Startling new information on Uzbekistan

You've got to hand it to non-governmental organizations for their unfailing ability to state the obvious months or years after everyone else has already noticed. To wit, the International Crisis Group (ICG) has, apparently, just noticed that the Central Asian country of Uzbekistan is ruled by an actual, bonafide, honest-to-God dictator, and that dictatorships, for some reason, tend to be unstable, sometimes even violent, places. No, really! The ICG has graciously taking the time to restate the obvious in a report on Uzbekistan that will surprise absolutely nobody who has paid even 10 minutes worth of attention to Uzbek dictator Islam Karimov over the past decade.

For starters, the ICG appears stunned (stunned!) that Karimov is still in office even though his term legally expired in January! I, for one, can scarcely believe that a dictator would do such a thing, but there's more. Did you know that under the Karimov dictatorship, there's scant attention paid to the rule of law, no freedom of speech, and that political opponents are often arrested and tortured without cause? And did you know that, for some reason, Karimov's daughter is filthy rich while ordinary Uzbeks barely manage to make a living? Nepotism, I hear you ask, in a dictatorship? I know, it beggars belief, doesn't it? Finally, the ICG has, by virtue of their fearless devotion to ferreting out the truth, determined that the Karimov dictatorship uses fear and violence as a tool of maintaining power. You don't say!

I suppose I shouldn't be this sarcastic, since the ICG is telling the truth, but why do I get the sense that they're just discovering that states ruled by dictators are inherently rotten places to live in? I can only wonder what eye popping revelations we can expect when the ICG decides to scratch the surface of what's going in Zimbabwe and Belarus.

Karimov builds a prison for purged officials

With the death of Turkmenistan's dictator Saparmurat Niazov, Uzbekistan has moved up to the head of the class to become the most repressive and totalitarian state in Central Asia. Uzbek dictator Islam Karimov may not have the late Turkmenbashi's sexy eccentricity, but he makes up for his lack of headline appeal with his dreary Soviet style authoritarianism.

And what better way for a strongman to flex his post-Soviet muscle than cracking down on his political enemies? Karimov has never been shy about using force to maintain the status quo, but he appears to be going the extra mile by building a special prison for Uzbek government officials who have fallen from his good graces. The new detention facility has ostensibly been built as part of a government response to punish corruption, but nobody seriously expects the vengeful dictator to stop there. Conservative estimates place the number of political prisoners in Uzbekistan at around 7,500, while the end tops out at over 15,000. According to human rights organizations, torture is endemic in Uzbekistan, and political prisoners are often completely denied communications with friends or family - a punishment not extended to ordinary criminals.

Karimov's cavalier attitude regarding violence and political activity briefly made the news in 2005 after the infamous Andijan massacre, when Uzbek security forces started shooting fully automatic weapons into a crowd of unarmed people. The death toll has been estimated as being between 178 people (the Karimov government's estimate), to around 500 (most survivors of the attack), to over a thousand people. Karimov's new gulag for his disgraced lackeys lacks the flash and glamor of simply shooting them all en masse, but the message will doubtlessly still get through: messing with Islam Karimov is just too dangerous to think about.

UPDATE: I know what you're thinking, "two consecutive days of Central Asian dictators"? It's just coincidence, I swear. I might getting around to doing an entire week devoted to Central Asia, but frankly, I may just leave that to the experts.

Dictator club gathering in Russia

For a blog like Dictators of the World, what could be better than a roomful of autocrats getting together to talk shop?

Such was the case this week when post-Soviet autocrats Islam Karimov of Uzbekistan, Ilham Aliyev of Azerbaijan and the world's newest dictator, the multisyllabic Gurbanguly Berdimuhammedov of Turkmenistan, met in what was described as an "informal summit of the Commonwealth of Independent States" at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum. Any such CIS gathering involving Berdimuhammedov would have be "informal", I suppose, as his illustrious predecessor voluntarily reduced Turkmenistan's participation in the CIS to that of an "associate member".

So what was discussed, exactly? Given that the big English language news outfits seemed to have snoozed through this gathering, we have to turn to the government press releases for more information. However, they say only that "trade-economic and humanitarian spheres were called the priority areas of cooperation" - whatever the hell that's supposed to mean. Given that Azerbaijan, Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan are major producers of crude oil and natural gas, it's not unreasonable to presume that the conversation drifted towards what's generically been called "energy co-operation", but which can be more accurately described as "how can we work together to whack the Europeans with higher fuel prices?" Of course, they also might have had a chance to discuss juicier topics that only dictators need to worry about, like "which Swiss banks ask the fewest questions?" and "how the hell do I get Transparency International off my back?"

