Tashkent: spacy or spacious

The suprise starts at Tashkent International Airport (Yuzhniy). It is way too big considering the amount of users. The first few days in Uzbekistan – we started last week in Nukus, West Uzbekistan – I thought: wow, impressive building or square but where are the people? But then it starts to look familiar. My first impression proved symptomatic for the towns of this huge country with only 28 million inhabitants. The boulevards, the hotels, the stadiums, the parks, the underground; they all seem several sizes too big.

I know that size matters in some situations but the greatness of all the pubic facilities seems to be chosen to impress. To boost more than to accommodate and serve the Uzbek citizens in a comfortable way. Tashkent is a city that does not allow people to take pictures in the (beautiful) underground. The park opposite hotel Uzbekistan is green, has benches and all things a neat park needs. Everything is in order and brand clean. Every stone, tile, statue and grassroot is properly placed. The statue of Amir Temur is lit brightly by strong spotligts. It is surrounded by about six benches. In the evening men of a certain age play chess and back gammon. On every bench three or four men sit, playing in silence. So far I have not seen people entertain themselves or play in public places. I presume this will mostly take place safely behind closed doors. There are fun parks and a handfull of terraces but they are probable too expensive for the mayority. Nobody hangs around on the streets for fun. Than it struck me: these chess players in the park, they are exceptional. The players are so out of tune in this city governed by an obsessive order and cleanliness. They might well be instructed to play from 8 till 10 in the park. Just the way people are ordered to clean the streets or to work in the cotton fields.

Mmmh, if so than one thing is puzzeling. Why are the about ten prostitutes in front of the hotel allowed to wait for their clients? It is a very visible place. Or are prostitutes part of the picture the government wants to communicate of Uzbekistan? Intrigueing. It almost keeps me awake at night. More short stories and photos will follow soon.

Solomon’s throne (4)

Sulamain-Too Sacred Mountain – in popular speech Solomon’s throne – of Kyrgyzstan will become Kyrgystan’s first site to be inscribed on UNESCO’s World Heritage List.

Read more in Elena’s article on NewEurasia

Also read my earlier posts about this tiny but much discussed mountain hill

Kazakhtan’s internet is closing down

Kazakhstan is known for being ‘not free’ according to reports of Reporters sans frontiers and the FreedomHouse. But protests continue. Last week for example journalists held a silent protest in Almaty, former capital of Kazakhstan. More details on the redesigned Neweurasianet.

The protest also addressed the growing repressive nature of the media legislation. Lately the Kazakh parliament has adopted controversial amendments to the Law on Information and Communications Networks, RFE/RL’s Kazakh Service reports.  Main point is the Internet in Kazakhstan – including chat rooms, blogs, and public forums – will be recognized as mass media and gives the Kazakh prosecutor-general the right to shut down online resources without going to court.

Despite several protest under the flag of this symbol. More background information in this article published in The Guardian.

Making of the Modern World

The Mongol army led by Genghis Khan subjugated more lands and people in twenty-five years than the Romans did in four hundred. Jack Weatherford is the author of Genghis Khan, and the making of the modern world did not want to write a autobiography of Khan or a book about the Mongols. He rather wanted to describe and analyse the impact of the Mongols on the world.

Many reviews and articles have been written since the book was published in 2004 and even Wikipedia consists of an article on the book.

I just want to point out  some paragraphs that stroke me while reading the book.

- Genghis Khan together with his sons and grandsons, conquered the most densely populated civilizations of the thirteenth century.  (..) The majority of the people today live in countries conquered by the Mongols; on the modern map Genghis Kahn’s conquests include thirty countries with well over 3 billion people. The most astonishing aspect of this achievement is that the entire Mongol tribe under him numbered around a million, smaller than a workforce of some modern corporations.  From this million he recruited his army which was comprised of no more than one hundred thousand warriors – a group that could comfortable fit into a larger sports stadium. (..) As Genghis Kahn’s cavalry charged across the thirteenth century, he redrew boundaries of the world. His architecture was not in stone but in nations.  (xviii)

- Genghis Khan’s empire connected and amalgamated the many civilizations around him into a new world order. (..) He smashed the feudal system of aristocratic privilege and birth, he built a new and unique system  based on individual merit, loyalty and achievement. He took the disjointed and languorous trading towns along the Silk Route and organized them into history’s largest free-trade zone. he lowered taxes for everyone and abolished them altogether for doctors, teachers, priests and educational institutions. he established a regular census and created the first international postal system. His was not an empire that hoarded wealth and treasure; insisted he widely distributed the goods acquired in combat so that they could make their way back into commercial circulation. He created a international law and recognized the ultimate supreme law of the Eternal Blue Sky over all people. At a time when most rulers consider themselves to be above the law, Genghis Kahn insisted on laws holding rulers as equally accountable as the lowest herder.  (xix)

The next episode will tell about warring queens, the origin of the word assassin, paper money and other inventions. To be continued…

The shadow of the Holy Book (III)

The documentary film Shadow of the Holy Book reveals the secretive and repressive dictatorship of Saparmurat Niyazov, Turkmenistan’s head of state from 1985 to 2006, and the Western companies who did business with him.

Listen to  the discussion about the film held at the OSI office New York in February.