By Dmitry Shlapentokh (7/11/2007 issue of the CACI Analyst)

Russia experienced ethnic riots in Kondopoga, Karelia, in 2006 and in Stavropol in the southern part of European Russia in May and early June 2007. Patterns were similar; both centered on clashes between Russians and Chechens. These events begin to form a trend of the type of nationalist movements developing in Russia, which are decidedly different from the Yeltsin era.

By Benjamin Abner (7/11/2007 issue of the CACI Analyst)

Media is in no short supply in Uzbekistan, but state media and access to independent and international media is tightly controlled by the state.  Historically, Western governments have actively promoted alternative information in the region through shortwave radio broadcasts, satellite television, and Internet media.  In recent years however, Uzbekistan has almost completely stamped out independent and international voices as well as Western-funded programs to support them.

By Chemen Durdiyeva (6/27/2007 issue of the CACI Analyst)

On June 12, President Gurbanguly Berdimukhammedov held a plenary Cabinet session at the Turkmen State University named after Turkmen poet Magtymguly and signed a major decree on the “perfection of science in Turkmenistan.” In accordance with this new decree, a new Higher Professional Examination Board of the High Council of Science and Technology and a new Foundation of Science and Technology were created. Within the framework of the latest changes in the socio-economic life of the country, Berdimukhammedov’s recent education reforms are decisively promising given the president’s relatively short period of time as a head of state.