There are not many states in the world where the population is constantly mobilized for mass celebrations. But Turkmenistan is one.

Do different countries have different relationships with food? Definitely, says Moscow-born writer Anya von Bremzen, who says hunger, ration cards, and Brezhnev-era mayonnaise all helped shape the Soviet palate.

For a few years it looked like Turkmenistan was sticking by its laws forbidding the use of children in the cotton harvest. But this year they're back.

Over a decade ago Turkmen authorities arrested an influential foreign minister and dozens of others for allegedly plotting to kill President Saparmurat Niyazov. The men have since disappeared within the country's prison system. Now, human rights groups have banded together in effort to get Turkmen authorities to "Prove They Are Alive."

Concern among Central Asians about Chinese influence in their counties occasionally come to the fore. But an informal poll taken by RFE/RL in the wake of Chinese President Xi Jinping's whirlwind tour of the region reveals that the average citizen generally accepts Beijing's economic and cultural presence.

The end of NATO's mission in Afghanistan has profound implications for Central Asia. RFE/RL discusses the consequences with James Reardon-Anderson, a professor at Georgetown University's School of Foreign Service in Washington, D.C.

Chinese President Xi Jinping has been busy bolstering Beijing's business ties across Central Asia ahead of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) summit later this week in Bishkek, but a flurry of bilateral deals agreed on just ahead of the meeting reveals some of the SCO's shortcomings.

Chinese President Xi Jinping is on a tour of Central Asia at a time when NATO is preparing to withdraw from Afghanistan and Russia faces trade disputes that affect its goal of controlling the transit of Central Asian oil.

RFE/RL speaks with Judy Shelton, an economist and the vice chairwoman of the board of directors of the U.S.-based National Endowment for Democracy, about why Russia is creating its own economic zone as a rival to the EU and how it is pressing states to join.