After some years of missing out on the latest web developments, I caught up with these million people already on Flickr and got myself an account. You can see many of my pics from Central Asia there.

Please check out neweurasia’s live coverage of events in and around Baku on azerbaijan.neweurasia.net. Katy of blogrel.com is on the spot and Marianna and I provide thorough scans of the media and contacts on the ground. I also cross-post once in a while on the Registan.

While still sorting out the best blog layout and a whole lot of other technical details, there are two more neweurasia blogs that have started to post:

Joel does a great double-job of posting on http://georgia.neweurasia.net (and will soon be joined by Austin and others) and http://kazakhstan.neweurasia.net (where Aidar, me and others will help out as well).

Meanwhile, Marianna has her latest Azerbaijan election update on http://azerbaijan.neweurasia.net.

Don’t miss out on Rico’s coverage of Turkmenistan, either.

Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan will commence posting within some days, as well.

Have been in Baku for some days now but didn’t really have the time to post any news. The ferry from Turkmenistan over here was unexpectedly straightforward, also owing to the fact that I ran into an Aussie travel group right inside the Turkmenbashi ferry terminal, making this totally desolate and remote location seem like Southern Thailand.

I interviewed Razi Nurullayev, leader of the stundent movement YOX yesterday, mainly focusing on the upcoming November elections. The material is still left untouched, but I hope to finish something legible soon. There is also quite a substantial bit of work ahead in the form of the Carnival of Revolutions slated to be hosted on this blog on the 5th of September. So, please send links to me or use the submission form here.

The problem with all my plans is just that I can’t find a freaking laundrette at all. I’ve been running through the streets for a good deal of an hour – but nothing! Anyone with some knowlegde of Baku’s street grid – please help!

Apart from that though, Baku is superb. I was very lucky to rent a flat for the time I’m here. Eldar, a connection via Marianna, and his girlfriend took great care of me and we had two great nights out with their friends. Eldar also took me inside the Villa Petrolea, from which you have amazing vistas over the Black Bay with some 70-year-old oil rigs. It was here where Stalin organised workers’ revolts almost 100 years ago.

The world is small, especially in the Caucasus and Central Asia. As my hosts and their friends here work in consulting and …oil! – we’ve been tracking mutual friends and acquaintances all around.

I am going to Lahic tomorrow or the day after. I realised I am about to return to Europe in less than 10 days, so I thought a brief rest in the mountains cannot be a bad idea at all. After that I have planned to go to Saki, then Tblissi.

News regarding my upcoming voyage through Central Asia. My itinerary will be: Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Azerbaijan, Georgia – from where I am going to head back to Berlin on the 10th of September. Exciting. A whole month of travelling…

Marianna commenced her postings on the upcoming Azeri elections slated for November 2005. Her reports will be published weekly here: http://azerbaijan.youngeurasia.net/

This is part of a new Thinking-East strategy. We’ll divide our activities and create smaller area-bound subdivisions, one of which will be edited by me and other people (the Caucasus and Central Asia section).

This website will then be called www.neweurasia.net – so keep your eyes peeled for something fresh and new.

Update: Marianna posted the second bit.