Tag Archives: politics

Kazakhstan fears Ukraine turmoil

APRIL 28 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) — The revolution and turmoil in Ukraine has frightened the Kazakh government and triggered a draconian law gagging the media, journalists and analysts told the Conway Bulletin.

Earlier this month, the Kazakh government introduced a law that will allow it to ban media during a state of emergency.

Yevgeniya Plakhina, an independent journalist and blogger who has staged anti-government protests, was succinct in her view of the new law.

“The continuous state of revolution in Ukraine has scared the government,” she said. “These laws give the leadership a red button, a button that can be arbitrarily pushed.””

Mainstream media in Kazakhstan has become increasingly marginalised, leaving a void for social media to fill. The authorities argue that social media, as well as more traditional forms of press, can be manipulated by extremists and needs to be controlled during an emergency.

Peer Teschendorf, regional director of the Friederich Ebert Foundation, a German organisation promoting civil society and media freedom, said that these laws were the culmination of a process that began after fighting in the oil town of Zhanaozen in Western Kazakhstan in 2011.

“The free press that is left now has to tread very carefully,” he said.

For Zhanbolat Mamay, journalist for the independent newspaper Tribuna, the law reflects future political landmarks that the authorities are worried about

“The signing of the Eurasian Economic Union treaty is in May and no-one is allowed to criticise it,” he said referring to the morphing of the Customs Union between Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan into a stronger union.

“Another reason behind the new laws lays in preparing for the future. The transition to a new leader will have to happen in an information void, in order to prevent criticism and revolt.”

ENDS
Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved

(News report from Issue No. 182, published on April 30 2014)

Kyrgyz PM urges police improvement

APRIL 24 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) — Perhaps highlighting his reformer credentials, Kyrgyzstan’s new PM, Joomart Ortobayev, criticised the the police for being flawed and corrupt, media reported. Mr Ortobayev said the police were not doing enough to stop the illegal trade in coal. Foreign investors have often complained about police corruption.

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(News report from Issue No. 182, published on April 30 2014)

Opposition politician attacked in Tajikistan

APRIL 29 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) — The deputy head of Tajikistan’s main opposition party, Islamic Renaissance Party, said that 15 men beat up him and his son in the south-east region of Gorno-Badakhshan, media reported. The alleged attack on Saidumar Husaini could not be independently verified. Tajikistan has a poor freedom of speech record.

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(News report from Issue No. 182, published on April 30 2014)

Turkmen media blocks news on Ukraine

APRIL 29 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) — Turkmen state-controlled media has declined to broadcast news about the turmoil in Ukraine, the eurasianet.org website reported. Turkmenistan is one of the most repressive regimes in the world. The authorities want to avoid arousing anti-government sentiment in Turkmenistan.

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Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved

(News report from Issue No. 182, published on April 30 2014)

Kyrgyzstan raises utility tariffs

APRIL 28 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) — July 1 will see costs for electricity, heating and hot water rise for residents of Kyrgyzstan, the ministry of energy said.

The last time the Kyrgyz authorities introduced a major utilities hike was at the start of 2010. A few months later, a violent revolution had overthrown Kurmanbek Bakiyev. Mr Bakiyev’s administration was famous for rolling blackouts and heating shortages as harsh winters and corruption took their toll on the national energy grid.

This time, the government headed by new PM Joomart Ortobayev is proceeding more carefully, staggering prices for energy relative to consumption. Heavy users of electricity will be charged triple the current prices by 2017 but the more economically vulnerable users who use lower levels of electricity will be charged only 22.5% more. Heating and hot water costs are similarly tailored.

Kyrgyz energy utilities remain among the cheapest in the world, but in the context of a struggling economy, some are feeling squeezed and the increases are a risk for Mr Ortobayev who has been Kyrgyzstan’s PM for only a few weeks.

Elena Jdanova, a Bishkek pet store owner, thought that small businesses and the middle class are picking up the tab for poor energy policies.

“Every year the government accuses [citizens] of overconsumption, when we know energy is still being stolen by officials. I have over 130 animals that need constant light and heat. These increases will ruin me,” she said.

