Democracy is “under assault and retreating” around the world, with the United States “abdicating” its traditional role as a champion of democratic ideals in the past year while Russia and China “increase repression at home” and “export their malign influence" abroad, Freedom House says.
he Russian Interior Ministry has reportedly issued a list of approved travel destinations for its employees for 2018. They still can't vacation in the United States or the EU, it seems, but much of the former Soviet Union is still in play.
With Turkmenistan in its worst economic crisis in decades, President Gurbanguly Berdymukhammedov has announced plans to spend $500 million on two luxury hotels.
In a remote desert near the border between Kazakhstan and China, a massive dry port has been built to develop overland routes for Chinese exports to markets in Europe, Russia, and Central Asia.
Owners search for impounded black vehicles after president declares white cars are good luck.
The U.S. State Department has singled out Pakistan, Iran, and three Central Asian countries for policies violating religious freedom.
For centuries, the majority of Central Asia's people were illiterate. That changed during the 20th century, when written texts were made accessible to the masses. But it also necessitated the development of alphabets and the codification of languages. Regional authors were to play a key role in the process. (The views expressed in this blog post do not necessarily reflect those of RFE/RL.)
Central Asia's great writers continue to play major roles in defining the national characters of the region's peoples. Qishloq Ovozi takes brief look at some of the Central Asian writers and poets whose names are known to the people of Central Asia from childhood, but might not be so well known to those outside the area.
For the second straight year, people in Turkmenistan are reporting shortages of basic goods such as flour and eggs. Turkmenistan has been suffering for more than two years from the greatest economic crisis the country has seen in its 26 years of independence. And besides the food shortages, there is information that the ranks of the country's unemployed are about the swell. (The views expressed in this blog post do not necessarily reflect those of RFE/RL.)
The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) says the number of journalists imprisoned worldwide has hit another new record, which it says reflects a "dismal failure by the international community to address a global crisis in freedom of the press."
The daughter of a jailed Turkmen animal rights activist has brought her mother warm clothing, making the first visit permitted by the authorities since police stormed Galina Kucherenko's apartment and arrested her.
On this week's Majlis podcast, we look at Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov’s remarks about an agreement on the legal status of the Caspian Sea finally being close after more than 20 years of talks.
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