Whatever they talked about, I think it's safe to presume that the topics of human rights and democratization weren't on the agenda. With any luck, Joshua and/or Nathan at Registan can come up with some of the missing details regarding this week's gathering. Oh, to have been a fly on the wall ...

UPDATE: The photo at top left is of Gurbanguly Berdimuhammedov, who's starting to bear an eerie resemblance to Saparmurat Niazov. There were, apparently, rumors that Gurbangly is Turkmenbashi's illegitimate son, but even I'm shocked when I check out the photos. Berdimuhammedov is on the left, Niazov on the right:




Creepy.

Welcome to the club, Gurbanguly Berdimuhammedov.

The December death of Turkmen Saparmurat "Turkmenbashi" Niazov obviously left big shoes to fill. And now they've been filled by the man who "temporarily" took Niazov's place as "interim president" since his death. He's also probably killed his country's narrow window for political, economic and social reform, too.

After a thoroughly crooked, if fitting, election, Gurbanguly Berdimuhammedov is the new dictator (er, president) of Turkmenistan has been sworn in and officially welcomed to the Central Asian Dictator's Club by fellow member Islam Karimov of Uzbekistan.

While early reports from the ridiculously secretive nation indicated that Berdimuhammedov won the election with 99% of the vote, it appears that the margin of victory was an only slightly less ludicrous 89% of the vote. Even though the outcome was predetermined, the ruling Democratic Party of Turkmenistan clearly didn't feel like taking any chances: all six Presidential candidates were members of the party. Juicy, but obviously unconfirmed, rumors abound that Berdimuhammedov is Turkmenbashi's illegitimate son. Interestingly, while serving as interim president, Berdimuhammedov changed Turkmenistan's constitution to prevent the political participation of Niazov's legitimate son, Myrat. Sibling rivalry? Or just a struggle to keep Junior away from the prize?

Having emerged on top after a brief power struggle and ludicrous election, the consensus opinion is that Berdimuhammedov is in no mood for reversing the economic damage wrought by his predecessor, nor opening Turkmenistan to the world, nor loosening his party's iron grip on power, but rather, that he intends to stay on top for as long as humanly possible.

I know, what a surprise.

Islam Karimov lowers his profile

Uzbek dictator Islam Karimov appears to be doing something unusual for a dictator: lowering his public profile.

Professor Olim Hasanov at UZNEWS reports that formerly ubiquitous billboards with pictures and quotations from President Karimov have been slowly disappearing from public view. Is the wily Central Asian dictator in the middle of a power struggle, or is he simply turning his personality cult down a notch for other reasons? Some suspect a ruse. Hasanov's report quotes an unnamed parliamentarian who put Karimov's disappearing act in some perspective:

"Do you remember what Karimov did in 1991 at our parliamentary session? He said: 'Let me have three months, and you will see what I can do.' And what did he do? He doubled the number of prisons, police and intelligence service offices, tripled their salaries, and increased their powers five fold. He has deprived their people of their last rights, and their last pieces of bread."

There will be a presidential election in Uzbekistan this year, but should he decide to run again, Karimov will certainly win by any means necessary. However, at age 70, Karimov is reaching the point in most dictators lives where they start thinking seriously about passing their titles onto their successors. Is he slowing down? Bowing out? Too soon to tell, but you can be sure that whatever happens will be discussed in detail at the Registan.net blog (motto: "All Central Asia, All the Time").

UNESCO honors Uzbek dictator Karimov

If there is any other person, place or organization that is at ease with dictators as I am, it would have to be the United Nations. Last week, UNESCO director-general Koichiro Matsuura awarded Uzbek dictator Islam Karimov with the organization's gold "Borobudur Award" in recognition of the Central Asian strongman's "efforts on behalf of friendship between peoples".

Neither Mr. Matsuura, nor the state controlled Uzbek press, elaborated on just which peoples, exactly, Karimov is credited with fostering friendship between. I would have to guess that "the peoples" in question are foreign energy ministers and Uzbek treasury officials, but I suppose I'm just a cynic. However, I do feel fairly confident in speculating that UNESCO did not award Karimov with a medal for Karimov's efforts on fostering friendship between the Uzbek state and, say, Uzbek political dissidents, Uzbekistan's neighbors, journalists, or even the the dictator's own unhappy subjects.

On the one hand, it's easy to be appalled with the United Nations wasting money handing out frivolous awards. On the other hand, I can't wait to see which dictator or brasshat is feted by UNESCO next. Isn't there some cultural award they can give to Robert Mugabe, or Muammar Gadaffi for their lifetime acheivements? And won't some faceless international technocrat please recognize that Kim Jong-Il and Saparmurat "Turkmenbashi" Niazov are likely to feel slighted at being left out?

I would certainly hope, at the very least, that there enough Borobudur Awards to go around until every dictator has had a chance to win.