Kyrgyzstan journalist Gennady Pavlyuk, who was thrown from a sixth-floor window in Almaty, Kazakhstan, on Dec. 16, died in the hospital Dec. 22. The editor of the online version of the opposition journal Bely Parus was apparently thrown from the window, his hands and feet bound. The attack, this time in a neighboring country, is the third in a week against Kyrgyzstan journalists of Russian origin. Political analyst Alexander Knyazev was attacked in the capital Bishkek on Dec. 9 and the correspondent for the news agency BaltInfo, Alexander Evgrafov, was struck and threatened by uniformed police on Dec. 15. (RSF, Dec. 22)

The Uzbek government is cracking down on rights activists before Dec. 27 parliamentary elections, Human Rights Watch charges—while criticizing the West for staying silent. Uzbekistan this year mended ties with the West that had been all but severed after harsh repression in 2005. HRW charged Dec. 10 that Uzbek authorities in Karshi and Margilan have detained human rights advocates to prevent them from meeting with an HRW researcher. In Karshi, the HRW researcher was also attacked by an unknown assailant, then detained and forced to leave the city. "The attack appeared to be a setup," HRW stated. Additionally, seven human rights and political activists were detained last month, three of whom were also beaten, when they attempted to meet with a political opposition leader.

Chinese President Hu Jintao was in Astana Dec. 13 to unveil the Kazakh section of a 7,000-kilometer (4,300-mile) natural gas pipeline joining Central Asia to China. Hu was joined by Kazakhstan's President Nursultan Nazarbayev at the inauguration, where the two leaders together pressed a symbolic button to open the 1,833-kilometer Kazakh section. Nazarbayev said: "This is a grand construction project that will in time resurrect the ancient Silk Route." Hu is next due to head to a commissioning ceremony in Turkmenistan, where the pipeline actually begins. He is expected to be joined there by President Islam Karimov of Uzbekistan, the fourth country involved in the project.

From Human Rights Watch, Oct. 20:

The Chinese government should immediately account for all detainees in its custody and allow independent investigations into the July 2009 protests in Urumqi and their aftermath, Human Rights Watch said in a new report on enforced "disappearances" released today.

Three recent New York Times stories note a series of new pipelines either under construction or in planning by Russia, China and Iran—which together point to the emergence of a new Eurasian bloc in opposition to Western designs on the supercontinent's hydrocarbon resources. An Oct. 13 story, "Russia Gas Pipeline Heightens East Europe's Fears," noted that the new Nord Stream pipeline, passing under the Baltic Sea to Germany, will allow Russia to cut off natural gas supplies to its former satellites while still maintaining the flow to Western Europe. "Yesterday tanks, today oil," said Zbigniew Siemiatkowski, former head of Poland's security service.

Barack Obama's move to defer a meeting with the Dalai Lama during his visit to Washington DC is being criticized as a "retreat" on human rights issues, with the president being accused of caving to Chinese pressure ahead of a Sino-US summit in Beijing next month. (India Journal, Oct. 15) Chinese authorities have meanwhile protested a visit by Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to a Himalayan enclave in the state of Arunachal Pradesh claimed as Chinese territory. "China expresses its strong dissatisfaction on the visit by the Indian leader to the disputed area in disregard of China's grave concerns," said Foreign Ministry spokesman Ma Zhaoxu.

Exiled Uighur leader Rebiya Kadeer protested death sentences handed down to six Uighur men this week for their role in July's violent unrest in China's Xinjiang region. "Chinese authorities are using these death sentences to send a political message representing brute force, fear and intimidation," she said in a press release. "The trial of these six men occurred in an extremely charged political environment, and the men were not afforded due process as required by Chinese law."

Chinese authorities released a letter Aug. 3 purportedly written by relatives of the exiled Uighur activist Rebiya Kadeer blaming her for last month's deadly unrest in Xinjiang. "Because of you, so many innocent people lost their lives in Urumqi on July 5," the letter says, the Xinhua news agency says. A friend and associate of Kadeer based in Germany said the letter was a forgery. China has blamed Kadeer for the violence between Uighurs and Han Chinese in which the government says nearly 200 people were killed. Kadeer denies the charges. (NYT, Aug. 3)