Dog Eats (Part Of) Master

An old man dies, his dog gets hungry, so the dog starts nibbling on his former master.

Please, tell me, when you look at the photos, you can't help but want to make a joke about the picture of the liberated dog licking the faces of family members.

In case you forgot...

It's been 15 years. The BBC looks back. CNN has video.

UPDATE: For those who like to go in-depth, take a look at these declassified documents.

Nathan, June 3, 2004 in The Wider World | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack (0)

Dances With Bears

A string of events:

1) Georgia dispatches troops to South Ossetian checkpoints

2) Georgia pulls troops from South Ossetian border after 5-hour deployment

3) President Saakashvili dangles benefits for Ossetians aimed at reconciliation

4) Georgia and Russia exchange harsh words and Georgia's first lady is barred from entering South Ossetia

5) Ossetians agree to open rail links with the rest of Georgia

6) Georgia deploys troops (again) and armor to the South Ossetian border

7) Georgia denies deployment, saying troops were "returning to base"

8) South Ossetia expects to be invaded

Continue reading "Dances With Bears"

Nathan, June 3, 2004 in Kavkaz | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack (1)

One of my favorite things

For the sheer political kitsch alone, the below item (the foreground one, of course) is one of my favorite mementos.

I got this by accompanying an ITAR-TASS journalist, whose daughter lied to the police, telling them I was a foreign journalist covering the event, to the front of the stage of a Zhirinovsky rally. Five feet away from the bastard the whole time. It was surreal. If anyone's interested, I could probably scan the photos.

For those not in the know, here's why I find the LDPR so amusing:

The ultranationalist Liberal Democratic Party has asked permission to hold a meeting in Lenin's mausoleum on Red Square and then remove his body, Interfax reported Thursday.

In a letter to the Kremlin, LDPR leader Vladimir Zhirinovsky said the meeting would be similar to a mourning procession and include a discussion of the removal of "the body of the leader of the global proletariat by forces of the LDPR faction."

LDPR would remove the body on the night of the meeting and then "take responsibility for all questions relating to the maintenance and sale of the body of V.I. Lenin," Interfax reported, citing the letter.

Nathan, June 3, 2004 in The Wider World | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (1)

Udins

I'm utterly fascinated by groups with unique identities that live in pockets amongst larger cultural or ethnically similar groups (which is why I love The Red Book and Ethnologue so much).

Via Blogrel, I heard about an all new group to be fascinated with, the Udins (or Udis). Here's some info from the Red Book:

Among modern-day Caucasian peoples the Udis are considered to be one of the most ancient. The Udis are referred to in the works of the classical authors. They are mentioned in the lists of the Serir and Old Albanian peoples and tribes, and they are mentioned by Herodotus, Strabo, Titus Livius, Tacitus, Pliny the Elder and Ptolemy. According to the classical authors, the Udis inhabited the area of the eastern Caucasus along the coast of the Caspian Sea, and occupied a territory extending to the River Kuba in the north. The Udis have also been recorded as living in the foothills of the Caucasus. Nowadays, only a tiny fragment of this illustrious and ancient tribe survives.

The whole entry is worth checking out. For those who enjoy languages, here's the Ethnologue entry for Udi.

I also managed to find something on the Udins today mentioning that the community is working hard to reinvigorate religious practices (Christian with a touch of Zoroastrianism and a dash of heathenism, I read) and expand publish in their own language.

Nathan, June 3, 2004 in History, Language, & Culture, Kavkaz | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (1)

Recommence Laughter

Continuing along the "laughing at Turkmenbashi" theme, we have another reason to do so.

Turkmenistan's new mosque, located in Turkmenbashi's home village and designed to hold 10,000 worshippers, will include lines from the Rukhnama on the walls.

There is a 50-metre-high dome, which has just been set into place by helicopter, and minarets twice as tall, towering above Turkmenbashi's ancestral village, the site chosen for what Mr Niyazov hopes will become a place of pilgrimage.

Now he has gone further and ordered that the facade will be inscribed with phrases from the Ruhnama - the Book of the Soul - a collection of his musings which is required reading in schools.

Wait, before we start remarking on the glorious return of the literal deification of leaders, the Big T has a "sensible" explanation for the move,

Speaking on television, Turkmenbashi, said it was sensible to have at least some writings people could understand, in Turkmen not just Arabic.

Umm, okay. I won't really comment on that.

