In recent years, the countries of Central Asia have experienced some of the fastest growing rates of HIV infection in the world. One of the key populations at risk is men who have sex with men.

Ashgabat's efforts to transform itself quickly into a modern city come with a human cost. Many residents of the capital are forced to vacate their family homes at short notice, with inadequate compensation.

As the United States and NATO prepare to pull out of Afghanistan there is a risk that terrorists and narcotics from that country will flow northward and increasingly jeopardize the Central Asian region, which is already weakened by corruption, despotism, and ethnic and water tensions.

"White road" -- the words offered to travelers throughout much of Central Asia as they embark upon a journey. American Ivan Sigal, 43, was wished "white road" countless times between 1998 and 2005, as he and his camera crisscrossed the steppe. RFE/RL correspondents Richard Solash and Golnaz Esfandiari recently sat down with Sigal to discuss his new book, "White Road."

Russian President Vladimir Putin's premier foreign-policy initiative, the Eurasian Customs Union, is showing unprecedented vitality. But the European Union says membership in the ECU is incompatible with closer economic ties with the EU. This confronts many former Soviet states -- especially Ukraine and Moldova -- with a stark choice.