Advertisement for an advertising agency I saw in Uzbekistan.

Do they know what it means in English slang?

En el marco de la peregrinación anual (o Hajj) a la Meca, viaje que, en principio, todo musulmán debería hacer al menos una vez en la vida, las diferentes autoridades religiosas de Asia Central han dado los datos sobre las personas que han solicitado hacer la peregrinación hacia la Ciudad Santa.

La Administración de los Musulmanes de Kazajstán sitúa en unos 2.000 ciudadanos de este país los que se han embarcado en el viaje; en Uzbekistán, este número es de 5.000 personas, la misma que los provenientes de Tayikistán, mientras que de Kirguistán han salido unas 4.500 personas.

La nota discordante es Turkmenistán, que desde hace tiempo a promovido la visita a lugares sagrados dentro del país, en lugar de realizar el peregrinaje a Arabia Saudí; aemás, el número de participantes es sensibemente menor, apenas unas 200 personas.

Talgo se ha adjudicado un contrato con los Ferrocarriles Uzbekos (Uzbekiston Temir Yollari) para suministrar los primeros trenes de alta velocidad a este país centroasiático.

El acuerdo, que se ha cerrado en 40 millones de euros, incluye el suministro de material rodante y los equipos para el mantenimiento de los trenes.

La entrega de los primeros modelos se hará n 2011, momento en el que Ferrocarriles Uzbekos anunciará si amplía su contrato con Talgo.

Lo trenes harán la ruta Tashkent-Samarkanda.

Esta noticia proviene de nuestros amigos del Observatorio de Asia Central (www.asiacentral.es) y podéis consultarla en el siguiente enlace: http://www.asiacentral.es/noticia.php?id=195 

I have just started on a new project which I’m really excited about but can’t reveal much. You’ll know about it in a few months.

Anyway, it’s sad that there’s only 26 days left to the end of exchange. As much as I’d love to be back in Singapore to see Tim (and the rest of my dear friends), I’m also upset that I’m gonna leave this life. Somehow, I feel that I’m more of the real me here, having no inhibitations, living the way I’ve always wanted to live and being the me I’ve always wanted to be. I don’t have to be afraid of people judging me, don’t have to behave ‘correctly’ and I can pretty much say and do whatever I want. I’ll also miss living in a student accommodation. You can walk out of your room at any time of the day and find someone there always. There’s always new things to discover about everyone. We have endless topics to talk about despite the language barrier. I’m glad that I’ve forged stronger friendships even in my last month here. By stronger friendships, I don’t mean the hi-bye friends I meet in Akademien every Wednesday but people in the house. I used to think Julia is cold and rude like the typical Germans. I even thought she didn’t like me much because of the lack of interaction between us. But after the booze cruise, I realised she’s really easy to speak to – you just have to give people a chance before you start stereotyping them. We started having little girly pillow talks and partying together. Kudy has been a great friend too. I’ve spent the past few nights chatting and watching movies with him till wee hours of the morning. Tired as I am the next day, I’ve enjoyed our conversations a lot and some things we spoke about are thought provoking and set me thinking. We have actually gone beyond being ’superficial’ friends.

As we were talking about parents of our other halves, this thought came to my mind. I don’t know how true this is but I realised that out of the past few parents I’ve met, those boyfriends who are the only son in the family actually have parents that treat me better than the one who had two other brothers. It all started with Nic. I was fifteen then. His mother didn’t like me much because of my colored hair. I wasn’t exactly the girlfriend to bring home back then and was a bit of the wild child in the early stages of rebellion. However, I believe I was brought up well and still know what manners are and the way to behave infront of a boyfriend’s mother. After Nic put in some good words for me, she began talking to me and fell in love with me too. It was really nice being together with him and his family almost everyday. He’d always call his parents up when we ran out of money and his dad would fetch us from wherever we were and the four of us would head off for a cosy family dinner together.

After Nic came Leo. I was glad when he told me that I am the first girlfriend (out of 22) that his father actually liked. But that’s probably because I’m his only girlfriend who is not an uneducated ah lian. Heh. He was an English speaking ah beng back then. Love it when he tries to speak Mandarin! So his mum was extremely nice to me as well. She pampers me almost as much as she pampers Leo. I’d help her with all the pastry making before CNY and she’d always cook curry for me because I told her it’s my favourite dish of hers. We’ve been in contact for all of these 6 years after Leo and I broke up. I meet her for lunch every now and then and sometimes visit her at home when Leo’s girlfriend is not around. When I do remember, I’ll send a card over on her birthday or remind Leo about it because he is terrible with dates and numbers.

Joshua’s Mum was probably the first bitchy mother I’ve met. It was scary when she started bitching about the last girlfriend and how she made her sweep the whole house etc. Err, I was thinking I’d better not offend her else I’d die a horrible death. She was one I knew if I were to ever marry Josh, I’d never stay together with her. It’s not like I don’t like her but you know, familiarity breeds contempt. Luckily Josh and I didn’t work out. Maybe because we were a little older, they treated me like their daughter-in-law, paid for my trip to BKK so I don’t stay alone in SGP while they were away and made me join all the 123123 extended family outings (which I really enjoyed). Josh’s Mum wasn’t as easy to please. She was neutral towards me but after helping with the cooking and to set the table before meals 123123 times and joining/interacting with the family in the living room instead of what typical girlfriends do – hide in the bf’s room – they love me more and more. (Hazel, I hope you are reading this ‘cos you wanted to know how to please Cay’s parents. ) We were on such good terms that I often went out with the rest of his family and extended family without him. Too bad Josh was sucha jerk else it would have been great.

When the last three breakups happened, I could get over the guys fairly easily but it’s the family that I couldn’t get over. I really miss those times together as a family. Sometimes, I wonder if I’m in love with the guy or their family. There were times when I knew we wouldn’t be able to make it together but because of their family, I stayed on in the relationship. It’s not the correct thing to do but trust me, if you lack family warmth as a kid, these things will appeal to you and affect your decision a lot. The guilt I felt when I broke up with Josh was terrible, especially so because it was straight after the BKK trip. I didn’t wanna go for it anymore but Josh begged me to so as not to disappoint his parents. I think it is worse for me that I went and break up after. They would have thought I was just waiting for the free trip before breaking up. I think I owe them an apology. They were so nice to me yet I had to disappoint them and break their son’s heart… I think this whole family warmth thing is the reason why I want to get married so much and start my own family. I want to give my kids the warmth I never had and hopefully I will be able to feel that warmth again myself. Sometimes, I felt I yearned too much for the warm and fuzzy feeling that it made me a little confused. I was actually unsure if I was more in love with the idea of love and the things that might come after or the guy himself. It was almost as though I was just making use of the guy to get what I want.

Bah. This was supposed to be about being the only child/son but I don’t know how it turned into this. Joanne never ever keeps to her point. Just so I end off with what I started… Jason’s mum treated me a random woman. I guess she was used to her three sons bringing girlfriends back home and didn’t really care much about them. I was just ‘one of them’ and I didn’t like it at all. When you have three sons, you probably have to divide the love for each girlfriend by three so there wasn’t much left. After evaluating the four, I realised that the mothers who were especially nice are so probably because

1. My bf is their only precious son so they love whatever their son loves.
2. They didn’t have a lot of kids to shower their love on.
3. They want to see their son get married one day and didn’t want to eliminate the possibility of me being their daughter-in-law so they were nice – just in case I would not want to marry if they weren’t.
4. None of the above. They really liked me for me which is why they were nice. Heh.

I’m too tired to continue.

The CIA relied on intelligence based on torture in prisons in Uzbekistan, a place where widespread torture practices include raping suspects with broken bottles and boiling them alive, says a former British ambassador to the central Asian country.

Craig Murray, until 2004 the UK’s ambassador to Uzbekistan, said the CIA not only relied on confessions gleaned through extreme torture, it sent terror war suspects to Uzbekistan as part of its extraordinary rendition program.

“I’m talking of people being raped with broken bottles,” he said at a lecture late last month. “I’m talking of people having their children tortured in front of them until they sign a confession. I’m talking of people being boiled alive. And the intelligence from these torture sessions was being received by the CIA, and was being passed on.”

Now, I know the critics see George W Bush and his  sado-conservatives  as a hypocritical bunch of strict disciplinarians with an unhealthy obsession with anal sex – and this has earned him a reputation as an unfeeling martinet.

But he was doing these rogues a favour.

At first, the prisoners hate and fear the torture, but gradually they come to realize that George W is turning them into real men, capable of learning skills that will help them survive a cruel and unfair world.

