On December 23rd 1995 the United Nations General Assembly unanimously adopted a resolution that recognized Turkmenistan as a permanently neutral state. This process into obscurity and ultimate hermitude had in effect begun three years previously, when a newly independent Turkmenistan outlined the strands of its foreign policy at the Organization for Security and Cooperation in…
Turkmenistan: What is behind Germany’s continual dance with the devil?
As one of more than 130 countries participating in the Frankfurt Heimtextil international textile expo Turkmenistan cannot be singled out for favouritism by the host nation Germany, but nevertheless the link between President Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedow's closed, authoritarian state and Angela Merkel's Teutonic powerhouse remains strong, but all the while disconcertingly baffling. The Azerbaijan-based AzerNews portal…
Turkmenistan: International Community needs to spare more than a cotton-picking minute for the country’s citizens
In the absence of meaningful, transparent action boycotts and embargoes carry little weight amounting to nothing more than lip service and being seen to say the right thing. Tapping into this blatant hypocrisy often peddled by those from so-called developed, civilized nations the world's despots and autocrats continue to operate almost entirely unmolested in a…
Turkmenistan: Berdymukhamedow fails to live up to self-styled benefactor of the nation image
I don't smoke or drink alcohol, although that isn't to say I haven't at one time or another or fail to understand the rationale behind why people do so to varying degrees. Nor, however, do I condone the excuses so often hidden behind, and used to justify, in particular with alcohol, levels of behaviour that…
Turkmenistan: Can Berdymukhamedow get what he came for from US visit?
It is as of yet unclear if recent US policy prohibiting the acquisition of Turkmenistan cotton has taken effect, or if it amounts to little more than lip service without actual implementation. Nevertheless, for the central Asian republic such publicity regarding its vital cash crop can only be bad, highlighting in the strongest terms the…
Turkmenistan: Caspian Sea agreement will benefit few of its beleaguered citizens
Urban Dictionary define the term "bananas" as ...something crazy, ridiculous. It is therefore highly appropriate that a country such as Turkmenistan, one with an unstable, North Korea-lite despot at the controls is in the process of growing its first ever crop of the yellow fruit. Whether the former Soviet republic can be described as a…
Turkmenistan: President Berdymukhamedow Raps while his Countrymen Sing for their Suppers
Fiddling while Rome burns has always been the preserve of emperor Nero, although the idiom that in effect describes a focus on the trivial while issues of greater importance are left unattended has been adopted on countless occasions by those, in modern parlance, who seek to control the controllables, rather than address the more pertinent…
Trump Administration Deserves Credit for Banning Turkmenistan’s Cotton Goods
Far from the headlines generated by President Trump's controversial policy of separating illegal immigrants from their children, is a most welcome decision filed by the U.S. Customs and Border Protection service in May to in effect place a moratorium on all cotton goods deriving from the Central Asian former Soviet republic of Turkmenistan. Long held…
Alpine Adventures, Soccer, Central Asian Autocracies & Secessionist Politics 