Eurasianet

In our weekly briefing: Restrictions easing, COVID denialism persists, foreign suitors come visiting in hope of business, and the latest annual horse jamboree.

Turkmenistan's new president is continuing his father's traditions: Building white elephants, censoring the internet, and booting people out of their homes.

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

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.

A cratering economy, the world’s slowest internet, and the army takes charge of food production. This and more in our weekly Turkmenistan briefing.

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.

The World Health Organization continues to indulge Turkmenistan’s lies about the coronavirus. Our weekly briefing.

Our weekly Turkmenistan briefing: Berdymukhamedov goes traveling and lectures the WHO, while YouTube bows to Turkmen censors and takes down Eurasianet’s channel.

In recent years the Caucasus country has become a magnet for Iranian students, business owners, and dissidents. But now many report they’re not being allowed to enter.

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.

The government signals it is taking COVID a bit more seriously, without admitting the virus is running rampant. And Ashgabat gets down to business with the Taliban. This and more in our weekly briefing.

Poor and rural families are not equipped to handle online school. Now they fear another academic year is going to start with schools still closed.

With the Taliban at the border, the president heads in the other direction to oversee defense operations on the Caspian Sea. Our weekly Turkmenistan briefing.

Georgia’s mortality rate is among the world’s highest, and just under 6 percent of the population is fully vaccinated.

That Central Asia's presidents seemed to enjoy themselves together was itself a breakthrough. This and more in our weekly Turkmenistan briefing.