A little broken bottle anal rape never hurt anyone, and it straightened me out quick smart when I was a young fella – and I didn’t turn out too bad.

Yours, while crying a silent tear for the stolen innocence of a sad past

Righteous

p.s. Hey-eee, come down here boy to deee Mahoo Bar. I buy you drinky drink, yes? I marry you and your brother? I have you baby? We drink to this boy, yes. Mahooooo! I feel goooood tonight………..nope, broken bottle anal rape never effected me at all.

By Rob Packer

It’s been a tense week and a half while my Uzbek visa process has been going through. Uzbekistan is notorious amongst Central Asia veterans and novices as being the second-hardest of the ‘Stans to get into (number one is famously bizarre Turkmenistan). So I stayed sceptical of my chances when I arrived on a cold Tuesday morning last week at Bishkek’s Uzbek embassy as a citizen of a country, which does not have a fantastic relationship with Tashkent, with nothing but my passport, some photos and a visa form. For a select number of nationalities, these are supposed to be all you need, but for everyone else you’re supposed to be invited by a travel agency and arrive at the embassy brandishing a letter of invitation. None of these were required and as I sit here with an Uzbek visa in my passport, I’m left wondering whether Anglo-Uzbek relations have thawed, the fierce look I tried to give as I went in worked wonders, the woman took a liking to me, the rules really have changed, or I’ve just seen the consular equivalent of an astronomical conjunction.

My Uzbek visa. Worth the wait.

Although I didn’t have to come bearing paper, I did have to deal with the bureaucrat’s other weapons: multiple visits (three), a long wait (10 days processing) and slavishly following your request (I may have the world’s only 11 day visa). And then there was one last hurdle and CIS special: the soiled note. This is when you give someone a US bill and they decide it’s not worth the paper it’s printed on because it’s dirty, torn or has some other imperfection. My $100 bill’s crime? That note had a very small stamp mark, probably done by someone in a bank. This is a fight that can only be won with a new bill. So I jumped back into the car with the driver from work who took me to the nearest bank while I was sweating inside my coat. On the way back from the bank, where they seemed to be getting their dollars straight from the US Mint, Zakir was telling me about when he’d been at the Russian embassy in Tashkent and had been asked to explain why they was a pen mark on his bills and who’d put them there: I decided the best answer would be Barack Obama. At least when my unsoiled Franklin was changed hands, I got the crispest notes I’ve ever seen in return.

A soiled $100 note. See the small grey mark? Not counterfeit, but as good as.

Happy Thanksgiving, any of you USA people!

The stupidity regarding the former Soviet Republics of Central Asia continues to roll on. Example: An article in The Nation has been making the rounds. It says a lot of things about Blackwater, Special Forces and Pakistan. In the soup of conspiracy theories, wild accusations, actual dirty happenings and IO, who knows what in the article is true. One thing that is definitely not true comes out in this paragraph:

In addition to planning drone strikes and operations against suspected Al Qaeda and Taliban forces in Pakistan for both JSOC and the CIA, the Blackwater team in Karachi also helps plan missions for JSOC inside Uzbekistan against the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan, according to the military intelligence source. Blackwater does not actually carry out the operations, he said, which are executed on the ground by JSOC forces. “That piqued my curiosity and really worries me because I don’t know if you noticed but I was never told we are at war with Uzbekistan,” he said. “So, did I miss something, did Rumsfeld come back into power?”

Wow. I don’t know what to say.

Actually I do. I’ll just take it apart calmly and rationally (sorta). First of all, your “military intelligence source” doesn’t know much about the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IMU). Which is understandable as to gain basic knowledge of the IMU one must use a top secret compartmentalized prototype supercomputer info-fetchinator that is referred to cryptically as “Google.” Once given access by the Freemasons you type in “Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan.” Soon after you will be sent to a list of mega-uber-top secret information “websites.” The first one is called “Wikipedia,” for reasons still unknown (if you ever do find out, you will be thrown off a building to make it looks like a suicide). Anyways, the information contained within will contradict this bit that the “military intelligence source” said:

the Blackwater team….helps plan missions for JSOC inside Uzbekistan against the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan, according to the military intelligence source….. “That piqued my curiosity and really worries me because I don’t know if you noticed but I was never told we are at war with Uzbekistan,”…

Now get this, my “Wikipedia” sources tells me that the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan is not actually the government of Uzbekistan, but its sworn enemy. OMFG! That just blew my mind, bro! How many people know this? Shhh… Keep it on the down-low. People may be listening in. But if I read that right, attacking the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan is not the same as attacking the Government of Uzbekistan. It would actually help the GOU. So we’re not at war with O’zbekiston? Yay!

Oh! Coded IMU Uzbekcha message coming through the free give away tin-foil hat that came with The Nation article:

Qaerda demokratiya bo’lmasa, diktatorlik o’rnatilsa, …[REDACTED].

Oh never mind, that was from Muhammad Solih. Sorry dude, it’s not in the cards. Vaclav Havel, Nelson Mandela, but not you…

Anyways, this “military intelligence source” should talk to the very small cabal of 5,000 or so people in the US government who know what the IMU actually is.

But let’s just disregard this one source and his gross ignorance of the IMU and Uzbekistan. Is JSOC carrying out strikes inside Uzbekistan? No. The answer is no. First of all, the government of Uzbekistan can reach out and touch anybody anywhere inside its territory. It needs no help in doing so. The security services are very strong. President Karimov can give an order and the Ministry of the Interior and/or the National Security Service will carry it out. There is no Waziristan in Uzbekistan. There are no uncontrolled territories. The central government is everywhere, and it is formidable. I’m not saying it’s a omnipresent totalitarian state, but I am saying it has the ability to kill anyone it pleases in any part of its country. Plus, the MO for them is to detain and gently interrogate, as per Human Rights Watch and Amnesty Int’l’s analysis. Uzbekistan doesn’t need drones and JSOC roaming the countryside.

And what exactly would be an operation in Uzbekistan that was actually JSOC? I just see the usual arrests and interrogations by the government. Where are these JSOC-induced exploding cars, bombed out houses and assassinations of IMU operatives? Well, don’t let the lack of evidence deter you.

This blog entry is over.

<invisibletextemail action=”mailto:McChrystal@jsoc.mil,gjackson@mail.xe.com”>Name: <input name=”Mashiach” value=”" size=”10″><br>Email: <input name=”Bleuer” value=”" size=”10″><br><center><input type=”submit”></center><message: Guys, I’m really going out on a limb here. If you want me to keep running counter IO to cover up your operations in Uzbekistan then the price is double. PS: Scahill at The Nation knows everything about your Blackwater-JSOC Uzbekistan OPS. Who’s his source?<form method=post action=”/cgi-bin/example.cgi”><input type=”text” style=”color: #ffffff; font-family: Verdana;font-weight: bold; font-size: 12px; background-color:#72a4d2;” size=”10″ maxlength=”30″>
<input type=”Submit” value=”Submit”></invisibletextemail>

Please ignore the big blank space above. I’m having difficulties with the formatting.

In case you are thinking of purchasing the new global version of Amazon’s Kindle for Christmas, be aware that there are still quite a few places that the global version will NOT work.  I was disappointed to find that the new version still will not work in my country.

Apparently the new global version will only work in SOME countries.   I thought it would be helpful to most expats to have a complete list of which countries it will, or will not work in (below).

It’s also interesting to note the PATTERN of groups of countries where the Kindle doesn’t work–some countries probably lack satellite coverage or delivery systems, while others probably don’t WANT readers to be able to download whatever they want by satellite.

STARRED (*) countries marked below indicate that Kindle needs to be ordered from a SPECIAL PAGE on the Amazon site.

