Daniel Kimmage

Also by Daniel Kimmage

• November 17, 2005

  Between East And West

  Uzbek President Islam Karimov has always pursued his alliances with a keen eye to threats. "Let me warn some aggressive forces around us that look at us with an evil eye or with evil intentions: now you know we are not alone," he said in March 2002.

• November 14, 2005

  Holding On To Power

  In the wake of the upheavals that ushered in new heads of state in Georgia, Ukraine, and Kyrgyzstan in recent years, ruling elites across Central Asia are nervously wondering whether the next plans to go awry may be their own.

• October 30, 2005

  Restive Days In Kyrgyzstan

  When street protests toppled the Kyrgyz president in March, the country found itself face to face not only with new hopes, but new fears as well. The recent killing of a parliamentary deputy -- and the fallout that followed -- has shown Kyrgyzstan's continuing fragility.

• October 23, 2005

  Courtroom Collision

  Until 14 October, the Uzbek government had every reason to consider the trial of 15 alleged organizers of the mid-May violence in Andijon a ringing domestic success. But then one witness painted a radically different picture, saying soldiers had shot unarmed demonstrators.

• September 28, 2005

  Uzbekistan: Message In A Courtroom -- The Andijon Trial

  Defendant during the trial If the purpose of a trial is to establish guilt or innocence, the judicial proceedings currently under way in Uzbekistan's Supreme Court achieved their aim on the very first day. On 20 September, court went into session and 15 men accused of active involvement in the violence that rocked Andijon on 12-13 May pronounced themselves guilty as charged -- of murder, terrorism, hostage-taking, an attempt to overthrow the country's constitutional system, and myriad other crimes. But as the fact of the trial's continuation indicates, and as its substance has made abundantly clear, it is not about guilt, innocence, or even the actions of 15 men.

• September 16, 2005

  Central Asia: The Mechanics Of Russian Influence

  Until the collapse of the Soviet empire in 1991, Russian influence in Central Asia was beyond dispute. The emergence of independent states from Soviet republics and a succession of paralyzing domestic crises in Russia put an end to the days of diktat. But President Vladimir Putin has made the restoration of Russian influence throughout the former empire a priority in his second term. In a phrase redolent of 19th-century empire-building, Putin stressed in his address to the nation in April 2005 that "the civilizing mission of the Russian nation on the Eurasian continent should continue."

• September 07, 2005

  Uzbekistan: Andijon And The 'Information War'

  Four months later, what are the effects of the Andijon events? The horrific violence that struck Andijon in May unfolded in the space of 24 hours. But the struggle to define the event -- to reveal the facts and to explain their significance -- continues. Inside Uzbekistan, the struggle to define Andijon has been fierce, pitting Uzbek officialdom and the media and means at its disposal against a limited number of nongovernment media and a small community of activists who have no other access to the broader public. The result has been, to quote Uzbek President Islam Karimov, an "information war" that has already claimed its first casualties and is poised to provide the troubling backdrop to whatever will happen next in Uzbekistan.

• August 30, 2005

  Uzbekistan: Migrating To Make Ends Meet

  The violence that rocked the eastern Uzbek city of Andijon on 12-13 May riveted the world's attention for one simple reason -- virtually all accounts of the event that were not filtered through Uzbek officialdom indicated that government forces had perpetrated a massacre. But for those who are attempting to puzzle out the implications of the bloodshed both for Uzbekistan and Central Asia, the event's significance is at once broader and more ominous.

• August 22, 2005

  Tajikistan: Migrant Dangers And Dreams

  Tajik women are migrating abroad in increasing numbers On 2 August, three men from Tajikistan returned home for the last time. A flight from Yekaterinburg, Russia, to Dushanbe, the Tajik capital, delivered the bodies of Ilhom Saidbekov and Subhiddin Mirzoev. An Interior Ministry official told RFE/RL's Tajik Service that Saidbekov, a 31-year-old resident of Vose, in southern Tajikistan, became ill and died in Omsk. Mirzoev, a 21-year-old from Jirgatol, was killed in an auto accident. The same day, a Novosibirsk-Khujand flight brought home the body of a man from Panjkent identified only as Yoqubov. He was 36 years old and killed under unknown circumstances.

• August 16, 2005

  Uzbekistan: Climate Of Fear Grips Andijon

  Uzbek soldiers in Andijon in May The outside world has received few accounts of life in Andijon since 12-13 May. In a series of reports broadcast on 10-12 August, RFE/RL provided a rare glimpse of the fear lurking behind the superficial normalcy that has settled over the city since the bloody events of May. Because of the fear of government reprisals, RFE/RL has concealed the identities of the people with whom it spoke.

• August 11, 2005

  Uzbekistan: Daily Life Continues In The Shadow Of Andijon

  Uzbek troops still patrol the streets of Andijon (file photos) In the nearly three months since Andijon exploded in violence on 12-13 May, Uzbekistan has found itself at the center of a debate couched in the grand terms of great-power politics. Will President Islam Karimov be able to hold his ground? Why exactly did Karimov ask the United States to give up its air base at Karshi-Khanabad? How far will the rapprochement between Uzbekistan and Russia go? Meanwhile, daily life goes on for ordinary Uzbeks. And RFE/RL's Uzbek Service has continued to cover it.

