia: Military Training

  26 July 2006

ArmYouth Blog discusses the possible motives for the introduction of military training at younger ages in Armenian schools.

Uzbekistan & Turkmenistan: Langston Hughes

  26 July 2006

Breed discusses the first reissue of Langston Hughes's 1934 book on his trip to Soviet Central Asia. The book was first published in 1934 and the reprint was created from the only copy known to still exist.

Caucasus: BTC & Israel

  26 July 2006

Ben Paarmann questions those that claim that controlling the Baku-Tblisi-Ceyhan pipeline and accessing Central Asian and Caspian oil is a hidden motive for Israel in its fighting in Lebanon.

Afghanistan: How to Face Taliban!

  26 July 2006

Afghan Warrior shares his idea about how Taliban can be defeated. The blogger says there are hundreds of international peacekeeping forces in the big cities but we need their presence more in the troubled areas to ensure security for the Afghans. He writes the increased presence of NATO forces in...

Armenia: Open Source

  25 July 2006

Nessuna reports that the opening of Microsoft's representative office and the passage of a new copyright law may encourage the adoption of open source software by Armenian companies.

About our Central Asia & Caucasus coverage

Nurbek Bekmurzaev
Nurbek Bekmurzaev is the Central Asia editor. Email him story ideas or volunteer to write.

Arzu Geybullayeva
Arzu Geybullayeva is the South Caucasus editor. Email her story ideas or volunteer to write.