• The Broadside Blog's Caitlin Kelly makes the case that people need rest.
• The Dragon's Gaze wonders if a lithium-rich giant star KIC 9821622 ate its exoplanets.
• The Dragon's Tales writes about the Russian war in Syria.
• The Everyday Sociology Blog considers the sociology of holidays.
• A Geocurrents guest post looks at one mapping of ISIS.

At Open Democracy, William Echols looks at how Kazakhstan is trying to stay stable. It has been doing well so far, but can this continue?

With a ‘president for life’, poor human rights record and hydrocarbon-dependent economy, Kazakstan often appears a mirror image of its northern neighbour, Russia ( Read more... )

Anar Valiyev and Natalie Koch at Open Democracy describe how international sporting events like last year's Sochi Olympics are used for multiple, self-propagandizing, purposes by authoritarian elites.

'Urban boosterism' is defined as the active promotion of a city, and it typically involves large-scale urban development schemes-constructing iconic ( Read more... )

Bloomberg's Nariman Gizitdinov and Anthony Halpin note that ongoing currency wars in the Eurasian Economic Union, specifically between Russia and Kazakhstan, promise to undermine the already shaken basis for post-Soviet integration.

Kazakhstan sent its currency lower last week after businesses complained that Russian companies had flooded domestic ( Read more... )

• Claus Vistesen of Alpha Sources notes that though the stock market might be peaking, we don't know when.
• blogTO warns that Toronto might consider a bid for the 2024 Olympics.
• James Bow thinks about Ex Machina.
• The Broadside Blog's Caitlin Kelly looks forward to her impending visit to Maine.
• Centauri Dreams features an essay by Michael A.G. Michaud ( Read more... )

• blogTO suggests that the Pan Am Games are not turning out to be a disaster.
• Centauri Dreams looks at innovative designs for fast small space probes.
• City of Brass celebrates the end of Ramadan.
• The Dragon's Gaze notes the discovery of Jupiter analogue HIP 11915, and links to a paper arguing that hot Jupiters could evolve into hot Neptunes.
• The Dragon's ( Read more... )

The Diplomat's Stephen Blank argues that in post-Soviet Central Asia, even in Kazakhstan, the Russian language is waning. This has obvious consequences for Russian soft power on the ground in the region.

[I]t has been clear for some time, and recent news reports confirm it, that the Russian language is steadily losing ground in Central Asia in ( Read more... )

Bloomberg View's Leonid Bershidsky is entirely right to find the ignorance that first lets the New York Times make up a Central Asian country, then to make this country a joke, offensive. I've written in the past about the ways in which Borat represents the same sort of racism. It's nice to see others pick up on this.

Laugh all you want about ( Read more... )

• blogTO notes the development of a new shopping mall in Toronto's Yorkville neighbourhood.
• The Dragon's Gaze links to a paper examining the ability of the James Webb telescope to detect exoplanet transits.
• Joe. My. God. notes a breakthrough for GLBT rights protesters in Seoul.
• Language Log notes Google's localization in Kazakh and observes Erdogan's ( Read more... )

Nariman Gizitdinov and Henry Meyer at Bloomberg note that many in Kazakhstan fear for the future of their booming but ethnically divided country after their president Nursultan Nazarbayev leaves power. The commenter who suggests that the continued numerical growth of a Kazakh majority might diminish the risk of conflict overlooks, I think, the ( Read more... )