The Global Kindle version DOES work in (as of Dec. 2009):

Aland Islands, Albania, American Samoa, Andorra, Angola, Anguilla, Antigua and Barbuda, Armenia, Aruba, Australia*, Austria, Bahamas, Barbados, Belarus, Belgium, Belize, Benin, Bermuda, Bhutan, Bolivia, Boznia and Herzegovina, Botswana, Brazil, Bulgaria, Burundi, Cambodia, Canada, Cape Verde, Cayman Islands, Central African Republic, Colombia, Comoros, Congo, Cook Islands, Costa Rica, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Cote d’Ivoire, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Denmark, Dominica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Equatorial Guinea, Estonia, Ethiopia, Falkland Islands, Faroe Islands, Federated States of Micronesia, Fiji, Finland, France, French Guiana, French Polynesia, Gabon, Georgia, Germany, Ghana, Gibraltar, Greece, Greenland, Grenada, Guadeloupe, Guam, Guatemala, Guernsey, Guinea-Bissau, Guyana, Haiti, Holy See, Honduras, Hong Kong, Hungary, Iceland, India, Ireland, Italy, Jamaica, Japan, Jersey, Kenya, Kiribati, Lao People’s Democratic Republic, Latvia, Liberia, Leichtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Macao, Macedonia, Madagascar, Malawi, Malta, Marshall Islands, Martinique, Mauritius, Mayotte, Mexico, Moldovia, Monaco, Mongolia, Montenegro, Montserrat, Mozembique, Myanmar, Namibia, Nauru, Nepal, Netherlands, New Caledonia, Nicaragua, Niue, Norfolk Island, Northern Mariana Islands, Norway, Palau, Panama, Papua New Guinea, Paraguay, Peru, Philippines, Poland, Puerto Rico, Romania, Russia, Rwanda, Réunion, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Samoa, San Marino, Sao Tome and Principe, Serbia, Seychelles, Slovakia, Slovenia, Solomon Islands, South Africa, Spain, Sri Lanka,  Suriname, Swaziland, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, Tanzania, Timor-Leste, Togo, Tonga, Trinidad and Tobago, Turks and Caicos Islands, Tuvalu, Uganda, Ukraine, United Kingdom, Uruguay, Vanuatu, Venezuela, Viet Nam, Virgin Islands – British, Virgin Islands – U.S.,  Wallis and Futuna, Zambia, Zimbabwe.

The Global Kindle version does NOT work in (as of Dec. 2009) the following countries:

Afghanistan, Algeria, Antarctica, Argentina, Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Bouvet Island, British Indian Ocean Territory, Brunei Darussalam, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Chile, Chad, China, Christmas Island, Cocos (Keeling) Islands, Cuba, Djibouti, Egypt, Eritrea, French Southern Territories, Gambia, Guinea, Heard Island and McDonald Islands, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Isle of Man, Israel, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Korea – Democratic People’s Republic of, Korea – Republic of, Kuwait, Kyrgyzstan, Lebanon, Lesotho, Libya, Malaysia, Maldives, Mali, Mauritania, Morocco (including the Western Sahara), New Zealand, Niger, Nigeria, Oman, Pakistan, Palestinian Territories, Pitcairn, Qatar, Saint Barthelemy, Saint Helena, Saint Martin, Saint Pierre and Miquelon, Saudi Arabia, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Singapore, Somalia, South Georgia and the Sandwich Islands, Sudan, Svalbard and Jan Mayan, Syrian Arab Republic, Tajikistan, Thailand, Tokelau, Tunisia, Turkey, Turkmenistan, United Arab Emirates, United States Minor Outlying Islands, Uzbekistan,  Yemen.

Nature and Animal Conservation

 

     Preserving species and their habitats is important for ecosystems to self-sustain themselves. Yet, the pressures to destroy habitat for logging, illegal hunting, and other challenges are making conservation a struggle.

Visit : http://www.globalissues.org/article/1…

 What is Biodiversity ?

 

    The variety of life on Earth, its biological diversity is commonly referred to as biodiversity. The number of species of plants, animals, and microorganisms, the enormous diversity of genes in these species, the different ecosystems on the planet, such as deserts, rainforests and coral reefs are all part of a biologically diverse Earth.

   

    Appropriate conservation and sustainable development strategies attempt to recognize this as being integral to any approach. Almost all cultures have in some way or form recognized the importance that nature, and its biological diversity has had upon them and the need to maintain it. Yet, power, greed and politics have affected the precarious balance.

Does it really matter if there arent so many species?

Biodiversity boosts ecosystem productivity where each species, no matter how small, all have an important role to play.

For example, a larger number of plant species means a greater variety of crops; greater species diversity ensures natural sustainability for all life forms; and healthy ecosystems can better withstand and recover from a variety of disasters.

And so, while we dominate this planet, we still need to preserve the diversity in wildlife.

Who Cares?

  Biodiversity boosts ecosystem productivity where each species, no matter how small, all have an important role to play. For example, a larger number of plant species means a greater variety of crops; greater species diversity ensures natural sustainability for all life forms; and healthy ecosystems can better withstand and recover from a variety of disasters.

And so, while we dominate this planet, we still need to preserve the diversity in wildlife.

Loss of Biodiversity and Extinctions

It is feared that human activity is causing massive extinctions. From various animal species, forests and the ecosystems that forests support, marine life. The costs associated with deteriorating or vanishing ecosystems will be high. However, sustainable development and consumption would help avert ecological problems.

 

  

8 November 2009, a member of Memorial Human Rights Center, Bakhrom Khamroev, was illegally detained by representatives of the State Service for National Security (GSNB). Khamroev was collecting information on persecution of independent Muslims in Southern Kyrgyzstan. Without any kind of reason, the Russian citizen was held in detention for about 14 hours, subjected to interrogations and scare-tactics, before being put on a plane to Moscow on the morning of the following day.

The threats of extradition to Uzbekistan went on for 8 hours – until the human rights defender half way through the third night was told about the decision to send him to Moscow. One of the officers said, “The Uzbeks will pay 50 thousand for you. We don’t mind some extra money for New Year’s. How much can you pay? You don’t understand? If you don’t understand, we’ll buy you a ticket to Moscow via Tashkent, you know yourself what will happen there.”

We don’t exclude that Bakhrom was saved from extradition only by the fact that the information about his arrest reached foreign media outlets that same evening. On the evening of 18 November, the organization Human Rights Watch urged the authorities in Kyrgyzstan to immediately free the detained. Many international human rights organizations expressed concern at the events.

November 25 is the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women. The white ribbon has become the symbol for the day.

Click on the picture to join the Community

By Gary Rotto

SAN DIEGO–The tensions around the Goldstone Report ( Report of the United Nations Fact Finding Mission on the Gaza Conflict) have died down for the moment.  But hard feelings still remain in the community regarding the report and the resulting resolution in Congress.  Congressman Filner clearly communicated his feelings and his thinking around the resolution.  He has “mishpachah” in Israel with whom he consulted.  His response to SDJW questions were fair and well thought out.   And may be factually based.  But politics is – especially geopolitical – are based on perception.

The Jewish community reaction to the Goldstone Report may not be so much about the actual information in the report, but the visceral feeling that the United Nations seems fixated on the Middle East, and in particular, the Arab-Israeli, or Palestinian-Israel conflict.

Back on October 2, 2006, as Kofi Annan’s term as the Secretary General of the United Nations was coming to a close, Human Rights Watch reflected on the tasks ahead for his successor.  While praising Annan’s dedication to human rights and the creation of the UN Human Rights Council (HRC), Human Rights Watch openly criticized the HRC. “The Human Rights Council has so far stumbled because of its relative fixation on Israel, while failing to take concrete steps to address other serious human rights situations as well. It has yet to show that it is willing to take firm, collective action against intransigent governments engaged in systemic rights violations.”  The article on its website goes on to say that “The incoming secretary-general must work to ensure that the Human Rights Council is both more credible and more effective than its predecessor.”

One of the giants in the world of Human Rights monitoring, Felice Gaer, severely criticized the Goldstone Report.  Her career in the human rights community has included membership on the Council on Foreign Relations, serving as chair of the steering committee for the 50th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and as a member of the Carter Center’s International Human Rights Council since 1994.  As reported in the New Jersey Jewish News, Gaer called the report “a biased mandate by a biased group of people.”  The biased group of people is the HRC.

Jackson Diehl, Deputy Editorial Page Editor of the Washington Post noted after the HRC’s first year that “Genocide in Sudan, child slavery and religious persecution in China, mass repression in Zimbabwe and Burma, state-sponsored murder in Syria and Russia — and, for that matter, suicide bombings by Arab terrorist movements — will not receive systematic attention from the world body charged with monitoring human rights. That is reserved only for Israel, a democratic country that has been guilty of human rights violations but also has been under sustained assault from terrorists and governments openly committed to its extinction.”  In that first year, Israel and Israel alone was the only government criticized by name – and to the tune of 11 resolutions.

Freedom House, one of the preeminent “peace and democracy” institutions since 1941, in its 2009 Worst of the Worst report, which cites  the World’s Most Repressive Societies, lists Burma, Equatorial Guinea, Libya, North Korea, Somalia, Sudan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan.

