Winds of Change has done one of their excellent regional briefings on the Central Asia ‘stans. As some of you may remember, I blogged about Uzbekistan and Georgia last month, so this is of interest to me.
The links to what is apparently being called Georgia’s Rose Revolution are well worth perusing, especially the interesting ones about how a large part of said revolution was quietly sponsored by elements in the West, ranging from official to private (please note that I could have made a Soros joke here, but I am refraining). It is fortunate, I think, that recent partisanship issues did not result in the current Administration tossing aside some quite decent pro-democracy work done by previous ones (including Clinton’s). It is also fortunate – and a good reminder – that State is perhaps not quite as inept as my side of the spectrum sometimes makes them out to be.
Aside from the remarkably nonviolent nature of the Rose Revolution, the major reason that this situation is interesting is that Bush has apparently taken this opportunity to push for reforms in several other Central Asian countries, including Uzbekistan. I would prefer a bit more of the stick suggested by the late Senator Wellstone, but then I’m not the President. Argus at Winds of Change sort of disagrees with the Asia Times that quiet diplomacy isn’t working; I guess that we’ll see. At any rate, the links are quite good, and cover an interesting range. Check them out.
Not that I need to tell you that.
UPDATE: Fairly grotesque error fixed. That’ll teach me not to proofread. Especially when I have to do it again.
Moe, c’mon, it’s me in particular who’s got the beef with Asia Times! I don’t speak for all of the WoC Team! ATO can’t seem to write a story without adding in some kind of anti-American or anti-US Government jab, and that really hurts their “journalism.” They do report on Central Asia, so I read…
I personally would gain satisfaction from more of the stick with Uzbekistan, but I think it’s counterproductive. Karimov is an obstinate son of a bitch who tends to freak out from time to time. I tell you, I hated being in Uzbekistan around national holidays or in Tashkent when Parliament was meeting–that place gets a lot more tense and scary when the police feel they have free reign.
Somewhere on my site, I have a link to the break down of the aid to Uzbekistan–the report Congress gets. It’s pretty detailed, and I don’t have too many problems with the way it’s spent other than that I’d like to see more spent on student and professional exchanges and democracy promotion and support (which is much dicier in Uzbekistan than Georgia). By staying mostly quiet in public about Uzbekistan’s problems, our government is buying a little bit of (excruciatingly slowly growing) space for reformers to operate.
This is what we did in Georgia, and that’s why we can have our cake and eat it to. We can be allies and slowly undermine “our bastards” as well. That warning to Central Asia over elections came across to me as confidence that we can support the internal opposition that we helped build and support. (As a side, I am proud to have been part of that foreign aid as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Uzbekistan)
“Moe, c’mon, it’s me in particular who’s got the beef with Asia Times! I don’t speak for all of the WoC Team!”
Fair enough. I need to do some style editing of this one anyway. Must… proofread… more… 🙂
Moe nice post and Winds of Change does an excellent job describing the various maginations going on in Central Asia.
The next few years in Central Asia may very well define this century (similar to the Balkans in the last century) as Europe, China, India, Iran, Russia and the US all compete for influence in the region.
Timmy – you either mean mechinations or you’re making a histerical word play. I believe the latter and want you to know I appreciate it.
fabius 🙂