Mongolia courts Kazakhstan, seeks path between China and Russia

Good news! Better relationships between Central Asian/Stan countries?

"For a country that sends nearly all of its exports to China and depends almost entirely on Russia for fuel imports, finding a third direction has never been straightforward, but Mongolia is looking west to Kazakhstan. ..."

Mongolia courts Kazakhstan, seeks path between China and Russia - Nikkei Asia (behind paywall) "President makes first state visit to Astana in 20 years, setting in motion raft of deals"

Mongolian President Ukhnaagiin Khurelsukh, right, met with President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev in Astana last week, in the first state visit from a leader of the country to Kazakhstan in 20 years.

Uzbekistan's Uzum valuation leaps over 50% in 7 months to $2.3B

Good news!

"Uzbekistan fintech Uzum has reached a $2.3 billion valuation — about 53% higher than just seven months ago — as investors place growing bets on the country’s emerging digital economy.

The valuation stems from a $131.5 million investment led by sovereign wealth funds from Oman, with participation from existing investors, including Tencent, VR Capital, and FinSight Ventures. ...

Uzbekistan, Central Asia’s most populous country, emerges as one of the region’s fastest-growing digital economies, driven by a young population, rapid smartphone adoption, and low [fast] penetration of online retail and banking services. ..."

Uzbekistan's Uzum valuation leaps over 50% in 7 months to $2.3B | TechCrunch

Disclaimer:

I am currently blogging from behind the Great Firewall of China.

My Internet service in China is very spotty. Thus, I am not able to blog as usual.

Inside Uzbekistan's nationwide license plate and car occupants surveillance system

Is this part of the future? Automated traffic violations enforcement?

How often are these records deleted or how long are they retained? Who monitors?

Do we want government to be able to know all the time where we are going? Orwellian? The Road to Serfdom?

Caveat: I did not read the article.

Inside Uzbekistan's nationwide license plate surveillance system | TechCrunch "Across Uzbekistan, a network of about a hundred banks of high-resolution roadside cameras continuously scan vehicles’ license plates and their occupants, sometimes thousands a day, looking for potential traffic violations. Cars running red lights; drivers not wearing their seatbelts; and unlicensed vehicles driving at night, to name a few."

The Proposed Community of Central Asian countries Explained

Recommendable!

Why Donald Trump Wants to Win Over Central Asia with Palki Sharma

Recommendable!

Trump confirms Kazakhstan has become first country to join Abraham Accords in second term

Good news! President Trump, peacemaker and bridge builder!

Trump confirms Kazakhstan has become first country to join Abraham Accords in second term | Just The News ""This is a major step forward in building bridges across the World," Trump posted on Truth Social. "Today, more Nations are lining up to embrace Peace and Prosperity through my Abraham Accords.""

Why Did India Withdraw from Tajikistan's Ayni Base? with Palki Sharma

Recommendable! 

How the Taliban are Monopolising Central Asia's Water

Recommendable! Serious stuff! How many wars in the past were fought over water disputes?

The alien lands once hidden beneath the ocean in Kazakhstan

Recommendable! Beautiful landscapes, canyons etc. As someone living in Arizona, I am getting a little envious! 😊

Trump announces $4B railroad deal with Kazakhstan

Good news! The Art of the Deal! But why does a US president have to be involved in this foreign government procurement/private business deal?

"President Donald Trump on Monday announced that he had reached an agreement with the Kazakh government for a $4 billion purchase of railroad equipment.

"I just concluded a wonderful call with the Highly Respected President of Kazakhstan, Kassym-Jomart Kemeluly Tokayev," Trump posted on Truth Social. "They have signed the largest Railroad Equipment Purchase in History, $4 Billion Dollars Worth of United States Locomotives and Rail Equipment." ..."

Trump announces $4B railroad deal with Kazakhstan | Just The News "Kazakhstan is the largest country in Central Asia and borders both Russia and China."

Afghan Hackers Refuse to Log Off bringing their country into the digital age

Some young Afghans are trying to modernise Afghanistan. Unfortunately, some them are doing it while living in exile.

Caveat: I did not read the whole article.

"When Afghan software developer Ahmad Zia Yousufi talks about hacking, he doesn’t mean breaking into systems. For him, hackathons—intense competitions where coders build solutions in 48 hours or less—are a way to test ideas and push boundaries.

