This post was written by...
Nathan Hamm – author of 2040 posts on Registan.net.
Nathan founded Registan.net in 2003. He was a Peace Corps Volunteer in Uzbekistan 2000-2001 and received his MA in Central Asian Studies from the University of Washington in 2007. Since 2007, he has worked full-time as an analyst, consulting with clients on Central Asian affairs, specializing in how socio-cultural factors shape risks and opportunities. Follow him on Twitter or drop him a line.
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hey nathan –
glad you liked my screwy poem Saparmuratiad, please feel free to repost it. I don’t know many other blogs that might appreciate it.
He gets about two minutes of dialogue in an episode of “The West Wing,” presidential assistant Josh Lyman hears the word Turkmenistan and just goes ballistic and recites a littany of Turkmenbashi’s activities.
To be quite serious, your Central Asian blog is a very rare window and resource for a reader like me into this region. I’m sort of a dweeb about navigating your site … where are they threatening to tear down a synagogue, and did they? So sad … the historic norm for a thousand years all over the Muslim world is peace and respect between Muslims and Jews, the mosque across the street from the synagogue. We live in weird, abnormal times. I hope they pass.
Another one:
Information Ministry Outlaws Valentine’s Day.
http://www.mosnews.com/news/2006/02/13/uzbekvalentine.shtml
What the hell is going on over there? They outlaw or oppress all sorts of devout muslim things, then they outlaw things that “could harm the feelings of devoted Muslims”? I don’t remember a lot of street protests over Valentine’s day when I was there.
Sounds very Orwellian… Oceana wants to outlaw sex because it distracts the citizens.
hey thanks brian! i’m a little late, but i’ll post it to my Vleeptron blog.
Did you like my poem?