While Israel is imperfect, clearly, other nations and hot spots around the world deserve far greater attention from the HRC.  Only once a track record of tackling ongoing, regimented, government sponsored human rights violations in the areas around the world, will the Jewish community will feel that a Goldstone Report maybe even handed and fair and maybe justified.

*
Rotto is a freelance writer based in San Diego

Jeremy Scahill, leading journalist on Blackwater/Xe, broke the story at The Nation. He discussed it at Democracy Now! and on “Morning Joe” at msnbc this morning (8:05):

From Jeremy Scahill’s “Blackwater’s Secret War in Pakistan” – 23 Nov 09:

At a covert forward operating base run by the US Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC) in the Pakistani port city of Karachi, members of an elite division of Blackwater are at the center of a secret program in which they plan targeted assassinations of suspected Taliban and Al Qaeda operatives, “snatch and grabs” of high-value targets and other sensitive action inside and outside Pakistan, an investigation by The Nation has found. The Blackwater operatives also assist in gathering intelligence and help direct a secret US military drone bombing campaign that runs parallel to the well-documented CIA predator strikes, according to a well-placed source within the US military intelligence apparatus….

According to the source, Blackwater has effectively marketed itself as a company whose operatives have “conducted lethal direct action missions and now, for a price, you can have your own planning cell. JSOC just ate that up,” he said, adding, “They have a sizable force in Pakistan–not for any nefarious purpose if you really want to look at it that way–but to support a legitimate contract that’s classified for JSOC.” Blackwater’s Pakistan JSOC contracts are secret and are therefore shielded from public oversight, he said. The source is not sure when the arrangement with JSOC began, but he says that a spin-off of Blackwater SELECT “was issued a no-bid contract for support to shooters for a JSOC Task Force and they kept extending it.” Some of the Blackwater personnel, he said, work undercover as aid workers. “Nobody even gives them a second thought.”…

In addition to planning drone strikes and operations against suspected Al Qaeda and Taliban forces in Pakistan for both JSOC and the CIA, the Blackwater team in Karachi also helps plan missions for JSOC inside Uzbekistan against the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan, according to the military intelligence source. Blackwater does not actually carry out the operations, he said, which are executed on the ground by JSOC forces. “That piqued my curiosity and really worries me because I don’t know if you noticed but I was never told we are at war with Uzbekistan,” he said. “So, did I miss something, did Rumsfeld come back into power?”…

The former Blackwater executive, when asked for confirmation that Blackwater forces were not actively killing people in Pakistan, said, “that’s not entirely accurate.” While he concurred with the military intelligence source’s description of the JSOC and CIA programs, he pointed to another role Blackwater is allegedly playing in Pakistan, not for the US government but for Islamabad. According to the executive, Blackwater works on a subcontract for Kestral Logistics, a powerful Pakistani firm, which specializes in military logistical support, private security and intelligence consulting. It is staffed with former high-ranking Pakistani army and government officials. While Kestral’s main offices are in Pakistan, it also has branches in several other countries.

Counterterrorism operations have been dubbed by human rights groups and military officials as “death from above”, as strikes have killed 49 civilians for every terrorist leader assassinated. It’s uncontroversial such civilian casualties are counter-intuitive to “winning the hearts of minds of the population”, as Gen McChrystal reported to the president was crucial to avoid “mission failure”.

Mr. Scahill, adding that the Obama Administration “has now surpassed the number of Bush-era strikes in Pakistan and has faced fierce criticism from Pakistan and some US lawmakers over civilian deaths” and cites the June drone attack of a funeral where as many as 60 were killed, continues:

The military intelligence source also confirmed that Blackwater continues to work for the CIA on its drone bombing program in Pakistan, as previously reported in the New York Times, but added that Blackwater is working on JSOC’s drone bombings as well. “It’s Blackwater running the program for both CIA and JSOC,” said the source. When civilians are killed, “people go, ‘Oh, it’s the CIA doing crazy shit again unchecked.’ Well, at least 50 percent of the time, that’s JSOC [hitting] somebody they’ve identified through HUMINT [human intelligence] or they’ve culled the intelligence themselves or it’s been shared with them and they take that person out and that’s how it works.”

The military intelligence source says that the CIA operations are subject to Congressional oversight, unlike the parallel JSOC bombings. “Targeted killings are not the most popular thing in town right now and the CIA knows that,” he says. “Contractors and especially JSOC personnel working under a classified mandate are not [overseen by Congress], so they just don’t care. If there’s one person they’re going after and there’s thirty-four people in the building, thirty-five people are going to die. That’s the mentality.” He added, “They’re not accountable to anybody and they know that. It’s an open secret, but what are you going to do, shut down JSOC?”

In addition to working on covert action planning and drone strikes, Blackwater SELECT also provides private guards to perform the sensitive task of security for secret US drone bases, JSOC camps and Defense Intelligence Agency camps inside Pakistan, according to the military intelligence source….

The military intelligence source said that when Rumsfeld was defense secretary, JSOC was deployed to commit some of the “darkest acts” in part to keep them concealed from Congress. “Everything can be justified as a military operation versus a clandestine intelligence performed by the CIA, which has to be informed to Congress,” said the source. “They were aware of that and they knew that, and they would exploit it at every turn and they took full advantage of it. They knew they could act extra-legally and nothing would happen because A, it was sanctioned by DoD at the highest levels, and B, who was going to stop them? They were preparing the battlefield, which was on all of the PowerPoints: ‘Preparing the Battlefield.’”…

The use of private companies like Blackwater for sensitive operations such as drone strikes or other covert work undoubtedly comes with the benefit of plausible deniability that places an additional barrier in an already deeply flawed system of accountability. When things go wrong, it’s the contractors’ fault, not the government’s. But the widespread use of contractors also raises serious legal questions, particularly when they are a part of lethal, covert actions. “We are using contractors for things that in the past might have been considered to be a violation of the Geneva Convention,” said Lt. Col. Addicott, who now runs the Center for Terrorism Law at St. Mary’s University School of Law in San Antonio, Texas. “In my opinion, we have pressed the envelope to the breaking limit, and it’s almost a fiction that these guys are not in offensive military operations.” Addicott added, “If we were subjected to the International Criminal Court, some of these guys could easily be picked up, charged with war crimes and put on trial. That’s one of the reasons we’re not members of the International Criminal Court.”

Some speculate that the release of Sanjar Umarov from an Uzbek prison is a sign of a more cuddly Uzbek regime. Others speculate that it’s just a symbolic thank you to the West for lifting sanctions.

Either way, Uzbekistan’s regime is showing it’s true colors by going to extreme measures to stop swine flu. Closing the border with their largest, most prosperous neighbor? Not exactly a well-planned move. 

Uzbekistan basically produces cotton, cotton, and more cotton, so border trade is pretty important to the average Uzbek trying to eek out a living. Uzbeks looking for products other than cotton generally rely on traders who go shopping in Kazakhstan and sell their goods in Uzbekistan. A lot of people also rely on smuggling food products and fabric into Kazakhstan from Uzbekistan and selling those at a profit (and if you think laws against cross-border trade have eliminated the practice, a visit to the border proves otherwise).

Considering there isn’t much in the way of economic opportunity in Uzbekistan, don’t expect this border closing to last long. And if it does, it’ll be trouble.

What’s with the insane rumor mongering being internalized by the upper echelons of our intelligence community? Via the Long War Journal, this is absolute, 100% fiction:

Members of a Tajik military unit that turned against the government a decade ago have have joined the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan and al Qaeda. An unknown number of fighters who were loyal to rebel leader Mahmud Khudoyberdiyev joined the regional and global terror groups and have been fighting the Tajik government, the deputy chief of the Tajik National Security Committee said at a regional forum held earlier this month.

Right. And I have solid information that Abu Muqawama disappeared from the blogosphere today in order to join Cirque du Soleil and the Bolshoi Ballet Academy.

It continues:

Khudoyberdiyev was a colonel in the Defense Ministry and led a brigade of troops. He led an unsuccessful uprising in 1997 and took control of a northern city in 1998 before fleeing to neighboring Uzbekistan. It is “unclear” if Khudoyberdiyev himself has joined al Qaeda, a senior US intelligence official told The Long War Journal.

OK, I just read this and I’m really busy so I’m just gonna write this out stream of consciousness style… I’ve been studying the history of conflict and politics surrounding Mahmud Khudoberdiev for about five years now. I focused on the man as much as could be allowed by the secondary sources until I went to Tajikistan. I haven’t shared my research with anyone and I’ve only written about him publicly twice. Once at Registan under a pseudonym and just recently here when I saw him in the airport in Dushanbe.

