Turkmenistan has unilaterally closed the border with Kazakhstan in the run-up to the presidential elections on Feb. 12. Security measures at the border were strengthened in connection with the upcoming presidential elections in Turkmenistan. Foreigners entering the country in a simplified manner will temporarily fail to do this from Feb. 8-15.

• February 9, 2012

Earlier this week I criticized Hillary Clinton and Susan Rice for their high-volume indignation over Russian and Chinese vetoes of a UN resolution that would have called on Syria's president to step down. And I still think Clinton and Rice were hypocritical, given America's long tradition of overlooking the atrocities of dictators who are as close to America as Bashar al-Assad is to Russia.

• February 9, 2012

Azerbaijan restarted natural gas deliveries on Thursday to Turkey from its giant Shah Deniz field, a spokeswoman for operator BP told Reuters.

• February 9, 2012

President of Kazakhstan Nursultan Nazarbayev during bilateral meetings with the heads of leading economic unions, banks and companies of Germany, actively engaged in the process of bilateral trade and economic cooperation, called the heads of the German companies to more actively use existing reserves and potential of cooperation, the press-service of the president said on Wednesday.

• February 8, 2012

Over the past year the US has courted the former Soviet states of Central Asia as it bolsters its supply line to its forces fighting in Afghanistan, and Uzbekistan, once considered a pariah state for allegedly shooting demonstrators and torturing prisoners, has become an important ally.

• February 8, 2012

France and Britain have expressed doubts about Russian efforts to mediate in the Syrian crisis. French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe said he does not believe any commitments announced by the Syrian regime, including those made on February 7 to Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in Damascus.

• February 8, 2012

Turkmenistan has reduced its gas exports to Iran due to very cold weather in Central Asia but there have been no supply problems yet, the head of the National Iranian Gas Company (NIGC) said. In a statement posted on the NIGC website on Monday, NIGC Managing Director Javad Owji said no Iranian city had so far experienced any disruption in gas supply because of the reduction in Turkmen gas exports. He did not quantify the cut. Iran exports gas to Turkey when it can but relies on Turkmenistan to supply the extra gas it needs during cold winter months for heating.

• February 6, 2012

The breach among the Permanent Five members of the U.N. Security Council in Saturday’s vote on Syria’s increasingly bloody power struggle could have profound implications for Syria’s immediate future.

• February 6, 2012