Kyrgyzstan’s opposition is likely to use the utilities price increase to whip up support but, long-term, the government had little alternative to reducing the subsidies.

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Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved

(News report from Issue No. 182, published on April 30 2014)

Italy grants asylum to Kazakh ex-banker

APRIL 19 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) — An Italian court granted refugee status to the wife and daughter of Mukhtar Ablyazov, a Kazakh former banker-turned-opposition leader currently in French custody awaiting the result of an extradition request from Kazakhstan. The ruling is a blow to Kazakhstan which had been looking to force their return.

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(News report from Issue No. 181, published on April 23 2014)

Georgia celebrates Easter

APRIL 20 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) — The Easter Service at Tbilisi’s’ Sameba Cathedral has been the one place where implacable political foes in staunchly Orthodox Georgia can come together. This year, though, was different.

On Easter Sunday, April 20, only Georgian PM Irakli Garibashvili and his associates attended Sameba Cathedral. At the service Patriach Ilia II delivered an epistle warning of the dangers of pseudo-liberals, an ongoing debate in Georgia.

The opposition United National Movement, instead, visited services at Orthodox, Catholic and Baptist churches and congratulated Armenian Christians on the holiday. With a local election on June 15, commentators saw this as a move to woo minorities. Many are worried about a perceived increase in Georgian nationalism under the present government.

Also missing from Sameba Cathedral was President Giorgi Margvelashvili. He has had a public falling out with his patron, billionaire former PM Bidzina Ivanishvili, and reportedly refuses to be seen with members of the government. He attended church in his small hometown.

Mr Ivanishvili, the government’s main backer, made no public appearance, fuelling widespread speculation he has left the country. A fractious Easter, in an increasingly fractious Georgia.

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Copyright ©The Conway Bulletin — all rights reserved

(News report from Issue No. 181, published on April 23 2014)

Mayor of Kyrgyzstan’s capital shows progressive leanings

APRIL 20 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) — The new mayor of Bishkek, Kubanychbek Kulmatov, appears to want to paint himself as a progressive. On his Facebook page, Mr Kulmatov announced that he wanted to look at introducing a permanent bicycle lane in the city. As progressive as he is, though, Mr Kulmatov will still be behind Almaty which already has a dedicated bicycle lane.

(News report from Issue No. 181, published on April 23 2014)

Armenian president names new PM

APRIL 13 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) — Armenian president Serzh Sargsyan named the speaker of the parliament, Hovik Abrahamyan, as the new PM.

Mr Abrahamyan’s brief is a tough one.

His predecessor quit abruptly at the start of the month the day after the Constitutional Court ruled that the government’s landmark pension reforms were illegal.

The reforms have been deeply unpopular, as are pension reforms throughout the world which try to make people work for longer and accept a smaller payout.

That mess, essential for sorting out Armenia’s damaged social security system, has to be sorted out.

There’s also the small matter of a vote of no confidence to deal with later this month. Armenia’s economy is stalling and its foreign policy at times feels adrift from its people — it has lurch towards Russia’s Customs Union at the expense of greater EU integration.

Mr Abrahamyan, a 56-year-old economist who has been speaker of parliament since 2008, is going to have to prove a tough operator in his new job.

(News report from Issue No. 180, published on April 16 2014)

Uzbek mosques warn faithful against complaining

APRIL 13 2014 (The Conway Bulletin) — Controlled by the state and with Ukraine’s revolution still fresh in the mind, media reported that mosques in Uzbekistan have been preaching about the joys of refraining from discontent and remaining humble.

Information leaking out of Uzbekistan points to a fairly crude attempt to control the masses through the mosques.

Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, funded by the US government, quoted one resident of the town of Andijan in the east of Uzbekistan who had listened to the Friday sermon at his local mosque.

“Complaining and criticising is testamount to betrayal,” the unnamed man quoted the imam as saying.

Unsurprisingly, Uzbekistan was opposed to the revolution in Ukraine, mainly because it didn’t want it to set a precedent.

Uzbekistan is also wary of religion. It blames radical Islamists for a series of attacks against government targets in the late 1990s and early 2000s.

(News report from Issue No. 180, published on April 16 2014)