ASHGABAT, Turkmenistan — To the accompaniment of deafening traditional music and trailed by a crowd of hundreds, Turkmenistan’s president inaugurated his lavish new palace in the heart of the Central Asian nation’s gleaming capital Wednesday. The $250 million complex built by French construction company Bouygues replaces the more squat golden-domed palace located a few blocks away. The landmark appears to represent President Gurbanguly Berdymukhammedov’s determination to expunge all signs of the […]