Comments on: Dirty Diplomacy: The Rough and Tumble Adventures of a Scotch Drinking, Skirt Chasing, Dictator Busting and Thoroughly Unrepentant Ambassador Stuck on the Frontline of the War Against Terror, by Craig Murray http://registan.net/index.php/2008/02/22/dirty-diplomacy-the-rough-and-tumble-adventures-of-a-scotch-drinking-skirt-chasing-dictator-busting-and-thoroughly-unrepentant-ambassador-stuck-on-the-frontline-of-the-war-against-terror-by-craig-murr/ Central Asia News -- All Central Asia, All The Time Mon, 13 Feb 2012 06:41:29 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: Dolkun http://registan.net/index.php/2008/02/22/dirty-diplomacy-the-rough-and-tumble-adventures-of-a-scotch-drinking-skirt-chasing-dictator-busting-and-thoroughly-unrepentant-ambassador-stuck-on-the-frontline-of-the-war-against-terror-by-craig-murr/comment-page-1/#comment-376436 Dolkun Wed, 27 Feb 2008 09:21:33 +0000 http://www.registan.net/index.php/2008/02/22/dirty-diplomacy-the-rough-and-tumble-adventures-of-a-scotch-drinking-skirt-chasing-dictator-busting-and-thoroughly-unrepentant-ambassador-stuck-on-the-frontline-of-the-war-against-terror-by-craig-murr/#comment-376436 Well said Brian. Personally, I think Murray would have been more effective if he had called it like he'd seen it AND not flaunted his "human side." The latter created some common ground between the FCO and the GoU -- they both thought him an embarrassment (His self image, one assumes, is that he was more honest than his fellow diplomats -- and Uzbek apparatchiks -- who get theirs on the side). But then, he wouldn't have generated this ongoing publicity -- and for every Murray sighting, you have to add the caveat, "but he had a point." Well said Brian. Personally, I think Murray would have been more effective if he had called it like he’d seen it AND not flaunted his “human side.” The latter created some common ground between the FCO and the GoU — they both thought him an embarrassment (His self image, one assumes, is that he was more honest than his fellow diplomats — and Uzbek apparatchiks — who get theirs on the side). But then, he wouldn’t have generated this ongoing publicity — and for every Murray sighting, you have to add the caveat, “but he had a point.”

]]> By: brian http://registan.net/index.php/2008/02/22/dirty-diplomacy-the-rough-and-tumble-adventures-of-a-scotch-drinking-skirt-chasing-dictator-busting-and-thoroughly-unrepentant-ambassador-stuck-on-the-frontline-of-the-war-against-terror-by-craig-murr/comment-page-1/#comment-376428 brian Wed, 27 Feb 2008 02:07:55 +0000 http://www.registan.net/index.php/2008/02/22/dirty-diplomacy-the-rough-and-tumble-adventures-of-a-scotch-drinking-skirt-chasing-dictator-busting-and-thoroughly-unrepentant-ambassador-stuck-on-the-frontline-of-the-war-against-terror-by-craig-murr/#comment-376428 Personally, in this review I think you're focusing a bit too much on Craig Murray the person instead of the story he's telling. I think that might partly be because most of us on here know the situation Uzbekistan is in rather well, and because there is some history between this blog and Mr. Murray. However, let's give him some credit: if he was just another salute-and-follow-orders ambassador what fun would that be? Whether he deserved to be fired or not, I think it's fair to say that his presence in Uzbekistan had many positives: he bought awareness of the plight of the Uzbek people to a lot of people in the western world that knew nothing about it, he raised the issue that people were being tortured under the tacit permission of the British and Americans. So as an ambassador, perhaps Craig Murray fit the role as well as others could, but as a living thinking human being... you have to admit he sure had some balls. At my job there's a lady who's waaay too outspoken, and many people think that she should choose her words much more carefully - but we also know she's right, and we're also glad that finally someone has the balls to say the things that she says. Personally, in this review I think you’re focusing a bit too much on Craig Murray the person instead of the story he’s telling. I think that might partly be because most of us on here know the situation Uzbekistan is in rather well, and because there is some history between this blog and Mr. Murray. However, let’s give him some credit: if he was just another salute-and-follow-orders ambassador what fun would that be? Whether he deserved to be fired or not, I think it’s fair to say that his presence in Uzbekistan had many positives: he bought awareness of the plight of the Uzbek people to a lot of people in the western world that knew nothing about it, he raised the issue that people were being tortured under the tacit permission of the British and Americans.
So as an ambassador, perhaps Craig Murray fit the role as well as others could, but as a living thinking human being… you have to admit he sure had some balls.

At my job there’s a lady who’s waaay too outspoken, and many people think that she should choose her words much more carefully – but we also know she’s right, and we’re also glad that finally someone has the balls to say the things that she says.

]]> By: Joel http://registan.net/index.php/2008/02/22/dirty-diplomacy-the-rough-and-tumble-adventures-of-a-scotch-drinking-skirt-chasing-dictator-busting-and-thoroughly-unrepentant-ambassador-stuck-on-the-frontline-of-the-war-against-terror-by-craig-murr/comment-page-1/#comment-376407 Joel Sun, 24 Feb 2008 03:38:15 +0000 http://www.registan.net/index.php/2008/02/22/dirty-diplomacy-the-rough-and-tumble-adventures-of-a-scotch-drinking-skirt-chasing-dictator-busting-and-thoroughly-unrepentant-ambassador-stuck-on-the-frontline-of-the-war-against-terror-by-craig-murr/#comment-376407 Yikes. This reminds me a bit about my reaction to one of the worst movies I have recently seen, Thom Fitzgerald's (2002) Wild Dogs, about a Bucharest inhabited by nobody but stray dogs and Gypsy beggars, each of which apparently needs to be adopted by some wealthy patron from the corrupt First World. The "hero" is an exploit-the-world-cum-save-the-world Canadian pornographer! The movie stars one kind of poverty pimp, and is directed by another kind of poverty pimp. Yikes. This reminds me a bit about my reaction to one of the worst movies I have recently seen, Thom Fitzgerald’s (2002) Wild Dogs, about a Bucharest inhabited by nobody but stray dogs and Gypsy beggars, each of which apparently needs to be adopted by some wealthy patron from the corrupt First World. The “hero” is an exploit-the-world-cum-save-the-world Canadian pornographer! The movie stars one kind of poverty pimp, and is directed by another kind of poverty pimp.

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