Nathan, June 3, 2004 in Turkestan | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (1)

June 02, 2004

What's a plog?

Well, according to Amazon, it's a "personal weblog." What mine looks like can be found on your left.

The constant "What's the impact of blogs?" discussion always seems to focus on the media. If anything, the integration of blogging, even in such a strangely bastardized form, speaks volumes to how blogs are transforming, at the very least, the presentation of information in the online world.

Here are a couple more screen shots:

Incidentally, at work today, I remarked, "CityCares just needs a blog rather than the stupid "information center" that always seems to be breaking down. At the very least, blogs have warped my fragile little mind. But then again, I won't deny I probably have a problem.

Nathan, June 2, 2004 | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

Halk, Watan, Name?

OK, I take it back. Maybe we should continue to laugh at Turkmenbashi. It seems to be the only thing that works:

...by introducing a number of insignificant democratic reforms, Niyazov is simply trying to reduce pressure from the international community, which recently has been increasingly concerned about human rights violations in Turkmenistan. As the website notes, the resolution adopted by the UN Commission on Human Rights on April 15, which yet again denounced human rights violations in Turkmenistan, “apparently was sufficiently specific so that the dictator for the first time became doubtful about the absolute impunity of his barbaric deeds”

Don't get too excited though. I could all just be a clever trick to placate the world:

As gundogar.org suggests, the recent disappearance of Niyazov’s portraits is directly related to the arrival of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) delegation in Turkmenistan on May 28. Niyazov promised OSCE delegation members access to prisons and to acquaint OSCE representatives with prison conditions. By doing so, Niyazov is attempting to demonstrate that “no one sits in jails for their political, religious or other expressions.” As the gundogar.org insightfully suggests, the only statue of the president that was quietly disassembled was located in the immediate proximity to the building of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Turkmenistan, which would have been undoubtedly visited by the Western diplomats (gundogar.org, May 24).

A sly one, this one is. The article also notes that some policy changes have been diminished by instant back-tracking.

Nathan, June 2, 2004 in Turkestan | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (1)

June 01, 2004

Revitalizing Geneva

I've recently commented on the Geneva Conventions. My feeling is that the entire debate over applying them to detainees in Afghanistan (and many in Iraq) is as ill-informed (well, on my opponents' side anyway) as that over whether or not Bush "stole" the 2000 election. This more or less suggests that, with each situation, the debate--the seeking-out of rectitude--is a fool's errand. Rather, that there even is a debate suggests the need for reform in both situations. I'm no big fan of the Electoral College (sorry Wyoming, Rhode Island, etc., I know it augments your power, but...), and I find the Geneva Conventions as they stand to be hopelessly irrelevant to current conflicts.

Alan Dershowitz agrees. I'm inclined to quote a lot of it, but, to me, this is the heart of the need for reform:

Continue reading "Revitalizing Geneva"

Nathan, June 1, 2004 in Human Rights | Permalink | Comments (4) | TrackBack (0)

May 31, 2004

Afghan Gold

That would be the name of the book bringing together these amazing photos were Mr. Powell not having such a hard time getting published.

There are great buzkashi photos on there, even some dog fighting ones (dog fighting videos from Afghanistan were, and probably still are, considered a hot commodity by Uzbek men).

There's a lot of great stuff in the photo archive covering 30 years. Check it out.

Nathan, May 31, 2004 in Afghanistan | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

Weekly Roundup Returns!

Realizing how helpful these are in making the Regional Briefings, I'm working a litte harder at resuscitating the weekly roundup.

Before I begin, I want to officially and publicly thank P F for joining as a contributor. The Viking post shows why I'm happy to have him on board. I saw the story, and I would have probably just linked it, said "cool," and moved on to the same old politics and war news. Heaven forbid we actually get some color in this place every now and then.

First, in an absolutely unprecedented move, Uzbekistan allowed foreign forensic experts to investigate torture allegations. Dr. Michael Pollanen, a forensic pathologist for the province of Ontario took part in a second autopsy of Andre Shelkovenko. Police claimed he hanged himself, but his family said the body showed signs of torture. Pollanen said the police are telling the truth.

Dr. Michael Pollanen, a forensic pathologist for the province of Ontario, Canada, who observed a second autopsy on the body Thursday, said earlier alleged injuries "were related to understandable misinterpretations of changes that occur in all bodies after death."

