Our Man in Uzbekistan

Demonstrating that strategery isn't their only weakness, Steven Schwartz shows that neocons can be just as immoral as realists:

As I write, on December 29, the results of the Uzbek vote are both incomplete and controversial. The allocation of seats to the various parties, including the ruling National Democratic Party of President Islom Karimov, has yet to be announced, and functionaries of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), have declared the balloting insufficiently democratic. But the OSCE inspires little confidence in such matters. For myself, I have witnessed several years of OSCE meddling and mismanagement of the promised transitions to democracy in Bosnia-Hercegovina and Kosovo, and do not perceive the OSCE as possessing moral standing to issue such criticisms.

At the same time, while observing the Uzbek elections, I was reminded of earlier chapters in the history of post-Communist democratization. Whether the OSCE was satisfied or not, ordinary Uzbeks lined up enthusiastically to cast their votes on a multipage paper ballot. Meanwhile, the Uzbek authorities made extensive preparations to accommodate foreign journalists, who did not show up in substantial numbers.

Now, wait a minute, who's the bad guy here?  Well, the OSCE, of course.  Schwartz is right to criticize the OSCE and its observer missions, but they deserve to be criticized for being too soft on despotic regimes, not too tough! Their previous and numerous failures to stand up to Russian chicanery in places like Moldova are indeed regrettable, though the institution is showing signs of healing. But Schwartz, for his part, paints Karimov as the good guy, who is regrettably being shoved around by those bastards from the OSCE.  Schwartz, who I'm not sure speaks one word of either Uzbek or Russian, might want to apply for a job as a CIS election observer.  Or maybe he can find himself a foreign patron to fund these little propaganda missions of his.

Meanwhile, Muhammad Salih, reporting from exile in Europe, gives the real scoop on the elections:

Uzbek voters knew absolutely nothing. They did not know who to vote for because they did not have any information about the candidates running for parliament. Everything was shrouded in mystery, except the fact that all parties in the race had been founded by state authorities.

Another curious aspect of the Dec. 26 elections was that they were held under an artificial state of emergency. Particular attention was paid to the Ferghana Valley, Bukhara and Samarkand. Ten days before the elections, troops from the Interior Ministry, the Defense Ministry and the National Security Service began regular patrols of these regions. Security forces took full control of all city mosques and public places, supposed potential sites for terrorist attacks. Operations to detain "extremist elements" also took place. So-called suspicious persons were brought into local police stations and booked, or were simply arrested on the spot. These included political activists calling for a boycott of the elections. Arrests occurred across Uzbekistan, and human rights activists and opposition party members were followed, put under house arrest and not allowed to register at the polls, even though the main opposition parties, Erk and Birlik, had been excluded from the race.

There was one person, however, who seemed happy with the elections, namely Vladimir Rushailo, who led the observer mission from the Commonwealth of Independent States. He was so pleased with things that he flew off to Kiev before the polls had even closed. For once, everything went off just as Russia had hoped.

Check out what the evildoers at the OSCE had to report, and Karimov's attempt to spin it here.

Comments

[upyernoz]

i wrote to several friends in uzbekistan earlier this week about the vote. only one replied and he didn't think it was a vote that gave him any serious choices.

it's not exactly a scientific poll, but my anectdote are still better than what schwartz has.

rakhmat

[Phoenix Woman]

I only wish it surprised me that the Murdoch Standard would cozy up to Islam "Boil 'n' Bag" Karimov.

http://www.google.com/search?q=islam+boil+bag+karimov&sourceid=mozilla-search&start=0&start=0&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&client=firefox-a&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official

[praktike]

What a fucking joke.

[Rotwang]

History has shown that -- in any election environment where the losers tend to wind up in a rather large Crock Pot -- the possibilities for collusion and intimidation are endless. I understand that Karimov will be celebrating with a traditional feast of "Victory Sausage," a national delicacy famous for its rapid preparation and faintly subversive aftertaste.

Be proud he's one of "ours," America!

[Nathan]

I'm real late to this one but...

I'm gonna call BS on trying to lump Schwartz's views on Uzbekistan in with neoconservatism. It's got a helluva lot more to do with Schwartz being a Sufi in the Naqshbandi order, Naqshbandiism coming from Uzbekistan, his lionizing of all Muslims who oppose Wahabbism, and a fair level of ignorance about the country.

[Kevin Keating]

Here's a link to an article I wrote a while back,
about bizarre minor-league neo-con
Stephen Schwartz; a guy who is fond of describing
himself as playing the role of Robin to David
Horowitz's Batman:

http://www.infoshop.org/myep/munis_meese.html

[Nathan]

For whatever it's worth all these months later, Schwartz just told me he's not Naqshbandi.