OCT. 16 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – The authorities in Uzbekistan stopped broadcasting the pan-CIS MIR TV shortly after a summit meeting of the CIS heads of state in Minsk, media reported. No official reason for cutting the broadcast was given although it does reduce, again, the amount of TV news that ordinary Uzbeks can watch.
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(News report from Issue No. 205, published on Oct. 22 2014)
OCT. 17 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – In a move that threatens to aggravate delicate relations with Russia, Georgia is planning to open up a NATO training base.
Georgian defence minister Irakly Alasania told Reuters in an interview that Georgia would not be cowed by a Russian warning not to host any NATO equipment or bases.
“Confrontation with Russia should be avoided. Georgia needs stability,” he said. “But we will never bow to the Russians.”
Relations between Russia and Georgia have improved since Mikheil Saakashvili quit as Georgian president last year but they are still icy and have been aggravated by alleged Russian action in Ukraine. Georgia supports the pro-Western Ukraine government.
Georgia has been pushing to join NATO for some years and has supported operations in Afghanistan and Iraq. Earlier this month, Russia warned Georgia not to host any NATO equipment, although that warning appears to have been ignored.
“This centre will be jointly operated by NATO and Georgia and it’s going to be an additional layer of security and defensive capability for Georgia,” Mr Alasania said. “It will be a Georgia-owned facility, but planning will be jointly done with NATO.”
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(News report from Issue No. 205, published on Oct. 22 2014)
OCT. 20 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Kyrgyzstan’s main opposition parties, Respublika and Ata Zhurt, will join forces to form a coalition ahead of parliamentary elections in 2015, media reported. If it holds together, the Respublika- Ata Zhurt coalition could be powerful as it would bridge the country’s north-south divide.
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(News report from Issue No. 205, published on Oct. 22 2014)
OCT. 22 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Kazakhstan is considering diversifying its energy transit routes because of Western sanctions imposed on Russia, media reported. One option being considered is the Baku-Supsa oil pipeline that runs from the Azerbaijani capital to Supsa on the Georgian Black Sea coast.
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(News report from Issue No. 205, published on Oct. 22 2014)
OCT. 18 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Armenian energy minister Yervand Zakharyan flew to Tehran for another round of talks with his Iranian counterpart on increasing gas supplies. Marginalised by their neighbours, Armenia and Iran have been trading gas and electricity since 2009.
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(News report from Issue No. 205, published on Oct. 22 2014)
OCT. 20 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Playing the role of the great benevolent master, Tajik president Emomali Rakhmon granted amnesty to 10,000 prisoners in Tajikistan to mark the 20th anniversary of the country’s constitution. Mr Rakhmon, president since the mid-1990s, regularly uses amnesties to relieve over-crowding in prisons which human rights groups criticise.
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(News report from Issue No. 205, published on Oct. 22 2014)
OCT. 21 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Denmark’s Royal Highness Crown Princess Mary will fly into Tajikistan on Oct. 23 for a three day trip as part of her role as patron of the World Health Organisation’s Europe office, WHO said. Princess Mary’s visit will throw a rare touch of royal glamour over Tajikistan.
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(News report from Issue No. 205, published on Oct. 22 2014)
OCT. 21 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – A direct air route is opening up between Simferopol, the capital of Crimea, and Yerevan, making Armenia the only country other than Russia since the Kremlin annexed the Ukrainian region earlier this year to set up a connection.
Media reported that the airline, Grozny Avia would run the once-a-week flight from Simferopol from Nov. 16.
Perhaps this is the price that Armenia has to pay for Russian economic and military support. The West has levied sanctions on Russia for its annexation of Crimea. Russia has said that Crimea voted to join Russia in an independence referendum and that its actions were legitimate.
And what it craves is international recognition. Russia has had the same problem with South Ossetia and Abkhazia, rebel Georgian states whose independence it has recognised to the chagrin of most the international community.
The only countries which have followed Russia’s lead are small countries from Central America to the Pacific Ocean looking for economic support.
Armenia may be falling into that category over Crimea. It will join the Russia-led Eurasian Economic Union in 2015 and looks to Russian forces in Armenia to act as a counterbalance for any Azerbaijani aggression over the disputed region of Nagorno-Karabakh.
Grozny Avia likely to be linked to Ramzan Kadyrov, the Kremlin-supported leader of Chechnya, provides another link between Russia and its semi-vassal states.
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(News report from Issue No. 205, published on Oct. 22 2014)
OCT. 20 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Zaur Leshkasheli, a Russian oligarch, is suing investment bank Credit Suisse for not selling his 51 percent stake in the Kyurovdag oil field in Azerbaijan in 2008 for a high enough value, media reported. The court case should expose some of the murkier deal-making around the Caspian Sea.
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(News report from Issue No. 205, published on Oct. 22 2014)
OCT. 20 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) – Chinese steelmaker Baoshan Iron & Steel Co ltd (Baosteel) said it had won a contract to supply pipes for the TANAP gas pipeline running to Turkey from Azerbaijan. The contract is significant because it means Chinese companies are competing for contracts along the South Caucasus energy transit route.
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Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved
(News report from Issue No. 205, published on Oct. 22 2014)