| Submit your comments on this article |
| Caucasus/Russia/Central Asia |
| StrategyPage: Bad Guys Winning In Uzbekistan |
| 2005-05-17 |
| Police and soldiers are trying to restore order in eastern Uzbekistan. So far, the security forces appear to have killed over 700 people, wounded over a thousand and arrested over 1,500. Over the past few years, Uzbek president Islam Karimov has been warned by the U.S. to either get with the democratic process, or risk getting overthrown. Even though the United States withdrew most foreign aid last year over this issue, Karimov believes that he can tough it out. But the United States has been funding pro-democracy political organizations in Uzbekistan, meaning that Karimov has to convince the world that he is fighting Islamic terrorists, not just Uzbeks fed up with his corrupt rule. Unlike neighboring Kyrgyzstan, where police and troops refused to fire on their countrymen, in Uzbekistan the security forces have, so far, remained loyal to Karimov, and done his dirty work. Unless massive numbers of Uzbeks come out in the cities and confront the troops and police, and are not fired on, Karimov will remain in power. So far, the crowds have been either not there, or driven away by gunfire and the threat of arrest. |
| Posted by:ed |
| #4 Bush the Elder would have backed the strong man. Personally, I like the change. |
| Posted by: Super Hose 2005-05-17 21:20 |
| #3 The question then seems to be: how much aid can we manage? And do we know anybody who would be a good replacement? |
| Posted by: mojo 2005-05-17 15:11 |
| #2 This is a tough spot. A lot of SOCOM support ops were run out of Uzbek territory, and they gave a lot of leeway to coalition forces there. But the HMFIC is an ass, and has turned his "security" people loose on the population. Sure there are Islamic radicals there, but the internal police (like the old Soviet MVD) are pretty indiscriminate when it comes to who they beat or shoot. This has been all about retaining power. The thing that has to happen here is for the US to manage to get a democracy and a stable one - and not let radical forces (Islam) and reactionaries (the mafioso strong-man types) get the upper hand - nor allow them to continue to disrupt the new government (cf: Iraq). As I said, tough spot. |
| Posted by: OldSpook 2005-05-17 10:34 |
| #1 Then give the pro-democracy movement guns to even the odds. |
| Posted by: mmurray821 2005-05-17 09:51 |