Osh- It is somewhat of a hackneyed term to call a place like the Ferghana valley an ethnic “tinderbox” but in the case of this month’s staggering disturbances in the cities of Osh and Jalalabad, that type of description could…
Month: June 2010
Kyrgyzstan Votes “Yes” Amid Death, Fear
Osh- I have a new piece in today’s edition of Asia Times titled “Kyrgyzstan Votes “Yes” Amid Death, Fear” on Sunday’s quietly successful referedum vote here in southern Kyrgyzstan’s deadly ethnic jigsaw puzzle here in the Ferghana valley. Secuirty was heavy…
Into Southern Kyrgyzstan
Osh- I’ve made it to Osh in Kyrgyzstan’s troubled Ferghana valley of orchards and ethnic cleansing. The vote on the future of the interim government (and subsequently the October election that will follow) of Roza Otunbayeva will be held here…
Review of AQIM Report
New York- Princeton’s Norwegian Islamist scholar Thomas Hegghammer gave a nice recommendation on a report that I edited for Lebanese author Camille Tawil’s Jamestown occasional paper The Al-Qaeda Organization in the Islamic Maghreb: Expansion in the Sahel and Challenges from Within…
BBC Arabic Appearance
Los Angeles- On Friday evening (GMT), I appeared on BBC Arabic’s Newshour presented by Malak Jaafar to discuss reaction to that days Washington Post story entitled “U.S. ‘secret war’ expands globally as Special Operations forces take larger role” by Karen…
Afghanistan Then and not Now…
Los Angeles- The AfPak Channel has an incredible photo essay that Messr. Mohammed Qayoumi, president of Cal State East Bay, gave them after he scanned a 1950’s era image book published by the Afghan Ministry of Planning in the now…