After a short rest in Shymkent, we continued our journey to the foothills of the Karatau Mountains. We wanted to visit Akmeshit - this time in spring - again. The cave is the largest in #Kazakhstan . The entrance is so huge that there is even a tiny mulberry forest growing in it.

In Turkmenistan’s spin on the Victory Day cult, citizens are made to deliver floral tributes and bow to golden statues of the president’s late great-grandfather, Berdymukhamed Annayev, a rank-and-file soldier in WWII, but of no particular distinction

Sitting next to the portrait of Ulf Kristerson with a “Hitler moustache”, Greta Thunberg chants “, From the river to the sea, liberation is the key.”

The boycotters overtook the Eurovision street

Putin and Tajikistan's president enjoy a nice Victory Day walk hand in hand

It’s alive! 🌿😭

When you think Central Asia, just think terrorism, Russia and China, says leading U.S. lawmaker x.com/navbahor/statu…

Apple preparing food packages for delivery to Brazil
x.com/tim_cook/statu…

Within hours of a Hong Kong court ruling banning the song, YouTube appears to be removing videos of the protest anthem Glory to Hong Kong globally.

To see YouTube go above and beyond to facilitate bogus rubber-stamped censorship orders from Beijing is deeply disturbing.

Police separates protestors from the Eurovision fans #Eurovision2024 #malmo #eurovisionvillage

Kyrgyzstan last year made it illegal to get car plates with the personalized three-letter combinations SEX, LOH, VOR, HUI, HER, MVD, TJK, and UZB, among others, and now there are calls for FAK to be added to that list

EU may sanction Steven Seagal over his support for Russian invasion of Ukraine. Halting supplies of hair dye may cripple Seagal operations within weeks if not days t.me/moscowtimes_ru…

The rise of deep fake technology means we can no longer be certain if the lies Putin's spokesman is paid to tell are real or not

This Apple ad is what happens when you try to be “edgy” with no consideration for strategy.

Consider first principles:

1) Apple is a brand built on giving people a sense of inspiration and joy (eg, the colorful 2000s iPod ads)

2) Their target audience is consumers who are…

We're all trying to find the guy who did this and give him a spanking

Uzbekistan's president found time to meet Hungary's foreign minister, but went on a mini-holiday the day before British foreign secretary, Lord Cameron, arrived in Tashkent (🤔x 1000) president.uz/ru/lists/view/…

If you missed it, listen on catch-up to my interview with Times Radio on the Bishimbayev murder trial, which has 'sparked real soul-searching in #Kazakhstan ' about both domestic violence and the prevailing political culture (53rd minute)
thetimes.co.uk/radio/show/202…

Fair dues, the Matrix is impressive, but sometimes it glitches like this and I detect a crack in the simulation x.com/maxseddon/stat…

Russian Z-blogger puts lie to feeble Elon Musk insistence that Starlinks are not being bought for Russian forces, but grumbles the units are too expensive because of unscrupulous middlemen suppliers t.me/osetin20/8430

Every few months I like to remind myself of the time that traditional culture propaganda painters in Turkmenistan used Alexandra Daddario as their model for a classical female Turkmen beauty