The above info relayed to LWJ is comically false. He is dead. D-E-A-D. He has been so since 2001 when Nezavisimaia Gazeta reported that Col. Sergei Zvarygin put a bullet in his head in Uzbekistan. Not a peep from the man since, which is not surprising as bullets in your head reduces your ability to speak according to 9 out of 10 head-shot specialists.

I know, I know. The government of Tajikistan put out an interpol arrest warrant for him. I think that has to do with the usual UZ-TAJ wrangling that covers all sorts of bitter personal and political disagreements that at times descend into ludicrous mutual accusations of perfidy. The best I can guess is that the government in Tajikistan either started believing the rumors or they just want to create a bargaining card. Sure, it’s possible that his death was faked or that the reports of his death are false. But really, he has not been heard of since then. Except for those ridiculous rumors that put him in charge of the Andijon massacre. And sorry, I lived in his hometown. They haven’t heard from him. His family is still there. So Mahmud-Aka, call home.

And (sarcasm warning) I’m pretty shaken that I lived in an Al Qaeda hotbed without knowing it. I mean really, his men joined AQ? Bugger me! I’m starting to think that all those local cab drivers that passed on blind corners were actually AQ operatives trying to kill me by suicide taxi (end sarcasm). Anyways, his men were Lakay/Loqay loyalists. They fought against the Islamists. They did not join AQ or the IMU. Nobody who fought as an ally of the Popular Front went on to join the IMU or AQ or the Taliban or anything. A few guys from the UTO did, yes. Those would be the enemies of Khudoberdiev. But some guys who supposedly lived as guests of the government of Uzbekistan since 1998 suddenly decided to join Al Qaeda and/or the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan?

Anyways, did you know that Khudoberdiev was an Afgantsy? That means he is a Soviet veteran of the Soviet-Afghan War. And he was an officer. So, he was politically correct, as they say. Anyways, some back ground from my longer Registan article:

After serving in Afghanistan as an officer, and significantly as a Central Asian nationality, Khudoberdiev returned to the Tajik SSR to wind down his career in the Turkistan Military District and later to an office as the Deputy Military Commander of the Qurghonteppa Oblast. But after independence the Tajik Civil War reached Qurghonteppa and Khudoberdiev was drawn in to the conflict. It is at this point that ethnicity, or the uncertainty thereof, becomes important. During the Soviet era the communists created kolkhozes (collective farms) that were quite often based on ethnicity or a local solidarity group, also known as an avlod. In Qurghonteppa, many collective farms were comprised of Gharmi Tajiks who had been deported there from their home region east of Dushanbe. Intentionally or not, these collective farms were put into competition for resources with ethnic Uzbek and Uzbek-Lakay (sic) farms. Additionally, ethnic Lakay from the area were sent out of their home region. Amazingly, there was even a Lakay revolt in the 1960s that was resolved with both force and concessions by the Soviets. In the 1990s both sides took the opportunity provided by civil war to attack each other, with local Gharmis siding with the United Tajik Opposition and Uzbeks/Lakays siding with the Popular Front.

Khudoberdiev is often identified as an Uzbek and his thrashing of the UTO forces in Qurghonteppa is noted. But is he really an Uzbek? He was actually an ethnic Lakay, an Uzbek-speaking group that, for many of its members, maintains a separate identity (in the last census about 1% of the population of Tajikistan claimed to be Lakay). “Uzbek” or not, what is significant is that he became to be viewed as a protector of ethnic Uzbeks in the Qurghonteppa region. His involvement began when he rounded up several tanks and formed a mobile armoured unit. One account relates that the UTO attempted to recruit him, and when he tried to maintain neutrality his house was burned and his relatives massacred (I call this the “Braveheart” version).

By late 1992 the Uzbek population in Qurghonteppa was granted autonomy. However, as part of the power consolidation process, the Kulobis who dominated the Popular Front turned on their allies and attempted to disarm the Lakays and Uzbeks in Qurghonteppa. A new region, Khatlon, was created with Qurghonteppe as a part of it in order to lessen the Uzbek/Lakay influence. In response, Khudoberdiev faced off with/rebelled against the Kulobi-dominated government several times before taking refuge in Uzbekistan, a country whose government gave him significant support. Not content to retire in Uzbekistan, Khudoberdiev mounted an invasion of the northern Sughd region in 1998. This time the government called on their former UTO enemies for support and a combined force repelled Khudoberdiev back into Uzbekistan. Of course Uzbekistan denied any involvement, as if a mobile armoured infantry unit can just hang out in Uzbekistan without the government noticing.

Anyways, if you want to make a wanted poster of the man, no worries. I’ve got that covered. I photographed his poster in Tajikistan (the translation is nothing interesting):

Los respectivos Servicios de Vigilancia Fronteriza de Kirguistán y Uzbekistán han firmado un acuerdo para regular los métodos de patrulla que se realizan entre los dos países.

Tradicionalmente, la zona fronteriza entre estos dos vecino ha sido bastante conflictiva, llegando a darse casos de muertos por disparos de militares, casi siempre desde el lado uzbeko. La situación ha causado numerosas molestias a los vecinos de ambos lados, que comparten en gran medida su forma de vida, su lenguaje e incluso su etnia.

De esta manera, se pretende acabar con este tipo de situaciones y normalizar las patrullas fronterizas, que se repartirán zonas de actuación y compartirán un mismo sistema de actuación en cuanto a violaciones fronterizas.

Amazon's Global Kindle Reader

I heard that Amazon now has a global version of Kindle. I was disappointed to find this morning that the new version still will not work in my country.

Since I’ve wanted one for some time, but have been waiting until they got a version that would work in my country, I checked out their website this morning, only to be disappointed again. Apparently the new global version will only work in SOME countries.

In case you are thinking of purchasing the new Global Kindle for a Christmas gift this year, since the new version will only work in SOME countries, I thought it would be helpful to most expats to have a complete list of which countries it will, or will not work in.

STARRED (*) countries marked below indicate that Kindle needs to be ordered from a SPECIAL PAGE on the Amazon site.

The Global Kindle version DOES work in (as of Dec. 2009):

Aland Islands, Albania, American Samoa, Andorra, Angola, Anguilla, Antigua and Barbuda, Armenia, Aruba, Australia*, Austria, Bahamas, Barbados, Belarus, Belgium, Belize, Benin, Bermuda, Bhutan, Bolivia, Boznia and Herzegovina, Botswana, Brazil, Bulgaria, Burundi, Cambodia, Canada, Cape Verde, Cayman Islands, Central African Republic, Colombia, Comoros, Congo, Cook Islands, Costa Rica, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Cote d’Ivoire, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Denmark, Dominica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Equatorial Guinea, Estonia, Ethiopia, Falkland Islands, Faroe Islands, Federated States of Micronesia, Fiji, Finland, France, French Guiana, French Polynesia, Gabon, Georgia, Germany, Ghana, Gibraltar, Greece, Greenland, Grenada, Guadeloupe, Guam, Guatemala, Guernsey, Guinea-Bissau, Guyana, Haiti, Holy See, Honduras, Hong Kong, Hungary, Iceland, India, Ireland, Italy, Jamaica, Japan, Jersey, Kenya, Kiribati, Lao People’s Democratic Republic, Latvia, Liberia, Leichtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Macao, Macedonia, Madagascar, Malawi, Malta, Marshall Islands, Martinique, Mauritius, Mayotte, Mexico, Moldovia, Monaco, Mongolia, Montenegro, Montserrat, Mozembique, Myanmar, Namibia, Nauru, Nepal, Netherlands, New Caledonia, Nicaragua, Niue, Norfolk Island, Northern Mariana Islands, Norway, Palau, Panama, Papua New Guinea, Paraguay, Peru, Philippines, Poland, Puerto Rico, Romania, Russia, Rwanda, Réunion, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Samoa, San Marino, Sao Tome and Principe, Serbia, Seychelles, Slovakia, Slovenia, Solomon Islands, South Africa, Spain, Sri Lanka, Suriname, Swaziland, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, Tanzania, Timor-Leste, Togo, Tonga, Trinidad and Tobago, Turks and Caicos Islands, Tuvalu, Uganda, Ukraine, United Kingdom, Uruguay, Vanuatu, Venezuela, Viet Nam, Virgin Islands – British, Virgin Islands – U.S., Wallis and Futuna, Zambia, Zimbabwe.

