While the country’s volatile politics went to the back burner during the coronavirus pandemic, the opposition is getting into action again with a new unity slate and a planned weekend protest.
The idea that the president is concerned for the health and wellbeing of his people is undermined by the merry song-and-dance on which he has led the WHO.
Ashgabat is reviving talk of the TAPI gas pipeline; a sheep dip for trucks; and an official doesn’t like farmers growing food. This and more in our weekly Turkmenistan briefing.
Tbilisi may have refused to let the insult slide because Georgia’s coronavirus response has become an electoral platform for the governing party, which faces a parliamentary vote this fall.
Authorities say they wish to resume trade, but continue to prevent trucks carrying essential items from entering the country. This and more in our weekly Turkmenistan column.
The president may be deluded, but even he has come to realize that the crisis already upon his heavily energy exports-dependent economy is going to be very difficult to weather without help.