Both external and internal examinations of Shelkovenko's neck showed "findings compatible with hanging and did not reveal evidence of strangulation," said Pollanen, also an associate professor of pathology at the University of Toronto.

Read the whole thing. This is by no means a closed-book case, but I'm inclined to agree with the U.S. and Canadian experts on this one. I don't, not for a minute, find it too hard to believe that a middle-aged Russian who murdered someone in a botched robbery would hang himself. I also find it well within the realm of reasonable possibility that his cellmates didn't intervene. (Something similar happened with a local case).

With the earlier announcement aimed at increased transparency in the prison system, it looks like the Uzbeks are trying to bring in the disinfecting power of sunlight to separate the fact from fiction. Surely, there's an interest in guaranteeing that they continue to receive aid from the U.S. as well. It will be interesting to see how this all turns out.

Now the rest of the news.

Continue reading "Weekly Roundup Returns!"

Nathan, May 31, 2004 in Roundup | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (2)

Vikings Return to the Caucasus and Turkmenistan

The Vikings were certainly well-travelled folk. According to the Georgian chronicle Kartlis Tsovreba,

In the beginning of the 1040s an armed force with Varjagi, i.e. Scandinavians, came to the small place Bashi, situated by the river Rioni in Georgia... [I]t is stated that they were 3000 men and presumably they had been rowing up the river after sailing eastwards on the Black Sea, most likely from the estuary of the Dnjepr River... Both the geographical area, the course of events and the time period make it probable that the story in the Georgian chronicle is a trace of the fatal Swedish expedition by the chieftain, Ingvar den Vittfarne (Ingvar the Far-Travelled), mentioned on at least 26 rune stones in mid-Sweden as well as in an imaginative saga from Iceland. [link]

Now a group of modern Scandanavians are planning to recreate the voyage, Kon-Tiki style.

A group of modern day Vikings is sailing and rowing to the Caspian Sea. They are retracing the route taken by the Viking chief Ingvar den Vittfarne (Ingvar the far-travelled). The Vittfarne Expedition would terminate in Baku in August 2004.

In 1036, Ingvar den Vittfarne led a fleet from what is now known as Sweden to the Caspian Sea. He navigated the Russian waterways to the Black Sea and from there, most probably continued down the Georgian river Rioni. After hauling his boats across land, he is believed to have continued his journey via the Mtkvari River in Georgia, which is known as Kur in Azerbaijan south eastward to the Caspian.

It is believed that Vittfarne even reached as far as Gara Bugaz located in present-day Turkmenistan.

Continue reading "Vikings Return to the Caucasus and Turkmenistan"

P F, May 31, 2004 in History, Language, & Culture | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

May 28, 2004

How do you say "about-face" in Uzbek?

Who knows whether or not it'll come to pass or last very long, but this is absolutely groundbreaking news.

TASHKENT, Uzbekistan AP) -- A top Uzbek prison official and human rights activists said Friday they would jointly monitor prisons in this former Soviet republic -- unprecedented cooperation that follows allegations of widespread abuse of prisoners

Skepticism is advised, but it's still amazing news. Read the whole thing.

Nathan, May 28, 2004 in Human Rights, Turkestan | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (2)

John Kerry at 0% APR Until 2005

I take more than a passing interest in my junk mail. Part of my job involves "direct marketing" (I'm ethical about it).

So, what I am about to present to you in photographs is, in my opinion, all politics aside, absolutely brilliant. I don't know if this is entirely new, but it is definitely the first time I've seen a credit card for a political party.

A quick note before you begin: TypePad hasn't been all that speedy lately. The images aren't all that big, but they may be slow-loading.

Continue reading "John Kerry at 0% APR Until 2005"

Nathan, May 28, 2004 in US Politics | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack (2)

Phriday

I love Phridays.

Nathan, May 28, 2004 | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

No Comment

Nope, none at all.

Thanks, Tatyana!

Nathan, May 28, 2004 in Turkestan | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

The Tajik Synagogue Fiasco

I'd hate to to do it, but I'm going to have to disagree with both Joe Katzman and Meryl Yourish's characterization of the destruction of Tajikistan's lone synagogue.

Continue reading "The Tajik Synagogue Fiasco"

Nathan, May 28, 2004 in Turkestan | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

May 27, 2004

It All Comes Together

Quick! What's the connection between Afghanistan and the 1978 version of Dawn of the Dead?

