Eurasianet

Out-of-touch elites, poor planning, and some signs of progress in regional trade. Our weekly Turkmenistan briefing.

The president-in-waiting plans to change nothing. This and more in our weekly Turkmenistan briefing.

Researchers used a jointly manufactured Chinese-Uzbek vaccine in their experiments.

The government said the system was useless against the Omicron variant, but critics accused them of pandering to anti-vaxxer sentiment.

Tashkent’s vaccination campaign is getting a shot in the arm.

The country has belatedly introduced a COVID pass system to enter restaurants and bars as the vaccination rate remains at just 28 percent.

In our weekly briefing: The Taliban visit Ashgabat, the dauphin is received by Uzbekistan’s president, and authorities tighten control after unrest in neighboring Kazakhstan.

Tbilisi’s world-famous nightclubs were the country’s last businesses to reopen following the COVID lockdown. But it took a confrontation with the authorities to make it happen.

The Uzbek blogger who first raised these concerns was smeared, beaten, and now faces trial.

Similar systems have been used around the world to encourage vaccinations. But under Georgia’s, you may be better off not being vaccinated at all.

Employers are now effectively required to demand proof of vaccinations from their workers. But the country’s health care system is now being pushed to the limit.

In our weekly briefing: doing business with Afghanistan and Uzbekistan. Plus, it’s reprimand season.

The government hopes to boost vaccination rates, but a new anti-vaccine campaign is on the rise.

The new rules come as the country is trying to stave off a third wave of the virus and vaccination numbers remain in the low single digits.

While clumsy on COVID-19, Turkmenistan is being more sure-footed, or consistent at least, on the Afghanistan front. Plus, unsustainable agriculture. Our weekly briefing.