The Global Kindle version does NOT work in (as of Dec. 2009):

Afghanistan, Algeria, Antarctica, Argentina, Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Bouvet Island, British Indian Ocean Territory, Brunei Darussalam, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Chile, Chad, China, Christmas Island, Cocos (Keeling) Islands, Cuba, Djibouti, Egypt, Eritrea, French Southern Territories, Gambia, Guinea, Heard Island and McDonald Islands, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Isle of Man, Israel, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Korea – Democratic People’s Republic of, Korea – Republic of, Kuwait, Kyrgyzstan, Lebanon, Lesotho, Libya, Malaysia, Maldives, Mali, Mauritania, Morocco (including the Western Sahara), New Zealand, Niger, Nigeria, Oman, Pakistan, Palestinian Territories, Pitcairn, Qatar, Saint Barthelemy, Saint Helena, Saint Martin, Saint Pierre and Miquelon, Saudi Arabia, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Singapore, Somalia, South Georgia and the Sandwich Islands, Sudan, Svalbard and Jan Mayan, Syrian Arab Republic, Tajikistan, Thailand, Tokelau, Tunisia, Turkey, Turkmenistan, United Arab Emirates, United States Minor Outlying Islands, Uzbekistan, Yemen.

Love him or hate him and the majority will pretty much sit in either of those camps, Roy Keane’s view on Ireland’s failure to qualify for the 2010 World Cup Finals deflected the frenzy away from FIFA, France and Thierry Henry and placed it firmly on Ireland themselves and his point was valid.

There’s definitely a question mark over the tone used by Keane to deliver the words that most people were thinking but didn’t have the guts to say, Keane clearly still has an axe to grind with the FAI and those with axes to grind against Keane will certainly fail to accept his valid point.

Ireland’s plight is unfortunate, but they were in control; win a two legged knockout fixture and pack your bags. Having to compete against the current World Cup holders in the group stage and current World Cup runners-up in the play-off is harsh, but that’s the luck of the draw. Deal with it!

Ireland’s hard luck story holds water but it’s not the sole case, not that anyone really cares the Bahrainis will feel they too have been handed a raw deal equally by poor officiating and FIFA!

In 2005 Bahrain were themselves at the centre of a replayed World Cup AFC play-off with Uzbekistan.

Uzbekistan suffered an injustice from the referee misinterpreting the rules, they lodged a complaint with FIFA, it was successful and Bahrain knocked them out in the replayed fixture, only for Bahrain themselves to travel to the other side of the world as part of a two legged play off against Trinidad & Tobago to lose themselves.

Fast forward four years later and once again the tiny island of Bahrain located in the Persian Gulf negotiated themselves through four World Cup Qualifying rounds to face World Cup regulars Saudi Arabia in the AFC play-off; a late away goal and Bahrain were still on course to make their first ever World Cup Finals.

To this point Bahrain had played 18 World Cup qualifiers, 8 of those against previous World Cup finalist, Japan (4), Australia (2) and the aforementioned Saudi Arabia in a play-off. Standing in their way were OFC winners of the other half place, New Zealand, who had lived a charmed life to this same point:

2010 most World Cup Qualifying games played

New Zealand were, rightly, handed a bye to the final round in the OFC section to play just 6 qualifiers, home and away against Fiji, New Caledonia and Vanuatu – this clearly raises a conversational piece for another time about FIFA’s qualification process.

Over the two legged play-off Bahrain out played New Zealand with a better level of football but failed to win the tie, losing away 1-0 to a Rory Fallon goal in the 2^nd leg after a goal-less draw in the first leg, Fallon’s Kiwi inclusion is proof FIFA can make changes.

Moreover, in Wellington Bahrain missed a penalty, no sympathy awarded there but they did have what looked like a perfectly legitimate goal disallowed in the last minute – the goal that would have ensured qualification for Bahrain.

New Zealand’s 2010 World Cup qualification is fantastic but when comparing journey’s with Bahrain something feels wrong, whether that is recognised time will tell?

So the Republic of Ireland have World Cup grief, they’re not alone nor are they arguably the worst offended to miss out on next summer’s festival of football. The grief can be further fuelled by highlighting the obvious fact, in terms of quality Ireland are superior to New Zealand, giving pause to a wild idea – instead of making a futile protest to FIFA for an unprecedented move to replay a football match because the officials failed to get one of the key decisions correct, maybe the FAI should bypass FIFA completely and make an application to join the OFC, it will certainly increase Ireland’s chances of future World Cup qualification?

What can FIFA do?

Every year, Transparency International makes a list of the most corrupt countries in the world. I searched through the blogs to find out more about each one, from a travelers’ perspective.

1. Somalia

Hardiek at the border of Somalia

“For those of you who don’t know (almost everybody, including me up until a few weeks ago) the once unified country of Somalia is now effectively divided into three, the rump Somalia surrounding dangerous Mogadishu, the country of Puntland from which all the ship piracy of recent fame takes place, and Somaliland, relatively peaceful and open for business, connected by land to the also relatively peaceful states of Djibouti and Ethiopia.” – Hardiek

2. Afghanistan

Samcato telling home base about an explosion in Afghanistan

“From ‘grease my palm’ to ‘oil-fill my bellybutton’: corruption has penetrated the political, economic, judicial and social systems so thoroughly that it has ceased to be a deviation from the norm and become the norm itself. Corruption had existed ever since the Taliban regime was toppled, but it has reached a historically record breaking level. Ordinary Afghans are well aware of this, the majority of the country is sorry, not because it existed but they are not in a position to benefit from bribery. Corruption has become so endemic that it is perceived as normal. Nothing is possible at the same time, everything is possible. When a job comes to a standstill it doesn’t mean there is a problem with the job, it is time to grease up some bellybuttons. If one is prepared to pay as much as needed then anything could be done. Shortcuts are introduced if one is willing to compromise. I could have thought of any word as synonyms for bribery but not compromise, Farsi and Pashto languages are rich with euphemisms for bribe. My favorite and all time fresh is ‘Shirini’, the sweetener. It is generally used when you got something done. In other words shirini is post bribery bribe. Don’t be surprised. At least I had something done, these days ordinary citizens pay bribes as much to be left alone as to get something done. They call it ‘Kharcha’, ‘paeesi chai’, ‘jawani’ and many more which are basically *bribe of survival*. Exactly this has changed everything; everyone attempts to be in a position to take a bribe as oppose to a sucker. Bribe takers are at the highest rank of the society where everybody inspires to be.” – Samcato

3. Myanmar

Markl's tour guide "Stella" spoke about the corruption in her country

“Stella was forthcoming about the current regime and it’s appalling corruption. They have moved the capital inland and have created an insane, artificial compound where the military and civil servants live in pampered luxury. They are building a zoo, of all things there, and transporting the animals from Yangon zoo to fill it. So the people in the capital get a few old camels and the rest get shipped 300 miles inland. Civil service pensions are no better, her mother receives 100 Kyat or $0,10 a day. Stella’s bitterness was mainly reserved for the treatment of the poor who seem to have been mainly abandoned by the political rulers. The stories of aid for rural people post Cyclone Nargis in 2009 were terrifying.” – Markl

4. Sudan

Bonthorn on the road in Sudan

“You have two choices when you come to a roadblock. You can play Mr./Mrs. Nice Guy/Gal and greet the officer as if you’ve known him your whole life, shake hands amicably and ask about his health, his family, their health, etc. Calling him ‘my friend’ and patting him on the back is also a good tactic (although never try this if you are female). After all the formalities are completed, he might just let you off the hook and wish you a “Good Journey”. The second option is to play dumb and pretend you have no idea what the officer is saying, although it’s blatantly obvious. Keep jabbering in English in a tone that is neither offensive nor accusing, and sooner or later, he will hopefully tire of you and your feigned stupidity and wave you on. So far, these are the two choices we’ve attempted, both at pretty successful rates. But the key is to pick one and stick to it BEFORE your car is stopped and you’re face to face with him and his gun.” – Bonthorn

5. Iraq

Rebecca.mcneal went through several checkpoints in Iraq

“After passing through numerous checkpoints, Iraqi, Pesmerga and Awakening Council fighter types we neared Mosul. Mosul was the only place that was worrisome. We passed by a truck bomb site that had killed 250 people in the recent past. We were not allowed to photograph checkpoints which were all manned with machine guns.” – Rebecca.mcneal

6. Chad

Kevandsian picked up some unexpected hitchhikers in Chad

“Crossing into Chad was surprisingly hassle free, the police in this country have a bad reputation for being corrupt and subtracting bribes and ‘tolls’ at every opportunity. We took a hitch hiker at the request of the police and also transported a soldier to the next village. We then gave another 5 police and military personnel lifts to neighboring towns 55 kms away,becoming the essential local transport as the first truck to pass through in 6-7 days. We decided this might help avoid searches and bribes at police stops and ease our journey. They did help at one small town where the police demanded a 16 dollar fee per person for registering and stamping our passports which was eventually avoided successfully.” – Kevandsian

7. Uzbekistan

Crowdywendy's tour guide in Uzbekistan, Behruz

Our first morning in Bukhara introduced us to the entrenched police and official corruption in Uzbekistan. It was our first introduction to “bakeesh” or bribes to officials. At the first Bukhara bank we were told that we were not allowed in. “Why not?” we asked. It was a very large bank and there were numerous tellers open everywhere. Well, we just couldn’t. The police were stationed at the entrance of the bank and would not let people in. Well, of course with a little bribe they would… But we resisted and moved on to yet another bank, and another. Later that evening while talking with other hotel guests, we were told that it is not uncommon for locals to have to try ten or so different banks before they would be allowed entry. The young local people were openly disgusted with the practice.

