This time it's about a 62 year old mother sentenced for six years in prison for having the cheek to get justice for her son being boiled to death being a revolutionary. Now, I happen to agree with Nathan Hamm that the problem is both complex and difficult to resolve, and that we'd be in a better position to do something about this if we remain engaged in this particular situation.
This doesn't mean that I have to like it.
(Thanks to Reader Doug Muir of Halfway Down the Danube for the head's-up)
This doesn't mean that I have to like it.
I hear you, man. When I stop to think about the situation, I mean, really think, I have to think about all the Uzbeks I know. There's really no good choice, but I always have to lean towards maintaining engagement, as unsavory as that may be, because I can only imagine how much worse the country would be without the opportunities afforded by contacts with the west.
What's been getting to me is the way people fudge the issues to make it look easy, and I'm pretty much talking about Human Rights Watch. (BTW, your tol.cz link is set up as an email link...). Read this article from Eurasianet and you see HRW making the ridiculous claim that Uzbekistan goes after Muslims in general. Bullshit. They should tell it like it really is and not try to make it so damned simple.
I could elaborate, but I've probably made the point a number of times recently (most likely on my "Fifth Column Watch" post).
Posted by: Nathan | February 18, 2004 at 12:41 AM
URL fixed; thanks for catching that.
Posted by: Moe Lane | February 18, 2004 at 06:21 AM