Central Asia

[ChrisD(RJ)]

Chuck Grimes wrote:
``Under better economic and social circumstances, such movements would
have had little public appeal or impact and would have remained on the
fringe of the Central Asian Islamic world, just as the HT [Hizb
ut-Tahrir al-Islame, Party of Islamic Liberation], remains
marginalized in many other Muslim countries. It is the particular
circumstances of the crisis in Central Asia that have pushed IMU
[Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan] and the HT to center stage and
provided young people with alien role models. Yet as the threat
increases, the Central Asian regimes have become more intransigent and
less willing to address the pressing needs of their people. As the
public becomes more angry and frustrated, the ruling elites continue
to ignore the need for change. `A failed state is not a dying state,
although it can be that too. A failed state is one in which failure of
policies is never considered sufficient reason to reconsider them,'
warns Pakistani diplomat and scholar Ashraf Jehangir Qazi. Qazi could
be talking about any state from Pakistan to Afghanistan to the Central
Asian republics.'' (244p)
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Another of the great boons derived from the breakup of the USSR. Legions of
failed states that are hotbeds of nationalism.

Which brings me to my current pet peeve, nationalism in the former
Republics. It is the most ludicrous thing you can imagine, and interferes
with the cooperation that is necessary for most of these countries to
survive (and is of course encouraged by local elites). In Ukraine you can
hear, on state radio, how Ukrainian is the world's oldest language and
Ukraine is the fountain of world civilization, I kid you not. The level of
blind nationalism in the Baltics is just ridiculous (you have monuments to
the SS in the Baltics). At least the Moldovans seem to be getting over it,
apparently reasoning that nationalist extremism has accomplished nothing for
their country but a 65% decrease in GDP.

This stuff is absolutely poisonous.

Chris Doss
The Russia Journal