The temptations of tyranny in Central Asia /

Lewis (former director, International Crisis Group's Central Asia Project) has written a good book that tells a terrible story of political and foreign policy failures. Uzbekistan's Karimov immersed opponents in boiling water and practiced embezzlement—his ten-year-old grandson had $1 million in his bank account in 2003--and when his presidential term ended in 2007, nobody noticed! Turkmenistan's Niyazov erected a revolving gold statue of himself and wrote a Ruhnama (book of soul) to be studied more studiously than Mao's Little Red Book, while stashing billions in his bank accounts. Corruption became so blatant that an officer who discovered 400 kilograms of heroin on a plane at Ashgabad Airport was executed. Kyrgyzstan's Akaev started as a reformer but gradually monopolized power until he was chased away by angry citizens. Tajikistan's Rahmanov lives in garish mansions while the population lives on $2-4 per month. Many Central Asians envisioned an alliance with the West as a breakthrough in 2001. By 2007 the West had failed ordinary Central Asians. The US's "War on Terror" and "obsession with radical Islam" gave the corrupt rulers carte blanche to label opponents as terrorists and jail their youth charged as Islamists by the thousands. Summing Up: Recommended. All readership levels. F. L. Mokhtari National Defense University