Always fascinating the mental gymnastics required in these Soviet ethnographic almanacs that justify Soviet rule, condemn Tsarist colonialism, vilify Islam and Sufism, but applaud Russian cultural and linguistic hegemony as a progressive force

Only in Central Asia can you get "Bolshevik Mosque" as a place name (this village outside Osh used to be a collective farm called Bolshevik)

Pokrovka was renamed Kurshab, but the neighboring village is still called "Old Pokrovka" and, according to the locals I talked to, was populated by Russians fleeing the famine of 1891-1892.

Going through my archive as I'm finishing up my PhD writing and found this newspaper clipping about Kurshab, a village near Osh in Kyrgyzstan, that was founded by Ukrainian settlers in 1893. Formerly known as Pokrovskoe and then Leninskoe, Kurshab still has some vestiges of its Ukrainian past.

Not very flattering video of the presidents of Azerbaijan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan demonstrating their golf swings at the opening of a new golf course on Lake Issyk Kul

Still wild reading Soviet justifications for Russian colonial expansion into Central Asia. This one is from a 1963 book by Soviet-Kyrgyz historian Begimaaly Jamgyrchinov.

For anyone traveling to Kazakhstan after August 24, you’ll now be required to get an electronic travel authorization 72 hours prior to arrival through an app called QazETA

Here’s a recent case of someone getting a draft notice in April and managing to leave the country in early May without a hitch. A faulty system by design or through incompetence?

Tomorrow’s the start of the only part of the Champions League I enjoy (only sort of kidding)

I’m just looking forward to seeing this hideously massive German flag vanish from my otherwise serene view

So Russia’s “traditional values” visa has been a total flop, but I am curious about the 34 South Koreans who signed up. Evangelical Christians or Orthodox converts?

Freue mich über mein kleines Kapitel zur Migrationspolitik in Zentralasien im Report Globale Flucht 2024—übrigens meine erste Publikation zum Thema auf deutsch www.transcript-verlag.de/media/pdf/a6...

The AI-generated DDR nostalgia in East German supermarkets is truly disturbing

Props to Kyrgyz sports TV for coming up with this image to celebrate Arsenal’s (the most Kyrgyz of Premier League clubs) becoming 2026 champions

The Forum‘s opening remarks will be delivered by Erdogan’s daughter Esra Albayrak

Came across the upcoming World Decolonization Forum in Istanbul and had a feeling the event was fishy. Sure enough, the Russian Academy of Sciences Instittue of Oriental Studies is one of the institutional backers + a bunch of AKP-affiliated institutes

Out in downtown Fairbanks, Alaska—and boy has this place seen better days

The kind of messaging you rarely see in one place: Free Palestine along with Victory for Ukraine graffiti in Dahab (Egypt).

For anyone based in Vienna, the Dialogbüro is organizing a wonderful animation workshop with the incredibly talented Ukrainian animation director Polina Poddubni. Her latest film "My grandmother is a skydiver" premiered at Cannes last year. Sign up here: dialogbuero-vienna.at/tpost/animat...

I attended the 2023 and 2024 women’s marches in Bishkek—and they were always peaceful and really well attended. It was the only officially sanctioned feminist demonstration of its kind in all of Central Asia.

The ripple effects of war in the Middle East have been almost instantaneous: the municipal car-sharing program in Leipzig just sent an email warning of price increases

Blatnyak is hard to describe, but this album cover should give you an idea

Incredible to see my Kyrgyz mobile phone provider offering free roaming for all SIM-card holders currently stranded in the Middle East: from Israel to Bahrain, the UAE and Iran. Can't imagine my German operator extending that kind of solidarity to its users.

darted out to the local Russian supermarket in Haifa for herring and potatoes (what else?), only to spend 15 minutes in the store’s basement bunker after a missile alert went off

I’m stuck in a bunker in Haifa with my grandma’s cat who believes I’m personally responsible for the attack on Iran

Another one shows a worried Edil Baisalov, the current deputy prime-minster, a former die-hard liberal democrat turned authoritarian regime apologist, with Tashiev and Japarov fighting in the background.

Kyrgyz social media is awash with great memes about the likely end of Kyrgyzstan's ruling tandem. EkiDos (two friends) is a popular nickname for the Japarov-Tashiev tandem, but also the name of a Kyrgyz fast-food chain. Here's a meme showing the chain rebranded as "Bir Dos"(one friend)

Curious to see the Caucasus and Central Asia being referred to as the "Russian Middle East" in this Smithsonian Folkways recording from 1951

Uproar on Kyrgyz social media over a Russian landlord who bought an apartment in Bishkek and is now looking for “Slavic only” renters Almost as scandalous as the racism is how insanely high how the rent is in Bishkek these days. $750 (w/o utilities) for 45sq meters.

went down a rabbit hole on Belgian politics and this has got to be one of the funniest party abbreviations (at least for a French speaker)