It seems that the impossible has happened, and the Father of All Turkmen, Saparmurat Niyazov, the leader of a great nation, the most brilliant statesman, scientist, and philosopher the world has ever known, has decided to leave his people behind. As a part of his grand and brilliant vision for the country, no plan of succession was left behind, which leaves the people bereft of leadership. There is only one solution. Bring him back!
In the meantime, the great powers are busy mobilizing their agents behind the scenes to get the most favorable outcomes for them. For Russia’s leaders that means reincorporation into the Russian “sphere of influence” (i.e., the old Russian Empire), for America’s leaders that means countering Russia’s efforts, and for the handful of insightful Europeans it means hoping that they might still get access to alternative sources of natural gas that don’t involve having to go through Gazprom (and it’s recently purchased former German Chancellor, Gerhard Schroeder). Few of the outsiders will have any interest at all in how Turkmen will live, whether they will enjoy independence (well, some outsiders are against it, of course), constitutional government, the rule of law, individual liberty, and prosperity.
We are done for. Time to re-stock the duct tape.
I wonder if the Cuban Communist dictatorship is lying about the health status of Fidel Castro who could kick the bucket like the Turkmenistani dictator anytime soon.
The Russians are trying to “reincorporate” Turkmenistran into their Evil Empire (II), while the innocent Americans are only trying to “counter” this vile plot. It just couldn’t be that the latter are trying to gain control for their own profit.
Anna is no doubt right, except for the use of the term “profit,” since the term is ambiguous. The Iraq war has not “profited” the U.S. government, nor the U.S. taxpayers. Some firms have profited, but overall the loss of wealth has been enormous. From the perspective of the people of the U.S., the “losses” have been staggering, and the miscalculation on the part of U.S. government leaders is now obvious to all.
A good example of how the great game is being played (again) in Central Asia is that of Uzbekistan, which was courted by the U.S. for the use of an air base for support of the Afghanistan war, but when the government organized a massacre in Andijan last year, the U.S. (under pressure from human rights activists and public opinion) was critical, and the dictatorship in Tashkent turned to governments that were rather less fastidious about such matters: Russia and China.
Niyazov’s passing was at least a welcome confirmation that we are all mortals.
I have also heard reports that Iran is plotting to exploit Turkemnistan’s Muslim population into radicalizing them. Trying to make a Central Asian “Iran”. Alledgely speaking.
I saw on the news that they will be having an “election” in which people get to choose from among the candidate that the ruling party has chosen.