Scott Reiniger

Still stumped? Listen to this story from The World. It seems that Mr. Reiniger is descended from the great Philadelphian, Dr. Josiah Harlan, a.k.a. Prince of Ghor, Lord of the Hazarahs, spiritual and military heir to Alexander the Great. No foolin'. There's a great new book (I'm told it's great, I have it on the way. here's a review.)

The title "Prince of Ghor" was granted to Harlan and his heirs. It's Reiniger's if he wants it.

Nathan, May 27, 2004 in Afghanistan, History, Language, & Culture | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

Attn: Lee Sabi Perv-boys

I'm assuming you're boys anyway (and apparently located in East Asia). Lee Sabi has long been a reliable generator of Google hits (as was my intention). For those who have sought for many moon the Lee Sabi pictures, visit The Marmot. He's got the relief you seek.

Nathan, May 27, 2004 | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

In Defense of Oregon

There is a widely-held prejudice that Oregon is home to lots of tree-hugging moon-maidens and nutjob political and religious movements.

Abu Hamza Al-Masri's plan to set up a terrorist training camp in Bly, Oregon would seem to fit this pattern. (Here's Bly on a map. Nice area.)

Let me say, in defense of my beloved land of birth, let not the loons you hear about on the news reflect on Oregonians in general. The craziest of the crazies and nuttiest of the nuts are not, in fact, Oregonians by upbringing. (In my experience, they tend to be Californians or New Englanders, but I'll leave that for another day.) It's a big state with lots of space. That's part of the appeal. Usually we just get the harmless eccentrics whose most deviant behavior is multi-day festivals focusing on smoking pot and selling bongs. Occasionally, we get the bad as well (quick history fact: The Dalles, Oregon is the first place in the US to suffer a biological terror attack--at the hands of the Rajneeshis).

Ahhh, the things Oregon makes the news for. I'm glad this bastard got taken down.

Nathan, May 27, 2004 in Political Islam | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

May 26, 2004

Tempting

Amanda emailed me info on The Mongol Rally. This is probably something of a response to me mentioning my secret desire to put the horde back together (think Apocalypse Now or, more appropriately, The Man Who Would Be King).

The whole trip is London to Ulan Bator via Moscow--6,700 miles in three weeks. You have to drive a crap car. You also have to live in it, alternating between driving and sleeping with a buddy. I particularly like the approach to safety and support on the trip:

If you want a full support crew you're in the wrong place. If nothing goes wrong, then everything has gone wrong. You only start having fun when you break down in the desert with only a short stick and some chewing gum to fix your car. If your automobile completely lets you down and all else fails, e.g. the sky has fallen on your head, we will do our damndest to get you to Mongolia by moving you into other cars. However you are supposed to be on an adventure not in a nursery class so if the sky does fall on your head, prop it up with a windscreen wiper and carry on. If you're worried, stay at home and iron some pants.

Not that ironing is always safe, but still, I like the attitude.

The route takes you through what looks like at least ten countries, including both of the K-stans and their capitals.

I'm already on record about wanting to travel from sea to shining sea on the other side of the world, so this is very tempting. 2005? God knows, but it does sound like fun.

Nathan, May 26, 2004 in Mongolia & "North Turkestan", Skylarkings | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack (1)

It is not for me...

to resist such opportunities.

The look on his face pretty much removes any possible need for me to make a comment on his remarks.

(HT: Michele)

Nathan, May 26, 2004 in Skylarkings | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (2)

Random Trivia

What was the first movie to earn a PG-13 rating?

Kind of, but kind of not really entirely, off-topic.

Nathan, May 26, 2004 | Permalink | Comments (12) | TrackBack (0)

May 25, 2004

Coolest. Peace Corps Volunteer. Ever.

Without a doubt. And, he wants to be governor. Could Texas do worse?

And, anyone interested in making me an Honorary Texas Jewboy, here's how....

Nathan, May 25, 2004 in Peace Corps | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

New Assistance for Middle East & Central Asia

The Senate is proposing new assistance and investment in the Middle East and Central Asia.

The purpose of the Act (S 2305 IS) is to authorise assistance for political freedom and economic development, particularly through private sector development, in the Greater Middle East and Central Asia, including contributions to and participation in three new entities: a Trust for Democracy, a Development Foundation, and a Development Bank.

