The appearance of the self-defense units is the second time this year that civil society has been forced to hold the line. Where the state repeatedly fails to live up to its obligations, volunteers step in.
Kazakhstan’s food producers look primed to benefit from China’s increasingly tense relationship with traditional trading partners. This and more in our monthly Chinese business briefing.
Since independence, votes in Kyrgyzstan have been contested more toughly than those in its Central Asian neighbors. But competitive does not always mean clean.