I certainly think that she’s missing that while both the US and Uzbekistan share those goals, the Uzbeks, as you say, do so because they are a direct threat to the power of the regime rather than because they are ills in and of themselves.

What I didn’t mention in the post because I felt like it opened up the need for a few more paragraphs I didn’t feel like writing is that I think one of the advantages of Uzbek hostility towards the West and the weakening of ties is that it affords us a greater opportunity to speak more bluntly and to take steps that more directly undermine the government. Not that I think that we will unless officials in Washington suddenly decide Uzbekistan is a high priority. But I do hold out some hope that Chris Smith and a few other members of Congress will press for some sort of concrete and meaningful response.