Can a brutal dictator be so crazy its funny? I think so...

[Frimost]

For the background:

Turkmenistan, sandwiched between Iran and Afghanistan, has long been ignored except as a source of gas and oil.
But as the rule of its eccentric President, Saparmurat Niyazov, becomes ever more violent and unpredictable, maybe it is time the world started to take notice.

sorry, when reading this article I cracked-up when I got to this part:

His pronouncements became ever more bizarre. In 2001 Mr Niyazov warned his people that "foreign powers" were secretly photographing their crops.

He held an international symposium on melons and renamed some months of the year after himself.

 

[Thrillhouse]

Is that the guy who renamed a month after himself? Kim Jong-Il is a nutjob, too, BTW.

 

[Frimost]

Yeah, he also:

Power rests in the hands of one man - Mr Niyazov, called Turkmenbashi or leader of Turkmens - whose singular rule is so aggressive that every Turkmen must swear to perish rather than betray him.

In 1990, as leader of newly independent Turkmenistan, Mr Niyazov plastered the country with his portraits, and built extravagant palaces and a giant revolving statue of himself.

Already isolated, from next month no Turkmen will be allowed to leave the country without government permission. Not surprisingly, there has been a scramble to leave before the door shuts.

She said the government encouraged people to spy on each other - and that dissenters were repressed, tortured, imprisoned or sent to live in the desert.

Aya, another Turkmen who now lives in London, said her eldest son had to read extracts from the president's book every morning.

When she told his teacher she was not happy about this, the police took Aya away and demanded to know why her nine-year-old son was not willing to die for Mr Niyazov.

 

[Frimost]

The UN is a pathetic joke...

Rachel Denber, head of Human Rights Watch for Central Asia, said she found it baffling that even at the level of the United Nations, there was a failure to acknowledge the gravity of the situation.

"Kofi Annan went to Turkmenistan in October and toasted the president. I think that people were bitterly disappointed by that lack of acknowledgement," she said.

 

[Lost Cause]

A humble man.....

Is there something in the water over there?
I keep visualizing the Marx Brothers movie where Groucho is that nutcase leader. (Ducksoup?)

 

[Frimost]

Look familiar?


The Cult of Personality....


The "Great" leader -

One of his palaces-

Show trials in Kangaroo courts-

The stern all-pervasive face of authority, ubiquitous and without mercy-

His likeness carved into giant golden statues, this in a VERY poor country-

The show of force military parades-

His own personal book where he proclaims to be a prophet like Jesus and Mohammad-

 

[Star of Penumbra]

God bless the maniacs. They make life worth living.

 

[Lost Cause]

He may be a nutcase.......

But I bet his people live real well because of all the spare gold he can use for bullshit statues, and real estate..
Almost like Sodamn Insane and him spreading the wealth in his country, it's hard to talk of revolt with an empty stomach.

 

[Frimost]

The madman-

Grandiose projects to inflate his own ego-

Massive parades rife with symbolism to allow him to flex his muscles and exert intimidation on the people forced to watch them-

His face everywhere, all watching-

 

[Guest]

The Turkmen deserve to be fucked in their arses if they've voted for the lunatic.

I'm just sorry for the Turkwomen.

 

[Frimost]

The Turkmen deserve to be fucked in their arses if they've voted for the lunatic.

I'm just sorry for the Turkwomen.

No one voted for the asshole, like ALL of the Central Asian Republics and the Caucasus ones they inherited the Communist Politibureau Soviet Governor of the region who then became their president when The USSR broke-up in 1992. The Christian ones (Armenia and Georgia have since become democracies more or less, the Muslim ones have not. All of the Central Asian nations leaders are the same leaders they started off with except Tajikistan's who was deposed in a civil war and all subsequent elections there in the region are rigged (if they have any elections at all).

 

[Guest]

Men should give up politics and let women do it.

They'll be gossipin' all day.

The world peace will be achieved.