Gallery: For These Post-Soviet Nations, Big Oil Offers Hope and Fear

  • Image may contain Furniture Bench Plant Grass Flower and Blossom
    Mila Teshaieva
    01

    Promising Waters

    Untitled (Atyrau), Kazakhstan, 2012. A fence surrounds Renaissance Hotel in Atyrau, a new oil capital of Kazakhstan. A tiny fishermen town started its rise since the giant Kashagan oil field was discovered nearby. The inhabitants of the town live with both fears of possible ecological catastrophe and hopes for improved life standards.
  • Image may contain Human Person Liza Maza and Clinic
    Mila Teshaieva
    02

    Promising Waters

    Woman with her mud, Kazakhstan, 2012. Mud reserves are ending because the source is now the territory of Kashagan oil refinery plant.
  • Image may contain Nature
    Mila Teshaieva
    03

    Promising Waters

    Nobel's Village, Azerbaijan, 2010. The village was built by Ludwig Nobel for oil workers at Pirallahi island. Currently it is abandoned and slowly being submerged by the rising sea.
  • Image may contain Human Person Door Interior Design Indoors Art Flooring and Home Decor
    Mila Teshaieva
    04

    Promising Waters

    House of Kadjar, Azerbaijan, 2012. Youngest member of the Kadjar family---who claims to be the royal family in Azerbaijan---stares at copies of ancient Iranian paintings in the family house in Baku.
  • Image may contain Outdoors Nature Building Shelter Countryside Rural Human Person and Housing
    Mila Teshaieva
    05

    Promising Waters

    Kenderli, Kazakhstan, 2011. A woman at her house in an abandoned soviet holiday camp. The camp is being demolished and soon will become a luxury resort.
  • Image may contain Human and Person
    Mila Teshaieva
    06

    Promising Waters

    Untitled (Quba), Azerbaijan, 2011. Soviet-era books are collected for trash in a former library in Quba. The alphabet in the country was changed from Cyrillic to Turkish after independence. The history of the country is now being rewritten, so most of Soviet books are not needed.
  • Image may contain Human Person Lighting Sphere Building and Architecture
    Mila Teshaieva
    07

    Promising Waters

    Museum of Cosmos, Ashgabad, Turkmenistan, 2013. The capital of Ashgabad holds five Guinness World Records; the latest is boasting "the most white marble-clad buildings" in the world.
  • Image may contain Wall
    Mila Teshaieva
    08

    Promising Waters

    The Dream, Azerbaijan, 2010. A model house at an Institute for Peace and Democracy settlement in Baku.
  • Image may contain Furniture Plant Palm Tree Arecaceae Tree Human Person Plywood Wood Table Tie and Accessories
    Mila Teshaieva
    09

    Promising Waters

    Azerbaijan, 2010. An official of Narimanabad village in his office.
  • Image may contain Building Stadium and Arena
    Mila Teshaieva
    10

    Promising Waters

    Untitled (Balkanabad), Turkmenistan, 2011. A new stadium is built in line with the policy of “Health and Happiness” that started in Turkmenistan together with new "Era of Supreme Happiness."
  • Image may contain Human Person Clothing Apparel Wood Coat and Pants
    Mila Teshaieva
    11

    Promising Waters

    Azerbaijan, 2010. A fisherman gathers his nets in a poaching hut at Pirallahi island. As no other work exists outside the capital, people living along the sea are turning to the poaching. The Caspian Sea is overfished for years, and the sturgeon are currently close to complete extinction.
  • Image may contain Building Architecture Tower Column and Pillar
    Mila Teshaieva
    12

    Promising Waters

    Ruins of the Buzovna resort near Baku, Azerbaijan, 2011. The restaurant was closed and the beach is now out of bounds as it appeared to be too close to the walls of president Aliyev's holiday house.
  • Image may contain Human Person Furniture and Bench
    Mila Teshaieva
    13

    Promising Waters

    Family house, Azerbaijan, 2010. Internally displaced people from Karabakh have lived in cardboard homes at an abandoned industrial factory in Baku for the last twenty years. They have never received aid from the government despite managing to build new life in these inhumane conditions.
  • Image may contain Symbol Bird Animal Sign and Road Sign
    Mila Teshaieva
    14

    Promising Waters

    Untitled (Narimanabad), Azerbaijan, 2011. Birds pass by a former boating spot in Narimanabad, a remote fishing village on the Caspian Sea. Gas to the village has been cut off since independence, and most people live by poaching.
Read More
Spooky New Infostealer Malware Uses AI to ‘Autodox’ Victims
Named “Volta-Autodoxer,” the recently uncovered malware uses AI tools to collect troves of data about victims, from login credentials and credit card numbers to Discord sessions and UberEats receipts.
Lily Hay Newman
There’s a Completely New Type of Whisky. It’s French and Made in Concrete Eggs
The founders of Maison Lineti are, in a world first, making single malt whisky as if it were wine—and the spirit world is mighty impressed.
Jeremy White
Light Up Your Home Like Christmas With These Smart String Lights
Glow up your home indoors or out with these versatile, discounted, full color smart string lights. They’re WIRED-tested and 25 percent off right now.
Simon Hill
Power Outages Are No Match for This Fridge Battery
Backup by BioLite is designed to power your fridge when the grid goes down. It works, but protecting your ice cream doesn’t come cheap.
Christopher Null
Meta’s Muse Could Upend All Kinds of Businesses. It Hasn’t Yet
Companies have spent the past several weeks trying to reassure investors that Muse and other AI agents pose more of an opportunity than a threat.
Paresh Dave
An AI Agent Injected Drugs Into a Live Mouse’s Brain
A biotech startup let an agent choose a gene therapy and successfully inject the treatment, offering a startling glimpse of the future of research labs.
Emily Mullin
Get Bose QC Headphones at Their Lowest Price Ever
They’re a steal at over 40 percent off in multiple colors. Plus, other great Bose deals you should know about ahead of Black Friday.
Harry Rabinowitz
The Keurig Alta Brewer Can Do It All, With No Plastic Pods
This multifaceted home coffee brewer and its new AltaRounds will make you rethink everything you know about Keurig machines.
Louryn Strampe
Are Memories Transferable? Meet the Scientists Replicating an Infamous Study to Find Out
In the 1960’s, an odd experiment showed planarian worms could transfer memories by consuming each other. It was a sensational finding—that is until the worms stopped learning.
Claire L. Evans
Sunrise Alarm Clocks to Help You Adjust to Shorter Days
I’ve never been a morning person. This bedside gadget is the only thing that’s ever changed that.
Nena Farrell
White Dwarfs Aren’t Just White. Scientists Discover Dying Stars Turning Pink and Green
Astronomers find that a white dwarf’s density and the kind of material it absorbed from its surroundings can produce a rainbow of shades in the star’s atmosphere.
Petr Kubala
Wayfair Coupons for November 2026
Get 10% off with Wayfair promo code, up to 80% off furniture, and more top coupons.
Molly Higgins