Sunday, June 22
Sorry I haven't posted recently. I've been working on a book. No, not THAT book. It's a textbook that will only be used at the university where I work. No big deal, but it's taken up a great deal of my time.
I've been reading all about Central Asia recently--fascinating stuff. I think I'm interested in Central Asia because, when I was a kid (in the 70s and 80s), there was no Central Asia--it was just called the Soviet Union. This area didn't really exist in my mind (or in the mind of anyone not in Central Asia) until after the collapse of communism, when the five Islamic republic--Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, Tajikistan, and Kyrgyzstan--were literally forced into independence (unlike the baltic states, who jumped at the chance to be independent). The Russian people saw the Central Asian republics as the poor, dirty, smell cousins of Russia, and they wanted nothing to do with them, so out the door they went. The problem was, these countries were, quite literally, creations of communism. Stalin and his gang divided up Central Asia by drawing the boundaries for these five republics in order to lessen the potential for revolt. Hence, Uzbekistan's borders were drawn up to include areas heavily populated by Tajiks, and Tajikistan's borders were drawn up to include areas heavily populated by Uzbeks and Kyrgyzs, and so on. When the republics suddenly found themselves free, they were a little unsure how to continue.
Unfortunately, this uncertainty led to the most logical conclusion: the former Soviet leaders in each country kept their jobs. So these republics, so-called "democracies," are little more than minor versions of Soviet empires, each one ruled by a despot who maintains his power through torture, harassment, and other naughty enterprises. The countries are in horrible shape.
But these countries--Russia included here--have been in horrible shape for centuries, and the people somehow keep going. Part of the strength of these countries is their cultural traditions, traditions that even the communists weren't able to destroy completely (though musical culture in this region is pretty close to decimated--as Theodore Levin notes in his wonderful book about the region's musical heritage, The Hundred Thousand Fools of God). These cultural traditions, mostly Islamic-based, went hidden during the Soviet era and returned to the open almost immediately after Moscow took off. The problem, however, is that because these traditions (which include mosques, prayers, celebrations, and other rituals of daily life in Islamic countries) are centered on Islamic law, not state law, the despot rulers see them as potential "terrorist" threats, threats that could potentially kill them and turn the countries over to Taliban-like forces. So the governments are trying to control and to regulate all Islamic practices--trying, in other words, to negate the power of these traditions.
This is the wrong thing to do, of course, since attempting to stem radical Islam by shutting down all but the officially licensed mosques and limiting people's expression of their faith will inevitably have the effect of driving people towards radical Islamic groups as an antidote to communist-esque tyrants.
So that's basically what's up in Central Asia. It's a fascinating place, and what happens there in the next ten years will be felt throughout Asia and into the the West. Why? Because Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, and all the other countries in this region are sitting on the largest untapped sources of oil and natural gas in the world. There is a veritable goldmine in these countries, and the US, China, Russia, Europe, and the Islamic countries are all jockeying for position to see who gets to reap the benefits.
In the 19th century, the struggle between England and Russia over Central Asia was known as "the great game." The game, it seems, continues today--only the stakes are higher. Ignore this area at your peril.
I've been reading all about Central Asia recently--fascinating stuff. I think I'm interested in Central Asia because, when I was a kid (in the 70s and 80s), there was no Central Asia--it was just called the Soviet Union. This area didn't really exist in my mind (or in the mind of anyone not in Central Asia) until after the collapse of communism, when the five Islamic republic--Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, Tajikistan, and Kyrgyzstan--were literally forced into independence (unlike the baltic states, who jumped at the chance to be independent). The Russian people saw the Central Asian republics as the poor, dirty, smell cousins of Russia, and they wanted nothing to do with them, so out the door they went. The problem was, these countries were, quite literally, creations of communism. Stalin and his gang divided up Central Asia by drawing the boundaries for these five republics in order to lessen the potential for revolt. Hence, Uzbekistan's borders were drawn up to include areas heavily populated by Tajiks, and Tajikistan's borders were drawn up to include areas heavily populated by Uzbeks and Kyrgyzs, and so on. When the republics suddenly found themselves free, they were a little unsure how to continue.
Unfortunately, this uncertainty led to the most logical conclusion: the former Soviet leaders in each country kept their jobs. So these republics, so-called "democracies," are little more than minor versions of Soviet empires, each one ruled by a despot who maintains his power through torture, harassment, and other naughty enterprises. The countries are in horrible shape.
But these countries--Russia included here--have been in horrible shape for centuries, and the people somehow keep going. Part of the strength of these countries is their cultural traditions, traditions that even the communists weren't able to destroy completely (though musical culture in this region is pretty close to decimated--as Theodore Levin notes in his wonderful book about the region's musical heritage, The Hundred Thousand Fools of God). These cultural traditions, mostly Islamic-based, went hidden during the Soviet era and returned to the open almost immediately after Moscow took off. The problem, however, is that because these traditions (which include mosques, prayers, celebrations, and other rituals of daily life in Islamic countries) are centered on Islamic law, not state law, the despot rulers see them as potential "terrorist" threats, threats that could potentially kill them and turn the countries over to Taliban-like forces. So the governments are trying to control and to regulate all Islamic practices--trying, in other words, to negate the power of these traditions.
This is the wrong thing to do, of course, since attempting to stem radical Islam by shutting down all but the officially licensed mosques and limiting people's expression of their faith will inevitably have the effect of driving people towards radical Islamic groups as an antidote to communist-esque tyrants.
So that's basically what's up in Central Asia. It's a fascinating place, and what happens there in the next ten years will be felt throughout Asia and into the the West. Why? Because Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, and all the other countries in this region are sitting on the largest untapped sources of oil and natural gas in the world. There is a veritable goldmine in these countries, and the US, China, Russia, Europe, and the Islamic countries are all jockeying for position to see who gets to reap the benefits.
In the 19th century, the struggle between England and Russia over Central Asia was known as "the great game." The game, it seems, continues today--only the stakes are higher. Ignore this area at your peril.
