In answer to the PETA’s demonstration in Almaty to encourage Kazakhs to become vegetarians with lettuce ladies, Kazakhstani newspaper Megapolis staged its own protest with Lamb Ladies. Two models dressed in sheep skin bikinis held signs that read: “Let goats eat cabbage ” and “Our meat helps us study and live!”

The comments on the article are also worth checking out; one reads: “Horsemeat, not only delicious but also healthy. Poor horses.”

Kazakhstan 1: vegetarians 0

Three Kazakhs out of four allegedly held have been released from Guantanomo Bay:

The three Kazakhs arrived in their Central Asian homeland on Saturday and were met by relatives who took them home, said Foreign Ministry spokesman Ilyas Omarov.

Omarov said the three would not face investigation and charges “because their release means that they had been cleared of all suspicions of having terror links.'’

He gave no further details on the three men.

But, using legal records and Pentagon documents, The Miami Herald has identified the three men as:

• Ihlkham Battayev, 34, who had been incorrectly identified in Pentagon documents as an Uzbek citizen.

• Abdullah Tohtasinovich Magrupov, 23.

• Yakub Abahanov, age unknown.

Omarov said the Kazakh government was working on the release of the fourth and last Kazakh citizen being held at Guantánamo who was captured in Afghanistan during the U.S.-led invasion to topple the Taliban regime and al Qaeda.

Pentagon records identify him as Abdulrahim Kerimbakiev, 23.

According to lists maintained by the Washington Post here, the Kazakhs were not charged by military commissions.

In terms of what the Kazakhs were doing in Guantanomo, there are a few sources: (more…)

Nazarbayev, currently in China, sent a telegram to the acting President, reading in part:

Saparmurat Atayevich was an outstaning leader of the Turkmen people, a politican with foresight, constantly working hard for the good of his homeland. He played a key role in creating and strengthening the independent state of Turkmenistan, and developing the economic potential of the nation. translation mine

Dariga Nazarbayev was also asked her opinion and last night on Khabar said:

We don’t know the facts. We don’t know if there are people in Turkmenistan who were unhappy with his rule. It may be so, but we don’t have those facts. We do know that he was a strong (hard) ruler, and I think that was a good point. I mean that he was strict with government officials, not strict with the people. That I admire.” translation and errors due to bad memory mine

So at least the higher officials are endorsing his rule and his tactics without reservation. In contrast, the US statement, as linked to by Sean Roberts, is much more diplomatic, saying basically that the US is ready to work with the new leader and wishes all the best to the Turkmen people.

Meanwhile, Khabar also quoted Turkmen residents of Kazakhstan as saying that Niyazov did everything for the good of the people. It was a bit frightening to hear one woman sit and just describe what she saw on Turkmen TV: “For half the day they played beautiful music, then they showed the flag in black border and his portrait.” That was the entirety of her commentary.

EDIT: Turkmenistan.neweurasia.net has some less complimentary words from a depuat of the Kazakhstan Parliament.

As Serik Abdrakhmanov, chairman of the committee on international affairs, defence and security in the Kazakh Majlis said: “This is perhaps the time to wish our brother nation of Turkmenistan peace and tranquillity, and let those that yesterday grovelled before the Rukhnama think more about the people and help them find the path to stable and peaceful path with the help of the countries natural wealth.”

The post also has some great background information on the acting president