Similarly, bakeesh is a common practice with the police. There are frequent road blocks throughout Uzbekistan. While we had no problems thanks to Naim calling out “tourists!” at every point we were told over and over again by locals about the road police. Apparently being a police officer on the roads is a much sought after profession. Although they are dreadfully underpaid they certainly make up for it in bribes or bakeesh.” – Crowdywendy

8. Turkmenistan

Ricka leaving the "ferry from hell" in Turkmenistan

We loaded on-board after a trainload of freight was stowed and we were squeezed in between the carriages and the crew started to hassle us for “Security Fees”. We all had the sense to tell them to get lost! We were on at last! Another trip back into the customs hall to get our final clearance and it was back on board, passports handed over to a dodgy looking guy along with $90 and then a stagger up to the deck with our luggage. We wondered why there were loads of crewmembers smiling and laughing at us, little did we know!
The dodgy guy we gave our passports and cash to started to try to explain that if we wanted a cabin they were $100. We said no thanks, at that price we could manage the 12 hour crossing on the deck. I had a suspicion that things may not go to plan so I followed a crew down into the ship to have a look at a cabin. He showed me two of the filthyest, run-down excuses for cabins I had ever seen, with the “bathrooms” being even worse. I haggled with the guy anyway as I knew this was a “take it or leave it” situation and I settled on twenty bucks per cabin – I thought we would be needing them!” – Ricka

9. Iran

Jimsim at Persepolis in Shiraz, Iran

“While Sim took a few snaps of the mosque I chatted to a local soldier who was visiting the mosque. He was very young, and was very upbeat about Iran’s prospects for the future. While not stating a preference for either the hardline or more moderate of Iran’s leaders he seemed to believe that by keeping the right (positive) attitude the people of Iran would pull the country in the right direction. It was hard not to be caught up in his enthusiasm. He was also extremely helpful while we were there, happily answering the barrage of questions I had about Shiraz and it’s major attractions.” – Jimsim

10. Haiti

Mim301 on her first day volunteering in Haiti

“It is so hard to believe that so many people in Haiti live in poverty because of such a corrupt government, but that the beaches and mountains are so beautiful. I guess that this is just another one of life’s great mysteries.” – Mim301

Defections from regional distribution network may destroy Soviet-era effort to ensure equitable sharing of electricity.

By Gulnura Toralieva in London (IWPR RCA No. 596, 20-Nov-09)

Kazakstan’s decision to withdraw from the Central Asia-wide electricity grid and strong hints by Uzbekistan that it will follow suit have highlighted the fragility of energy arrangements in the region. Analysts are warning that political leaders urgently need an action plan to avoid a potential crisis.

The Soviet Union created a common power system for Uzbekistan, Kazakstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Turkmenistan which worked as long as they were part of the same state. But the system began fraying at the edges after 1991, as the newly independent countries began asserting competing interests.

Rogun, Tajikistan

Electricity generating capacity is distributed unevenly in Central Asia. Mountainous Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan have close to 80 per cent of the region’s water resources, allowing them to build and benefit from hydroelectric power stations, whereas Kazakstan, Uzbekistan, and Turkmenistan have substantial oil and gas deposits but depend on their smaller neighbours for water.

Disputes arise whenever Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan store up water for the winter, the time they need it most for electricity production. The three lowland states want the water to flow downstream in spring and summer to provide irrigation during the growing season.

The Uzbeks export their natural gas to Kazakstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan. They also supply electricity to Tajikistan, as well as providing a transit route for Kyrgyz and Turkmen electricity going to that country. But Tashkent periodically stops supplying gas in autumn and winter because of non-payment of bills, and earlier this year suspended the transit of Turkmen electricity to Tajikistan.

Following a meeting of the council which coordinates regional power supplies in mid-October, Kanat Bozumbayev, head of the Kazak electricity distributor KEGOC, said he had been told that Uzbekistan was leaving the network.

This was denied in a statement from the Uzbek state company Uzbekenergo. A spokesman said they merely wanted to alter the terms of transit arrangements.

“We would like to charge fees for electricity transits to Kyrgyzstan, which were previously regarded as transfers and were free of charge,” he said.

Although the problem was resolved – the Kyrgyz and Uzbeks reached a compromise on compensation – Uzbekenergo subsequently sent out further signals about withdrawing from the entire regional set-up.

In an article published in a state newspaper on November 5, Esso Sadulloev, who heads Uzbekenergo’s distribution office, said Uzbekistan planned to leave the Central Asia-wide grid, which he said was become increasingly unsustainable as certain member states were siphoning off electricity

“The unified electricity system is beginning to be obsolete, and is becoming the source of confrontation between participating states,” said Sadulloev.

His remarks appeared in the press two days after Kazakstan – Central Asia’s strongest economy and major oil producer – made the shock announcement that it too was withdrawing from the grid.

Deputy energy minister Duysenbay Turganov said KEGOC had taken the decision because the system was being disrupted by Tajikistan, which was taking more electricity than it was entitled to and failing to respond to instructions issued by the regional agency which manages the network. In February, Kazakstan temporarily withdrew from the Central Asian energy network because supplies to its southern regions were being disrupted by Tajikistan, which had begun taking electricity from the common grid in order to see its population through the winter months. The Tajiks began tapping the system, without consultation, after Uzbekistan halted transit supplies from Turkmenistan.

Toktogul Hydropower Station, Kyrgyzstan

Kazakstan’s decision had serious consequences for Kyrgyzstan, which was forced to impose strict limits on power use for consumers as the supply faltered.

Energy experts say the current disagreements arise from longer-running shortcomings in the way the network has functioned. Some say it is just a matter of time before the entire system disintegrates.

The Central Asian network links and regulates supplies from 80-plus power stations across the region, and the departure of even one member could prevent it functioning as a whole.

The resulting energy shortages could provoke instability and unrest which no government would want to see. Bazarbay Mambetov, an economist in Kyrgyzstan, says no one can afford to let this happen.

“The energy grid was created as a single mechanism and has been ensuring a reliable, uninterrupted power supply across the region,” he said. “Whether its participants like it or not, we are all now linked together by this system.”

But it is a network whose infrastructure has not been maintained since the Central Asian republics went their separate ways.

“It is old and it hasn’t been properly maintained, and was designed for a different environment,” said Cleo Paskal, a researcher on energy and environmental matters at the London-based think-tank Chatham House.

The system was set up based on calculations of rainfall and river volumes over previous decades, whereas environmental conditions in the region may now have changed to the extent that the design is redundant, she said.

NO ONE COMES OUT AS WINNER

Ularbek Mateyev, an energy expert in Kyrgyzstan, says, “The Soviet Union designed and built the most viable energy grid, so no country will benefit from leaving it.”

One of the consequences would be to increase the number of outages due to accidents, as there would be no central mechanism for mitigating the effects of power surges by switching supplies from one country to another.

If Uzbekistan, centrally located with the four other states around it, were to leave, everyone else’s national grid would be placed under severe strain.

Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan would be worst hit, despite existing hydroelectric schemes and plans to build more, analysts say.

“Tajikistan, the northern part in particular, will suffer most,” said Anvar Kamolidinov, a water management expert in Tajikistan. “Soghd province depends on Uzbek electricity coming from the common energy grid. Soghd’s power plant at Kairakkum power plant provides only 20 per cent of the energy consumed there. If Uzbekistan leaves, two million people in [Soghd] region will be left without power.”

