Turkmenistan

The president already rules alone but has strengthened that perception by reducing the role of notional decisionmakers

Both states have an interest in cooperating on gas exports but are divided by a sea and a hydrocarbons deposit

Subsidised public services are coming to an end but one result may be to make people value limited resources

The end of free utilities is a turning point in the government's self-made image as generous provider

The leaders of two states that have traditionally harboured mutual suspicions meet for the second time this year

Possessing huge reserves is not enough when neighbours are rival producers or hard bargainers

Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan have spent much of the last two decades ignoring one another and their neighbours

The president made a cursory nod to pluralism before his predictably massive win at the polls