Reports emerging from China’s Xinjiang region reveal that more than 200 Muslim Uighurs have been arrested over the past six weeks. The 232 total detainees have been brought up on charges ranging from possessing and disseminating material classified as “violent or terrorist,” or merely receiving such content. It is unclear whether or not all individuals…

Last week, the CSTO (Collective Security Treaty Organization) met informally to bolster diplomatic solidarity in the face of increasing isolation from the West over its role in the Ukraine crisis. However, the meeting lacked several key members – among them, Nursultan Nazarbayev, President of Kazakhstan. The only attending members were Armenia, Bealrus, Kyrgyzstan, and Tajikistan.…

The Energy Ministry of Turkmenistan recently commissioned a new thermal power plant that will contribute up to 3.6 million kilowatts of electricity, most of which will be utilized in order to supply Turkmenistan’s Lebap province, found in Turkmenistan’s highly restricted closed border zone with Uzbekistan. Beyond being able to provide northeastern Turkmenistan with electric power,…

Voters in eastern Ukraine took part in the hastily organized referendums, organized to grant legitimacy to the separatist militias that have taken over cities like Donetsk and Luhansk. The militias have been apparently fueled by hope for re-absorption into the Russian Federation, similar to Crimea. Roman Lyagin, election chief of the so-called Donetsk People’s Republic,…

The government of Azerbaijan sentenced eight opposition activists to 6-8 years in prison for protesting the death of Jeyhun Gubadov at a barracks in January. A conscript of the Azerbaijani military, he officially died from a heart attack but photos shared with the press indicate otherwise. The ruling party of Azerbaijan, “Yeni Azerbaijan” (YAP) endured…

The International Monetary Fund recently released a series of predictions in its annual Regional Economic Outlook Update for the Caucasus and Central Asia, in which it details expectations which largely show economies in Central Asia slowing throughout the remainder of 2014, from 6.5% to 6%. The economic downturn in Central Asia can be ascribed chiefly…

Kazakhstan announced a deal with the Asian Development Bank on Sunday during the 47th Annual Meeting of the Board of Governors of Asian Development Bank in Astana to infuse cash and expertise into the country’s economy to develop the economy beyond its large oil and gas sector, which comprises roughly 80% of its total exports…

An official count of the deceased released yesterday numbered 42 in the wake of violent clashes between protestors in Ukraine’s southwestern city of Odessa. Tension began to rise on Friday afternoon as pro-Ukrainian activists took to the streets to confront separatist groups dressed in all black. Tensions soon metamorphosed into a bitter firefight, as both…

A new Turkmen opposition party, “Hereket” (the “Movement”) has appeared, reports RFE/RL. This is a strange development within a dictatorship that has a notoriously low tolerance for dissent. Turkmen opposition leaders, prominent in the transitional period of the 1990’s have fled to Europe, where they maintain comparatively small amount of influence and international attention. The…