Author: Adil Nurmakov

The saga of three judges and three newspapers continues in Tajikistan and has taken an interesting turn as the journalists fight back with a new recording revealing the corruption in the Supreme Court, neweurasia’s Alpharabius reports.

Iskender writes that the Kyrgyzstan government proposes a 15-year plan of complex redevelopment for Osh, an old town also called as the Kyrgyz Southern capital.

KZBlog reports on the aftermath of the flood in Kazakhstan, saying that corruption might have been the main reason for the tragedy.

Nick Fielding reports on the fact that the continuing survival of the Afghan National Film Archive, containing the only known copies of some Afghan films and documentaries, remains precarious.

Dafydd takes a look at various versions of why did the Uzbekistan's president order the arrest of a whole slew of Uzbekistan’s richest people.

Joshua Foust doubts whether reports of Iranian support to the Taliban are credible.

Joshua Foust reflects on how the U.S. military chooses to portray the communities where it operates.

Nasim Fekrat reviews nine years of the US presence in Afghanistan and says that those cannot be considered as “invasion”.

Thousands of people were moved out of threatened areas after two dams burst in Kazakhstan on Thursday and Friday. The tragedy has taken place in the Aksuisky district north of the country's business capital, Almaty. KZBlog reports:

Thursday, a dam was washed away in the Karatalsky region of Almaty province after heavy snowfall melted. 820 people are currently being sheltered in a nearby school. Friday another dam burst at the water reservoir in the Aksuisky region. Kyzyl-Agash, a village with 3000 people, was flooded. Many evacuated in time, but not everybody.

Over the weekend, the number of people killed rose from 20 to 35, and more are missing. As of Monday, the confirmed number of victims is 47. President N. Nazarbayev has charged the general prosecutor's office to start a criminal case against the owner of the burst reservoir “Kyzyl-Agash”. As it became known after the flood, both the reservoir and the dam were in private ownership.

Lord-Fame has the most comprehensive coverage [ru]:

The big water came. We were warned, we have had to be prepared. At 1 a.m. police came to the village near Taldy-Korgan [a town in the Almaty region] and forced the people to evacuate. And it was the right thing to do.

In Kyzyl-Agash a district police officer visited the households and warned that the dam might not stand the big water. People started to take children and women away to nearby settlements. In the evening the head of district administration came, urged to stop panic and said that everything is under control. People believed him. Many of those, who believed are now dead […] The formerly successful village Kyzyl-Agash now looks like this

The dam burst due to precipitations and melting flood water. The telephone lines are not working. Water also destroyed the Kyzyl-Agash bridge on one of the major South-North highways. Lord-Fame continues [ru]:

Residents of Egen-Su, another village downstream, were fully evacuated in advance, but the cattle is dying massively […]. In Kyzyl-Agash the tragedy could have been avoided, if the authorities organized timely monitoring and alerting. The local head of administration was afraid of a panic… Why wasn't he afraid of deaths?

Most of the evacuated people are currently placed in army barracks, schools and train station in Taldy-Kurgan. The local TV Channel calls on the people to help out with the food and clothes.

Kyrgyz blogger writes that internet users in Kyrgyzstan have been deprived of access to Ferghana.Ru, the popular independent web-site that is critical of Central Asian governments.

KZBlog reports on a number of large changes to the Ministries of Kazakhstan.

KZBlog opines on the Kazakhstan president's recent speech, in which he condemned the gift-giving tradition among the bureacrats and warned against personal gifts to him on his looming 70th birthday this year.

Joshua Foust reviews the background of a recent suicide attack in Khost, Afghanistan.

Joshua Foust analyzes some questionable points from the SWJ essay about the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan.

Afghan PenLog reports on the international photography trainings project for the young men and women of Aghanistan, which has taken place in Philadelphia and ended up with an exhibition.

Joshua Foust criticizes the American push to negotiate with insurgent leaders in Afghanistan.

Joshua Foust reflects on Kazakhstan's libel laws, and how they might be undermining its chairmanship of the OSCE.

Bloggers in Kazakhstan continue to discuss issues centered around governance and political stability. Izhanov thinks there is a potential problem brewing in Kazkahstan's ethnic demographics [ru]:

The last census showed two major trends of the past decade: there are now much more Kazakhs (+26 per cent) and sufficiently less Russians (-15 per cent). The first trend is good, while the second is bad … The growth of Kazakh population should not oppose the number of Russians in the country. Unfortunately, there are voices that put a question this way…

Megakhuimyak comments on access (or, rather, absence of access) of the political opposition to the mass media [ru]:

Opposition is effectively blocked out of the most part of media, especially television. However, [it's strange that they don't use alternatives] none of the opposition parties uses Internet. Some of them don't have websites, others don't update them often. Meanwhile, there is 1.2 million users of broadband Internet in Kazakhstan already [the country's population is about 15 million].

The past couple of weeks were marked in the region by the birthdays of two ladies – Aliya, the daughter of Kazakh president Nazarbayev, and Gulnara, the daughter of Uzbek leader Karimov. The first invited Britney Spears and Jennifer Lopez to the party, the second chose Sting. Zadumka opinionates [ru]:

The Uzbek daughter defenitely has a better taste…

The persistent gap between the rich and the poor, harshly aggravated by the global financial crisis, worries local political observer epolet [ru]:

The way they carry out their political practices in 2010 provokes fear in the society. I feel it in the people's moods. I hope it won't lead to some bloody final.

Gaisa is alarmed by a new round of the government's good intentions [ru]:

Prime-minister ordered to reduce pressure on the business. According to our experience, the fight for reduction of pressure increases the pressure twice…

Kyrgyz blogger writes that the government of Kyrgyzstan is planning to hold the “Kurultai of Harmony” (a mass congress of community representatives from all over the country) to be chaired by the president, but many people are wondering — does the country really need it?

Annasoltan tells about the abuse of psychiatry for political purposes, which is getting less attention in Turkmenistan than other “traditional” methods of repression, such as imprisonment and torture.