Here's the complete text. While I certainly am a fan of the small and medium business support provisions, it's the democratization stuff that most interests me:

CREATION OF TRUST FOR DEMOCRACY- The President is authorized to establish, together with other donors and private sector and nongovernmental leaders from the Greater Middle East and Central Asia, a multilateral, public-private Trust for Democracy to support grass-roots development of civil society, democratic reform, good governance practices, and rule of law reform in the Greater Middle East and Central Asia. Private foundations shall be encouraged to participate in the Trust through the provision of matching funds.

Sure, there are no specifics, and I'm sure there will undoubtedly be changes made, but the extra $5 billion for 2005-2009 is very welcome.

Nathan, May 25, 2004 in Afghanistan, The Wider World, Turkestan | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

A Damned Shame

Tajikistan's only synagogue is being demolished to make way for a presidential palace:

The government has ordered the Jews out of the Dushanbe synagogue by the end of July so it can be demolished with the surrounding neighborhood. The plain, white building where Jews say they have worshipped for more than a century is to be replaced by a ``Palace of Nations'' complex that will serve as Tajik President Emomali Rakhmonov's office.

The city has offered several plots on the outskirts of Dushanbe for a new synagogue, but it refuses to compensate for the loss of the building, insisting state funds can't be used for religious institutions.

Eminent domain without compensation. Great.

I'm tempted to quote more, but just read the rest. While so many of Central Asia's Jews, including the "Bukharan" Jews who have lived there for one helluva long time, have left, those who have stayed have demonstrated incredible determination to preserving what is left of their traditions and communities. It's nice that some businesspeople in Bukhara have taken to restoring Jewish architecture, but it's not quite the same.

Here's a variety of links on the Jews of Central Asia:
Bukharan Jews
Jewish history of Uzbekistan
An excellent site devoted to Khazaria, the Turkic Jewish kingdom now located in Russia
As far as restored Jewish architecture goes, check out Emir Bed & Breakfast, which is run by a wonderful woman. This business and the website received a boatload of aid and support from a couple of Peace Corps Volunteers. I stayed in this room.

Nathan, May 25, 2004 in Turkestan | Permalink | Comments (4) | TrackBack (1)

May 24, 2004

Georgia goes big in Japan

Georgia now has its very own representative in the highest levels of Japanese Sumo...

Georgia, a "martial arts kingdom" that has produced many Olympic medalists in wrestling and judo, is also proving fertile ground for sumo. Georgian wrestler Kokkai (Black Sea) was promoted to the juryo division this spring. At the end of 2002, a sumo ring was opened in Tbilisi, Georgia's capital, sparking a surge of interest in the sport. Kokkai was also trained by his father, a former wrestler, and was a European junior wrestling champion in the 130-kilogram weight class. Young men training at the Tbilisi center are inspired to become the "second Kokkai."

Here is a pretty picture of him modelling what the fashion conscious Georgian will be wearing this summer.

----

Thanks to Joel at Far Outliers.

Andy, May 24, 2004 | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

Which Nigerian spammer are You?
(HT: Javert Max)

Nathan, May 24, 2004 in Skylarkings | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

Quit Loving Me!

Finally! Another story on the removal of the Turkmenbashi portraits:

The war on the personality cult was ordered by Niyazov himself, the president whose portraits can be seen everywhere. The decision was made to begin in the capital city of Ashkhabad. An official of the municipal administration who insisted on anonymity told AFP news agency that the portraits of the president were to be replaced with political placards. The official refused to elaborate. The latest reports from Turkmenistan indicate in the meantime that the central monument - Niyazov's colossal statue in gold in front of the presidential palace, the hallmark of Ashkhabad - will not be removed.

A representative of the Turkmen diaspora in Moscow told this correspondent what the matter was. Asking that he were not identified by name, he said that the Turkmenbashi summoned all high-ranking officials last week and said, "If you love your president so much, you can have his portraits in your offices or at home. Stop making it a public contest ordering my portraits everywhere. It is because of your grovelling that I'm blamed for personality cult."

Interesting... This certainly is plausible, certainly more plausible than my suggestion that the old man may be dead or deposed. Niyazov could be attacking the Turkmenbashi cult because it's embarassing him overseas. While Turkmenistan resembles North Korea in many ways, it's still got a ways to go. It's not so far gone that Turkmenbashi wants to revel in his ostracism from the world. Maybe, and this is just a guess, he is beginning to realize that his pervasive public glorification may be an impediment (just one of many) to massive foreign investment in his country's resources.

