“We know you’re receiving information from the Iranian Student Movement. We know everything, we have a file on you. And the Iranian embassy in Armenia does. Be aware, one more publication in the press, and we will mobilize the press to declare a war on you.” These are the words of Garnik Badalyan, head of the Armenian foreign ministry’s department on Iran. The matter concerns myself. The time: September 25 of this year. The place: a foreign ministry’s lounge. Full Story...
Sensational news about an assassination attempt on Turkmen dictator Saparmurat Niyazov have stirred up the whole new strata of political problems in today’s world. To all appearances, the cheap farce performed by Turkmenbashi the Great on the streets of Ashkhabad will have some
long-term consequences. Full Story...
A Turkmen president’s unscheduled visit to the State University in Ashgabat last Friday brought everyone present, from a caretaker to the rector, nearly to a heart seizure. Full Story...
In Kiev journalists have set up an initiative group to launch a probe into the death of 44-year-old Mikhail Kolomiyets, director of the Ukrainskiye Novosti (Ukrainian News) agency. The man was found dead in Belarus. His death is a cause of great public bewilderment. The family and friends of the deceased don’t rule out the death came as a result of some medical drug effect. Full Story...
Festivities in Ashgabat to mark the 11th anniversary of the Turkmen Youth Organization named in honor of Makhtumkuli, and Student Day were held this year without the presence of the youth leader, chairman of the Central Council of the Youth Organization Muratgeldi Kossekov. As it turned out, the chief of the Turkmen youth, a recent favorite of the Turkmen president, better known in the country as Saparmurat Turkmenbashi the Great, had been involved in racketeering. This fact was reported to an enlarged government session at the presidential palace by interior minister A. Kakabayev. Full Story...
Have the Prosecutor General’s Office found themselves in an embarrassing
situation yet again or have Izvestiya newspaper published a forgery, as
the prosecutors claim? Press-conference with Father Filipp is the only
way to dot all the i-s and get a clear answer. Private discussions with
the witness, first in the Prosecutor General’s Office, then on RTR
channel and in Izvestiya newspaper do not give a clear picture of what
is going on. It is hard to believe the information that has been so
carefully measured. Full Story...
The genius of terrorism Osama bin Laden has expressed his admiration
lately with the latest terrorist activities in different parts of the
world, including Moscow. Recently, during his visit to Paris the Russian
defense minister Sergey Ivanov rejoiced: do you see now, who supports
Chechen militants? The minister is convinced that bin Laden’s statement
"must influence… those public figures in the West, who keep pretending
that in Chechnya there are freedom-fighters oppressed by Russia".

The international terrorist and the minister hardly enjoy a warm personal
relationship, but one could not call bin Laden’s statement other than an
invaluable present to the Russian propaganda machine.
 Full Story...
On November 16, the 3rd People’s Congress, or Kurultai, was scheduled to open in the Kyrgyz capital, Bishkek. Representatives of all republican districts and regions, all political parties, parliamentary factions and international organizations intended to take part in this event. The kurultai had been called to discuss the current situation in the country. It was initiated by the Kyrgyz political movement “For Akayev’s resignation and for people’s reforms”. Supporters of recently convicted opposition leader Felix Kulov (he was sentenced to ten years), and residents of the Aksy district, Jalal-Abad region in Kyrgyzstan seeking punishment for those responsible for the shooting of a peaceful demonstration in Aksy in March of this year, also wanted to have their say on the developments in the country. Full Story...
Detainees were beaten according to some established schedule, every two days. They were ordered to sit on the chair, with their hands handcuffed behind their backs, and then got beaten with truncheons and chair’s legs. They were beaten savagely, but never on the face. One of the detainees testified that at some point, when he dropped dead on the floor, six police officers were beating him. One policeman was standing on his legs, another was pulling tight an officer’s belt around his neck, and the third was forcing an old-fashioned gas mask over his head, gripping the gas mask’s hose to prevent oxygen supply, or filling it with water. (This torture by near asphyxiation is called “khobot”, a reference to the resemblance of the gas mask hose to an elephant’s trunk.) The rest were just beating him and beating him. After that they began piercing his fingernails with needles. When the detainee regained his consciousness, his first words were, “Do kill me.” The torturers got surprised: “ Does he hold us for idiots? Should we kill him, we won’t be able to get away with it.” Full Story...
Cotton harvest still goes on in Turkmenistan, and with that goes on the use of child labor. Thousands of schoolchildren from fifth-year to final-year grades in all rural schools have yet had no classes since the beginning of the new school year on September 1. In the course of the entire first term they had been harvesting cotton along with the adults. Full Story...