“This is slavery, not to speak one's thought.” ― Euripides, The Phoenician Women
Friday, August 12, 2005
Does the Uzbek KGB Run the Country?
Lyndon Allin sent us this item from his blog, Scraps of Moscow: Novaya Gazeta on where the power lies in Uzbekistan. Since Uzbekistan was already a police state under the Soviets, before 9/11, before Andijan, and before the expulsion of the US base from Karshi-Khanabad, it wouldn't surprise me if the security services still play a major role in running the country. However, when I lived there it seemed there were always Byzantine power struggles going on (impossible for an outsider to understand) between different regional clans, ministries, and personalities. So I would doubt any one agency could control everything entirely, even the Uzbek KGB...