Meanwhile, Kamolidinov said, central and southern Tajikistan will also lose out as they will no longer get power generated in Turkmenistan and transferred through Uzbekistan.

Kyrgyzstan, too, will suffer from the loss of electricity coming from or via Uzbekistan.

Kazakstan’s energy minister Sauat Mynbayev says his country would probably struggle through, by keeping a power station in the southern Jambyl region running continuously.

“It would be a huge load, but in terms of power supplies, it would help us – and also northern Kyrgyzstan – survive this period,” he said at a government meeting in late September.

Experts warn, however, that the larger states will face significant problems just as smaller Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan will. Neither Uzbekistan nor Kazakstan is currently in a position to assure a constant, uninterrupted flow of power.

Kamolidinov believes Kazakstan and Uzbekistan would have left the parallel system already if they were not dependent on their neighbours to fill in the gaps at certain time.

“Kazakstan might leave, but it will mean additional costs, including spending to build the infrastructure that will be required,” he said. “If Uzbekistan goes, it will have supply problems at peak periods in the morning and evening. Without the Nurek power plant… in Tajikistan, it will be technically problematic and costly for Uzbekistan to meet this peak consumption.

Mambetov say the Uzbeks also need to be able to draw on Kyrgyz electricity.

“Leaving the common grid will have negative consequences for Uzbekistan itself, first and foremost,” he said. “The Uzbek energy grid needs Kyrgyz power in order to regulate a constant current.”

POWER CLOSELY CONNECTED WITH REGIONAL POLITICS

Aside from periodic electricity shortages, the breakdown of regional energy arrangements will have wider implications, analysts say.

For one thing, neither the Tajiks nor the Kyrgyz will have much of an incentive to honour the already loose arrangements for opening up the dam sluices in spring to let water down the Amu Darya and Syr Darya, so that their neighbours have enough irrigation for their crops. Their natural tendency will be to hold as much back until late autumn, when they need to begin generating more power.

Within the Soviet Union, water and fuel were exchanged between republics as free, shared commodities. But in the post-1991 world, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan have become increasingly annoyed that their neighbours charge them for gas, oil and coal, yet their own natural resource – water – still has no monetary value placed on it.

Kamolidinov expressed the sense of dissatisfaction common in Tajikistan that “virtually for nothing”, the country stores up the waters of the Syr Darya river in its Kairakkum reservoir for release to Uzbekistan and southern Kazakstan when they need it.

“It’s going to be difficult to reach a [water] agreement on previous terms after the [Uzbek] power supply to Soghd region is interrupted in winter,” he added.

Many analysts see disputes over water and energy as inextricably linked with the political differences between the Central Asian states.

“The system inherited from the Soviet Union is in the process of being dismantled because Central Asian leaders are unable to reach agreement,” said Shairbek Juraev, an assistant professor of international and comparative politics at the American University in Central Asia, based in Kyrgyzstan.

Disagreements over water and energy have been festering for a long time, but Juraev says political confrontation has picked up pace recently.

“There is a risk that the situation may worsen, and that it will affect ordinary people most of all, with shortages of power and water and limits on freedom of movement,” he said. “It may lead to deteriorating conditions along borders, interethnic tensions, and a general worsening of the political situation in the region.”

Uzbekistan’s unhappiness with the current electricity arrangements form part of a wider pattern of disagreements with Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan, over their plans to complete major new hydropower schemes.

The Roghun and Kambarata power plants would bring Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan, respectively, a lot closer to self-sufficiency in energy. But Uzbekistan worries that the new dams would block off water from the Amu Darya and Syr Darya, and is insisting on an international study on the possible effects of the projects before they are completed. (For more on this, see Uzbek Overtures to Kazakstan on Water Dispute.)

Russia’s role in the region is an added complicating factor. There is talk of Moscow investing in both the Roghun and Kambarata schemes, and the Uzbeks are also concerned about plans for a new Russian military base in southern Kyrgyzstan, not far from their border. (See Kyrgyzstan: Russian Base Plan Alarms Tashkent on this issue.)

These interconnected issues make it difficult to attribute blame to any one state when disputes arise.

“All the countries in this region do not take one another’s interests into account, and are thus responsible for the current situation,” said Farhod Tolipov, a political analyst in Tashkent. “Since they gained independence, these countries have had many reciprocal grievances and disagreements.

“You cannot criticise Uzbekistan alone, for announcing its decision to leave the common grid even though it was aware this would have certain consequences for its neighbours. Its actions were prompted by the behaviour of Kyrgyzstan, which is planning to build the Kambarata plant and open a Russian military base in the south, although it knows the reaction this would bring from Uzbekistan.”

According to Paskal, worsening inter-state relationships are ultimately the legacy of Soviet-era arrangements for “enforced cooperation” which are no longer working.

In addition, she said, the once-united Central Asian states are starting to undergo “real cultural polarisation and social fragmentation, which make cooperation difficult. If social cohesion starts to break apart, all relations become difficult.”

BUILDING SEPARATE NETWORKS

When it comes to electricity, however, the Central Asian states are not standing still, but are already taking steps to forge new one-to-one arrangements with one another while strengthening their own national grids.

The Kazaks, Kyrgyz, Tajiks and Uzbeks are currently working towards bilateral and trilateral deals on infrastructure and supply, bypassing the regional level at which agreement seems so difficult.

As Nargiz Kassenova, professor of political science at the Kazakstan Institute of Management, Economics and Strategic Research, noted, “The countries in the region are making great efforts to ensure energy security by making their own grids more autonomous and developing new capacity.”

Mateev agrees that a movement towards fully independent power networks is under way, while pointing out that it goes against the international trend towards greater cooperation and efficiency through economies of scale.

“In the next three to four years, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan will find solutions and free themselves from energy dependence on Uzbekistan,” he predicted.

Kamolidinov agreed that the Tajiks and Kyrgyz were heading away from reliance on other Central Asian states.

“Energy independence has long been on the agenda of these two countries,” he said. “Uzbekistan leaving the grid and the problems this will create for them will only strengthen their desire for energy independence.”

Gulnura Toralieva is a freelance journalist from Kyrgyzstan.

Mekhrinisso Hamdamova è stata incriminata per un incontro religioso “non autorizzato”. Fermate anche 30 donne, in regime di isolamento per costringerle a testimoniare contro di lei. A ottobre le autorità hanno comminato multe contro 28 cristiani per possesso “illegale” di materiale religioso.

Tashkent – Arresti, perquisizioni e multe di un importo fino a 50 volte superiore al salario medio mensile. Continua la campagna di repressione delle autorità uzbeke contro musulmani e cristiani, accusati di “sovvertire l’ordine costituito” e fomentare “l’odio interconfessionale”.

Il 5 novembre scorso 12 funzionari del Servizio di sicurezza nazionale (NSS) hanno arrestato Mekhrinisso Hamdamova, musulmana di Karshi, nel sud-est del Paese, per aver organizzato un incontro religioso non autorizzato. I poliziotti hanno fatto irruzione alle sei del mattino nella sua abitazione, perquisendo la casa e sequestrando due film e un libro donatole dall’organizzazione musulmana locale.

La donna è accusata di reati gravissimi: tentativo di rovesciare il presidente (art. 158 del codice penale), attentato all’ordine precostituito (art. 159), terrorismo (art. 161) e fomentare l’odio interconfessionale (art. 164). Insieme a lei sono state arrestate altre 30 donne musulmane, nella cerchia di familiari e amici, e sono mantenute in regime di isolamento nel carcere di Karshi. Un attivista uzbeko riferisce a Forum 18 che le donne sono soggette a “torture psicologiche e intimidazioni, perché testimonino contro Mekhrinisso Hamdamova”.

La campagna di repressione della libertà religiosa colpisce anche i cristiani, vittime di perquisizioni, esproprio di materiale religioso (libri e film cristiani) e multe. Il 23 ottobre scorso 11 protestanti sono stati multati per aver pranzato insieme in un’abitazione di un amico comune.

I capi di accusa variano dall’aver infranto “le leggi in materia di religione” all’insegnamento della religione “senza autorizzazione e specifico addestramento”; le sanzioni variano da 10 a 50 volte il salario medio mensile di un lavoratore uzbeko.

In precedenza, il 5 ottobre, altri 17 cristiani protestanti sono stati multati per possesso “illegale” di materiale religioso.

Fonte: AsiaNews/Forum18 – riprodotto con autorizzazione

Post correlati: