Tuesday, October 11, 2011

Islam Karimov Matters

I'm one of the people who, when asked "Who is the president of Uzbekistan?" would be able to answer, "Islam Karimov." This makes me unlike Herman Cain.

It's not that I know a whole lot about the region -- I couldn't tell you who the presidents of Tajikistan or Turkmenistan are, for example. But Uzbekistan is interesting because Karimov's regime boiled a political opponent, and we were having to rely on his help to set up military operations in Afghanistan (I don't know if we still are). If you're interested in human rights vs. War on Terror issues, it's a pretty good case study.

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