Our weekly Turkmenistan briefing: Berdymukhamedov goes traveling and lectures the WHO, while YouTube bows to Turkmen censors and takes down Eurasianet’s channel.
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.
With an art school and international animation festival, a Georgian Orthodox bishop is trying to revive a village on the de facto border with South Ossetia.
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.
Spraying chlorine, new infrastructure on the Afghan border, and claims of a naturally occurring COVID vaccine. This and more in our weekly Turkmenistan bulletin.
Ashgabat may hope expending energy to attain international respectability will improve its chances of tapping global financial institutions for investment.