Tuesday, May 17, 2005
Violence In Uzbekistan
The chaos and violence in the former Soviet republic continues. It is hard to tell who is the party to back here, the rebels or the government. The rebels are claiming a "democratic revoltion," but according to the NYTimes they are "Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan," which sounds like it may be a terrorist front. The Brit government is taking a lot of heat for not backing the rebels. The leader of the government is a hardliner, former commie, which makes him far less than sympathetic.
Ugly as this situation is, and the despite the fact that shooting unarmed protesters is criminal, I am not sure enough facts are in to make a call on this one right now. Were the protesters really unarmed? The circumstances are just too unclear.
I think the US/Brit policy to "wait and see" is wise at this point.
Ugly as this situation is, and the despite the fact that shooting unarmed protesters is criminal, I am not sure enough facts are in to make a call on this one right now. Were the protesters really unarmed? The circumstances are just too unclear.
I think the US/Brit policy to "wait and see" is wise at this point.