“Hackathon is a hobby for me,” he said. “It’s fun, but it’s also about proving that Afghan talent can compete globally.”

Yousufi, now based in Germany, is part of a generation of young Afghans who tried to push their country into the digital age before the Taliban’s 2021 takeover. His journey, with its mix of entrepreneurial success and devastating setbacks, mirrors Afghanistan’s troubled relationship with technology and education. ..."

Afghan Hackers Refuse to Log Off - by Ahmad Mansoor Ramizy "After the Taliban takeover forced the closure of his startup, Afghan software developer Ahmad Zia Yousufi now works from exile to keep Afghan youth—especially women—connected to the digital world."

China Has Flooded Central Asia With Electric Cars—the Impact Will Be Long-Lasting

Look who is buying and reexporting electric cars!

According to Google: "The population of Central Asia is estimated to be over 82 million people as of 2024"

"Last year, every fifth car sold in the world was electric. China is leading the charge: every tenth car on the country’s roads is electric, and it accounted for 40 percent of global electric car exports in 2024. 

While the West is using customs duties to try to head off an influx of Chinese electric cars, the countries of Central Asia have taken the opposite approach and are doing everything they can to welcome them.

Despite the geographical proximity, Chinese brands were not always so popular in Central Asia. As recently as in 2020, China supplied just $750 million worth of cars to all five Central Asian countries put together. These were mainly used cars with internal combustion engines.

But by 2024, that figure had soared to almost $10 billion, of which $1.1 billion were electric cars. Now cars account for about 10 percent of all Chinese exports to Central Asia. ...

There are over 100 cars per 1,000 people in all of the Central Asian states except for Tajikistan. Kazakhstan is even catching up with Russia, with 308 cars per 1,000 people compared to Russia’s 331.

Central Asia also plays a role as a reexporter of cars to the Russian market, which saw an exodus of Western companies after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022. It’s more expensive for Chinese exporters to supply cars directly to Russia than Central Asia, since customs duties are three times lower in Kyrgyzstan, for example. As a result, Kyrgyzstan, which has no automobile industry of its own, has since 2022 become the second-largest supplier of cars to Russia after China. ..."

China Has Flooded Central Asia With Electric Cars—the Impact Will Be Long-Lasting | Carnegie Endowment for International Peace "By entering this new stage of development of the automotive industry via Chinese electric cars, Central Asia will eventually be forced to adopt Chinese standards for the industry’s development, integrating into the Chinese tech ecosystem and leaving no room for competition."

Uzbekistan's first unicorn, Uzum, leaps to a $1.5B valuation

Good news! Unicorns go global on the Silk Road!

"At a time when the world feels increasingly divided between East and West, Uzbekistan has emerged as a rare middle ground, as the Central Asian nation’s homegrown unicorn, Uzum, has raised $65.5 million in a new funding round co-led by China’s Tencent and the New York- and London-based VR Capital, with participation from U.S.-based FinSight Ventures.

The all-equity round brings the Tashkent-headquartered startup’s post-money valuation to approximately $1.5 billion — a nearly 30% jump from the $1.16 billion valuation it announced when it first hit unicorn status in March last year.

Founded in 2022, Uzum started its journey in Uzbekistan with an e-commerce marketplace called Uzum Market, and shortly after its success, the startup added fintech with a debit card and later expanded into its express food delivery service, Uzum Tezkor. ..."

Uzbekistan's first unicorn, Uzum, leaps to a $1.5B valuation | TechCrunch

Why Azerbaijan belongs in the Abraham Accords

An interesting proposition!

"When US President Donald Trump posted a clip from Azeri counterpart Ilham Aliyev’s Shusha Global Media Forum speech on Truth Social he was not just boosting a friendly quote. He was signaling that Azerbaijan’s long partnership with Israel and Washington is now on his radar in a public way.

In that video, Aliyev calls Trump a leader who ends wars says they share core values including family values and wishes him success especially when draining the swamp. Trump rarely shares videos of foreign leaders so the post stands out and shows that people around him increasingly view Baku as central to the region’s next phase.

For more than three decades Israel and Azerbaijan have worked together on strategic issues. Shifts in Middle East politics and Israeli Palestinian flare ups have not derailed the relationship. ..."

Why Azerbaijan belongs in the Abraham Accords | The Jerusalem Post "Aliyev’s public praise of Trump is not just rhetoric. It reflects decades of quiet strategic ties with Israel and a rare opportunity to expand the Abraham Accords eastward."