• August 09, 2005

  Central Asia: Jadidism -- Old Tradition Of Renewal

  "Jadid" is the Arabic word for "new," but Jadidism was a drive for cultural and social renewal among Muslims in the Russian Empire in the early 20th century. Historians have taken the term "Jadidism" from usul-i jadid, meaning a "new method" of teaching in schools, yet Jadidism's significance extended far beyond education. In the part of today's Central Asia that was known administratively as Turkestan under the Russian tsars, Jadidism briefly became one of the most remarkable currents of thought in a wide-ranging debate over culture and society among the region's Muslims.

• August 01, 2005

  Uzbekistan: Karimov Battens Down The Hatches

  Anti-government protestors in Tashkent (file photo) On 29 July, Uzbek President Islam Karimov informed the United States that it has 180 days to vacate the Karshi-Khanabad air base it has used to support operations in Afghanistan since late 2001. Initial reactions linked the move to worsening U.S.-Uzbek relations in the wake of the reported massacre in Andijon and increasing coziness between Tashkent, Peking, and Moscow. These are relevant, but secondary factors. The primary driving force behind Karimov's initiative is his belief that the United States has gone from a useful strategic partner to a meddlesome plotter that threatens his hold on power.

• July 19, 2005

  Central Asia: Is Regional Turbulence Return Of The Great Game?

  Pressure mounts for the U.S. to pull out of Central Asia Just as the wildebeests migrate across the Serengeti, commentary on Central Asia periodically turns to talk of the Great Game. In its 19th-century variety, the Game pitted England against Russia in a scramble for control of Eurasia. Early 21st-century interpretations expand the number of players -- bringing in such regional heavyweights as Iran, Pakistan, and especially China -- but retain the central premise: big powers projecting their designs across Central Asia.

• July 08, 2005

  Central Asia: SCO -- Shoring Up The Post-Soviet Status Quo

  Presidents Putin and Hu on 1 July The Shanghai Cooperation Agreement (SCO) is the latest in a long line of organizations pretending to unify Central Asia. But with the active participation of China and Russia and general philosophy of propping up current elites in the region, the SCO seems to have the best chance of becoming a viable organization.

• June 25, 2005

  Uzbekistan: Voices From Andijon

  Soldiers in the streets of Andijon following the 13 May violence Forty days have passed since the bloody events of 13 May in Andijon. The 40th day after a funeral is traditionally a time for grieving and remembrance. But, as RFE/RL reports, the living mourn the dead uneasily in Andijon today.

• June 14, 2005

  Kyrgyzstan: The Long Wait For The Law

  Flawed parliamentary elections are only partly to blame for the chaotic conditions in Kyrgyzstan Kyrgyz President Askar Akaev's administration fell on 24 March amid chaotic street clashes, and a night of looting followed in the Kyrgyz capital. While events never careened out of control, the prospect of unrest has clouded the horizon ever since.

• June 06, 2005

  Uzbekistan: Falling Out With The West

  The West is questioning Karimov's hard-line tactics On 2 June, several thousand residents of Jizzakh, a city located some 200 kilometers to the southwest of Tashkent, gathered to show their unwavering support for the policies of Uzbek President Islam Karimov. Organized by two pro-presidential political parties, the event took place under the slogan "The Uzbek people will never be dependent on anyone," RFE/RL's Uzbek Service reported.

• June 02, 2005

  The Plight Of Sovereignty In Uzbekistan

  What to do about President Karimov? We do not know how many people died in Andijon on 13 May, or even where their bodies lie. The Uzbek government maintains that 173 people were killed in a clash between police and armed religious extremists. Independent eyewitness accounts indicate that hundreds perished when troops turned machine guns on unarmed demonstrators. Western observers and governments have reacted with a combination of outrage at the reported atrocity and concern at the prospect of instability in Central Asia's most populous nation. But a survey of responses reveals an alarming paucity of concrete proposals beyond pressure for an independent investigation and, should that fail, disengagement from the government of Uzbek President Islam Karimov. The root of the trouble lies not in observers' analyses, which are more often than not insightful and considered, but rather in a world order that has no ready solution to the contradiction between the desire for universal standards of human and political rights and a commitment to the principle of inviolable national sovereignty.

• May 17, 2005

  Uzbekistan: What Really Happened On Bloody Friday?

  Bodies of protesters in Andijon on 14 May The horrific bloodshed that occurred in Uzbekistan on 13 May breaks down, on closer examination, into two interconnected events that raise two separate issues. The first was an attack by armed men on a military garrison and prison, with the subsequent liberation of prisoners and seizure of the regional-administrative building in Andijon. The second was the use of deadly force against demonstrators who gathered on the city's central square near the occupied regional-administration building. President Islam Karimov and his government have presented official explanations for both events. But independent reports paint a somewhat different picture of the first event, and a radically different picture of the second. [For more on these events, see RFE/RL's dedicated webpage: Unrest in Uzbekistan --> /specials/uzbek_unrest/ ]

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