News Digest
| Media Digest | Aug 30, 2020 |
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| Biweekly CAW Media Digest. | |
| The weeks-long extradition saga revolving around Uzbek journalist Bobomurod Abdullaev has seemingly concluded. The Kyrgyz government, despite widespread outcry about the potential torture Abdullaev could face upon being forcibly returned to Uzbekistan, has extradited the 47-year old after seizing him in a Bishkek cafe. The US State Department as well as several prominent human rights groups have protested, while the nature of his alleged crimes have yet to be officially stated by the Uzbek government. | |
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| The third iteration of the FemAgora Central Asia festival has kicked-off, with this year's feminist and equality programming operating completely online due to COVID-19 concerns. The festival's messages of female empowerment and support for marginalized groups has to navigate the currents of state policy intended to keep the status quo as well as societal responses that frequently see feminism as a foreign and threatening movement. | |
| Uzbekistan has recently moved to make information about its opaque and forbidding prison system publicly available for the first time. Incarceration numbers are already available showing that there are about 67 inmates for every 100,000 citizens, and it appears that this reform process is intended to build public trust in the government and increase transparency to the international community. | |
| The longest-serving leader in post-Soviet Eurasia, Tajik President Rahmon Emomali, has officially accepted the nomination for a 6th consecutive presidency. None of the previous elections have been considered fair or open, but this move seems to shut down the rumor that the 67-year old president was grooming his son to immediately step into the role this election cycle. | |
| An interesting piece by DOC's Maxim Mikheev re-examines the importance of multi-vector policy-making for Central Asian states. The governments of the five states are tasked with navigating between larger partners like economically-dominant China or military guarantor Russia, but they will also need to find ways to communicate among themselves in pursuit of domestic and regional objectives. | |
| Paul Goble writes about an emerging tendency among Russian hawks to view military intervention in Central Asia as necessary to prevent the creation of an Islamic caliphate. There are significant doubts about whether this "Syrian scenario for Turkestan" would actually occur, but receding Russian influence in Central Asia means that drastic action could be called for. | |
| James Durso's piece looks at the opportunity for potential cooperation and collaboration between Uzbekistan and a re-building Afghanistan created by the US retreat from the area. Uzbekistan has a large stake in ensuring that Afghanistan is able to reintegrate into Central Asia. | |
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