Kazakhstan is the Latest Central Asian Nation to Ban Niqab with Molly Gambhir

Good news! But what about women who voluntarily wear a Niqab or similar clothes?

Why is Switzerland on this list?

Kazakhstan marks 30 years of the Assembly of the People of Kazakhstan

Recommendable!

Radiocarbon dating reveals Mongolia's earliest pottery predates previous estimates by 2,000 years to about 11,000 BCE

Amazing stuff!

"... prehistoric sites associated with the Early, Middle, and Late Paleolithic in Tsakhiurtyn Hundi … were discovered at the turn of the 20th and 21st centuries  ... The site owes its name to the presence of numerous flint outcrops and an incalculable number of flint artifacts. It is one of the most extensive prehistoric sites in Central Asia. ...

The Baruun Khuree [paleolake] sites are therefore associated with one of the earliest securely dated episodes of the Holocene hunter-gatherers' activities in the Gobi desert. ...

Additionally, the dates provide new insights into the precise timing of the arrival of the pottery into Mongolia. ...

From previous research, it was believed that the earliest pottery reached Mongolia around 9,600 cal BP. However, the Baruun Khuree pottery, which was found in the immediate context of the hearths, is almost 2,000 years older than previously thought. ...

Chronologically, they correspond, for example, to early dates for pottery from northern China," ..."

From the abstract:

"We report a set of radiocarbon dating of prehistoric settlements located on the paleolake Baruun Khuree shores in the Gobi-Altai area, southern Mongolia. The obtained series of 11 AMS 14C measurements on charcoal and other charred plant macro-remains can be associated with one of the earliest episodes of the Holocene highly mobile desert-adapted hunter-gatherers activities from the Gobi desert (ca. 11,250–10,500 cal BP).

Exploiting a wide range of environments, including dune fields, they are characterized by pottery usage and microblade core technology with wedge-shaped cores as well as osteological materials. 

These preliminary results are part of a project analyzing the nature of long-lasting prehistoric occupation around Tsakhiurtyn Hundi (Eng. Flint Valley)—one of the most extensive early prehistoric sites of Central Asia owing its name to the presence of abundant flint outcrops, lithic workshops and their innumerable flint artifacts."

Radiocarbon dating reveals Mongolia's earliest pottery predates previous estimates by 2,000 years

The earliest Holocene wanderers through the Gobi Desert evidenced by the radiocarbon chronology of the lakeshore settlement near the Tsakhiurtyn Hondi, Mongolia (open access)

Figure 2. Aerial picture of the Baruun Khuree paleolake, with the location of sites FV133, FV134 and FV139 marked

Figure 4. Baruun Khuree. Trench FV 139 B—bottom of layer 1 (0–10 cm). Pottery from feature 3 (pit within the hearth), recorded 10 cm deeper

Zwischen Tradition und Wandel: Usbekistan erfindet sich neu

Empfehlenswert!

The climate crisis killed Thousands in Mongolia in their gers/yurts this winter. Really!

Another example of junk journalism by Johns Hopkins University!

How extreme was this winter in Mongolia really?

Is it not very unfortunate that so many Mongolians still live in gers/yurts?

"Some 7,000 people in Mongolia have died this winter due to air pollution, caused by the coal that provides 70% of the nation’s energy and warms most homes.

Raw coal smoke contains carcinogenic particles, and the briquettes introduced by Mongolia’s government can cause carbon monoxide poisoning.

Citizens regularly suffer from respiratory diseases, liver and lung cancers, asthma, and flu.

By February, there had been 811 deaths from carbon monoxide poisoning. 

The climate crisis has exacerbated Mongolia’s pollution problem, as extreme winters are killing off animals that have supported nomadic herding families, forcing them into cities. 

There they construct gers: circular tents with central stoves that feed out through a chimney in the roof. More than 50% of Mongolia’s population live in gers; each household burns ~50 pounds of coal daily in winter."

Global Health NOW: Deadly Risks in India’s Fireworks Factories; Keeping Warm Can Be Toxic in Mongolia; and An Extra Coat of Coolness in Cape Town

On the history of Central Asia by BBC

Recommendable! However, the sound quality is mixed, dozens of old photographs were presented in a very annoying way. The video claims the Soviet Union was a beneficiary of Central Asia, which is laughable.