The Crazy, Trumped Up Uzbek Hype

by Joshua Foust

Yesterday, U.S. federal counterterrorism agents descended on O’Hare International Airport to arrest an Uzbek man, Jamshid Muhktarov, on charges of terrorism. According to U.S. investigators, Jamshid Mukhtarov was working with Islamic Jihad Union, an affiliate of al-Qaeda, when he was arrested Saturday night at O’Hare while changing planes for an overseas flight. Mukhtarov, 35, a [...]

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Uzbekistan’s National Security Waiver

by Joshua Foust

BILLS 112hr2055enr Much ado has been made about the U.S. decision to reengage with the government of Uzbekistan as a part of a regional strategy to both lessen American dependence on Pakistan and possibly chart some sort of regional strategy going forward. Human rights groups are, naturally, aghast at the idea because the Uzbek government [...]

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An Impossible Moral Choice

by Joshua Foust
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Eurasianet editor David Trilling flags a report by the Committee to Protect Journalists: The Belarus Democracy and Human Rights Act of 2011, which Obama signed into law a week ago after its passage through Congress, updates legislation from 2004 and 2006. Its aim is to compel Lukashenko, also known as the last European dictator, to [...]

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Leveraging Relations

by Nathan Hamm

In a EurasiaNet article, Human Rights Watch’s Steve Swerdlow is quoted saying, “Their willingness to go public, litigate the matter, and continue to speak out to groups like us despite the risks makes this case unique in Uzbekistan and in some sense proves the value of challenging the Uzbek government more openly.” The case to [...]

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A Menu of Poor Choices

by Joshua Foust

Joshua Kucera is absolutely right: This is a difficult needle to thread, but Washington has so far largely succeeded. The U.S. has kept the supply lines running while compromising little on its principles. The yearly State Department human rights reports have remained consistently critical, even as military cooperation has blossomed. Human rights advocates in Uzbekistan [...]

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How Not to Promote A Report

by Joshua Foust

Human Rights Watch has released a new report about abuses in Uzbekistan and it’s thorough and detailed: Uzbekistan has not kept its promises to stop torture in its criminal justice system, including electric shocks and asphyxiation, Human Rights Watch said in a report released today. Safeguards to halt the practice that were announced with fanfare [...]

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The Bell Pottinger Freakout

by Joshua Foust

The public revulsion to Bell Pottinger’s lobbying activities is continuing, as the Bureau of Investigative Journalism reports new stories about a PR firm acting like a PR firm. But while everyone shakes their head at the idea that public relations actually requires manipulating public opinion, it’s worthwhile to take a few steps back and see [...]

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Facebook and the Surveillance State: The Death of Gulsumoy Abdujalilova

by Sarah Kendzior

I am looking at the Facebook page of Gulsumoy Abdujalilova. Gulsumoy writes about how she misses her mother, how she has the flu, how happy she is that Eid has arrived. She is from Andijon, Uzbekistan, but now she lives in Munich, Germany. She writes, “Qayerda bo’lsam ham Qalbim sendadur Vatanim” – “Wherever I am, [...]

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The Banality of Public Relations

by Joshua Foust

Over at The Atlantic, I wrote a piece about the super new news that PR firms sometimes work for sketchy countries. But it’s easy to misdirect outrage. This lobbying firm appears to have been doing its job — and lobbying firms work for a lot of sketchy groups, not just reporters posing as Uzbek government [...]

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Uzbekistan and the Libya Precedent

by Joshua Foust

Tom Malinowski, the Washington Director of Human Rights Watch, made an interesting comparison today in Foreign Policy: After all, for a little love from the West, Qaddafi gave up his nuclear program and suspended his support for terrorism. These were not trivial concessions. And in any case, with whom was one to deal in Libya [...]

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