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.
Kazakhstan is still far from being the developed market economy its leaders pine for. And the current crisis risks shunting the country back toward a more traditional, state-directed stance.
Instead of being transparent about the economic crisis, the president is, in the manner of an unaccountable manager incapable of long-term planning, trying to do the same with less.