Pravda: US ambassadors flee out of Uzbekistan

[unhappycamper]

US ambassadors flee out of Uzbekistan
06/03/2005 14:42

The situation in Uzbekistan becomes more and more serious every day. The tension in the republic may soon explode and take the form of either a civil war or a national revolution. The USA has already started withdrawing its embassy from the republic, fearing possible terrorist attacks. The US Department of State was informed about possible terrorist acts against US interests in Uzbekistan. As a result, several employees of the US embassy in Uzbekistan were allowed to leave the republic.

The message from the US Department of State recommended other American citizens to refrain from trips to Uzbekistan. The document from the State Department reminds of last year's terrorist acts in the republic. Suicidal terrorists blew up their bombs near the embassies of the USA and Israel in Uzbekistan's capital, Tashkent. According to the USA, several Islamite organizations conduct subversive activities in Uzbekistan: The Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan, al-Qaeda, the Union of Islamic Jihad and the Islamic Party of Eastern Turkestan.

It is worth mentioning that the US Department of State has released similar warnings before too. A special report from the US embassy in Tashkent, which was published on May 28th, said that extremists were preparing attacks against several American objects in the republic.

The USA has its own interests in the countries of the Soviet Union, as well as in the Asian and Mideastern regions on the whole. George W. Bush stated that democracy was on march in the whole world. According to Bush, recent revolutions in post-Soviet states of Georgia and Ukraine, as well as revolutions in Iraq and Lebanon have marked only the start of the process. The US president stated that America takes the reformers' side, hoping that they will be able to stop the growth of tyranny and terrorism.

MORE

http://english.pravda.ru/accidents/21/93/375/15589_uzbekistan.html

[allemand]

1. Somebody should tell them that the "Soviet Union" doesn't exist anymore...

I wonder what the people in the "Stans" think about being called "the countries of the Soviet Union" (sic).

I also noticed that the Russian press is trying to paint all who are resisting the criminal Karimov regime as "Islamic terrorists". Of course, there are Islamists and terrorists in Uzbekistan, but they will only win if they are perceived as the only alternative to a brutal dictatorship. This is why promoting democracy is always in the interest of the US, while siding with bloody dictators isn't.

[Wright Patman]

2. Define "interest"

If our government's "interest" in Saudi Arabia is its oil, I see no way it would benefit the US to promote democracy when bin Laden would be the presumptive favorite in a landslide.

Unless, of course, you mean the Black Box Voting-style of democracy involving the false dichotomy of two elite stooge candidates as is practiced here.

[allemand]

3. The US failed to promote democracy and reforms in Saudi Arabia

and as a result we now have bin Laden, al-Qaeda, Salafism, etc.

Iran is another good example.

Shortsightedness is certainly not in the US interest, but all too often it informed US policy... ;-)