Ashgabat: Expensive living rings hollow in a deserted land of make believe

For most expats, Turkmenistan or for the purposes of this exercise its capital Ashgabat, would not rank highly on a list of locations they expect to find themselves. The hydrocarbons sector is heavily underpinned by foreign nationals brought in by countries sitting on a wealth of gas and oil, and accounts for a significant proportion…

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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: 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…