One of Kazakhstan's few remaining opposition leaders has announced that he is quitting politics, a move that comes amid Astana's ongoing crackdown on dissent and leaves a dearth of dissenting voices in the country. Bolat Abilov said in a statement quoted by Tengri News on September 19 that he had taken the "difficult decision" to leave politics (at least for a few years) and concentrate on media, movie and book projects around Kazakhstan.

China news agency, Beijing, September 11 (Liang Xiaohui) - ''Silk economic zone' from wording is a new concept, although the United States until there is a 'New Silk Road plan', but the country has been a voice of hope China and Central Asia, and even the concept of the Eurasian regional cooperation should be made by the Chinese, so the concept proposed by the President Xi Jinping is an inevitable result. '

Vladimir Putin's dream of creating a Eurasian Union is about to breathe its last breath. Over the past several weeks, Russia has made headlines with its bullying of Ukraine for the latter's intention to sign an association agreement with the European Union in November. Frantic to keep for themselves what would be the crown jewel of the potential Eurasian Union, Russia has in the past month ordered intense checks of all Ukrainian goods entering Russia, banned imports of Ukrainian chocolate and warned Ukraine that it would lose its status as a "strategic partner" and face "defensive measures" should it sign the Agreement.

British Prime Minister David Cameron took umbrage last week when President Vladimir Putin's spokesman Dmitry Peskov allegedly ridiculed Great Britain as a "small island." But Russia and Britain suffer from similar ailments: their inability to overcome their glorious imperial past and adjust to the modern world. Their minds are too 19th-century, but Russia far more so.

The question of ethics in architecture has taken on a new resonance in recent years, as the autocratic governments of China and the Middle East have begun importing foreign designers en masse to create contrived civic monuments. A certain Mr. Daniel Libeskind once spoke forcefully on the issue in Belfast, stating definitively: "I won't work for totalitarian regimes." However, in the face of monetary gains and the prospect of multiple landmark commissions, he performed a fairly fundamental U-turn, accepting the offer to design the Zhang ZhiDong and Modern Industrial Museum in Wuhan, China.

US rapper Kanye West is the latest musician to find himself embroiled in controversy after reportedly accepting millions of dollars to perform for a Central Asian autocrat. West was shown rapping at the lavish wedding of Aysultan Nazarbayev, grandson of Kazakhstan's President Nursultan Nazarbayev, on August 31, in video posted on Instagram. For his labors he was paid "a hefty sum" of around $3 million, celebrity gossip site TMZ.com reported, citing "our Central Asian sources."

U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Robert O. Blake performed the diplomatic equivalent of gold-medal figure skating last April in a meeting at the authoritarian central Asian nation of Kazakhstan's Nazarbayev University when a student asked him about warnings by American critics and human-rights monitors that "a democracy cannot have its universities making partnerships with authoritarian governments," as the questioner put it.

At least 16 people were injured during a rare riot in normally supine Almaty after a pop concert was abruptly cancelled late on August 31. Popular singer Kairat Nurtas, who was making a guest appearance at the concert in the parking lot of one of Almaty's major shopping malls, left the stage after performing one song when fans became unruly, a video posted on YouTube shows.

Kanye West is embroiled in controversy again after the rapper raked in a reported $3 million to perform at the wedding of Kazakhstan President Nursultan Nazarbayev's grandson, according to TMZ.