Nathan, May 24, 2004 in Turkestan | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (1)

Streeeeeeeeeeeeetch

Right here.

I have quite a few gripes with this particular example of "I'm suggesting a link, but not explicitly making it so that I can back away from my implied statement" argument. I may expand on them later, but here are a few off-the-cuff observations about trying to connect torture in Uzbekistan to Abu Ghraib:

1) As Michael Totten pointed out, almost all of the serious incidents at Abu Ghraib took place on a single day. I'd have a hard time linking a pattern of abuses in Uzbekistan to that one day. You can make climatological arguments about why troops at Abu Ghraib behaved the way they did, but connect the damned dots if you want to do that.

2) Regarding US training of Uzbek troops, I could just leave it at "It's not a bunch of Reservists doing the training" and be done with it. I won't. This training has been going on for a long time and it is performed by soldiers much more disciplined and well-trained than those at Abu Ghraib. There are undoubtedly Uzbek officers that go home and are supreme pricks, but these guys are going to be much more receptive to US requests as they move up in the ranks. As long as the military remains a powerful force in Uzbekistan, I feel much better knowing that we, and not Russia or China, have strong links to the officer corps.

3) I'm sick of the Geneva Conventions crowing and applying it here is ludicrous. It's a ridiculously uninformed debate. Here's some help to all sides: go read Convention III. You want Article 4. It's debatable whether or not the Conventions apply to the Taleban, but they almost certainly do not apply to Al Qaeda (for each, it has to do with Art. 4 (2)(b)--having a "fixed distinctive sign recognizable at a distance"--those arguing for POW status have other lines they emphasize... (2)(6) would be a good one to counter with). That doesn't give us any right to abuse prisoners at all though. It just means they don't get some of the rights of POWs.

It's all moot though, because in Uzbekistan, most torture allegations involve the police, not the military, and under no cases would the Geneva Conventions at all be an issue with those detained in Uzbekistan, whether by the police or the military. I think Scout should look at the Convention against Torture, etc.

4) As to why we were training the Uzbek military to begin with, I made one of the points above. While it's not a zero-sum game, I'm much more comfortable with an Uzbek military more beholden to us than other regional powers. Uzbekistan's society and government are not anywhere near as monolithic as many make it out to be. The military is not "Karimov's" though he certainly gives the orders. As Stephen Blank just pointed out, it is becoming increasingly evident that the situation in Uzbekistan could deteriorate rapidly. The most organized groups to pick up the pieces in Uzbekistan are probably the IMU, Hizb ut-Tahrir, and the military. As unpalatable as the military may be in a vacuum, it's much more preferable relative to the other two.

That also suggests the next reason we train the Uzbek military--to counter Islamists. They are a real threat, and it is in our interests to see that regional governments can handle the threat they pose.

That's not to say there aren't risks (such as that of us becoming too closely associated with the government in this case), but all choices are so fraught. The world isn't made up of angels and demons or pure-as-snow good and black-as-the-abyss evil. Let's deal with the real world where there are grays and nasty choices to be made. I'm not gung-ho for a huge military relationship with Uzbekistan, and Bush isn't producing the results out of Uzbekistan that I would like to see. He certainly could be doing better. The military relationship, though, is an important part of our overall relationship with Uzbekistan, and I value any program that brings Uzbeks to the United States for education or exchange. Believe me, they leave with a chunk of our values lodged in their hearts.

I wish that I could find it, but there was a great story about Azeri police on an exchange in Portland, OR last year in a local paper. These guys went to learn investigative and questioning techniques, skills lacking in societies where the justice system relies on confessions for evidence (usually extracted by abuse or torture). They honestly said that it had never occurred to them that you could gather evidence, even directly from a suspect, without working them over. Sure it's a small impact, but these experiences have a cumulative effect that should be taken seriously (*ahem* Georgia...).

Military relationships, even with atrocious states, need to be considered seriously and in context. Trying to connect Abu Ghraib to torture in Uzbekistan is neither of those.

And, as a final little quibble, where's the blame for all NATO member states? Uzbekistan is a participant in the Partnership for Peace program, and more than just US troops make their visits to do training (such as the oft-mentioned* Germans who strut about Tashkent in their flightsuits). You either care about human rights issues all the time or not. Selectivity suggests different motives.**

*by me
**And I fully stand by what that implies.

Nathan, May 24, 2004 in Turkestan | Permalink | Comments (4) | TrackBack (0)