March 2, 2005
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No matter how grim life might appear to us here, we should thank the LORD we weren't dumped down in Turkmenistan, one of the ex-Soviet bloc countries. It is suffering under one of the most egregious dictators around, Saparmurat Niyazov:
He's just a peach of a guy. Always thinking of what's best for his countrymen, which is doubtless why on Monday he ordered the closing of - get this - all hospitals except those in the capital city of Ashkhabad. According to him, if people are ill they can go to the capital. In tandem with this was his order to shutter rural libraries, explaining that villagers don't read anyway.
It's probably not necessary to say there is no freedom of the press in that oppressed country, and when it comes to religion, one is perfectly free to choose between Sunni Muslim and Russian Orthodox, the only two federally sanctioned religions.
Presumably Niyazov himself is Muslim, seeing as how he has been slashing social services right and left, spending the money instead on one of the largest mosques in Asia, made of marble and gold. Oh, and with the occasional gold statue of himself scattered around the country for his fellow Turkmen's inspiration and enjoyment. Shades of Saul! (1 Samuel 15.12)
It's depressing to realize what qualifies as a "burden" in my life, while there are so many people limping along under ungodly dictators like him.
Comments (7)
Sheesh. I'd heard about this guy before -- I think he made the top or near the top of Parade's "Top Ten Worst Dictators" this year, and is always in the top 5, at any rate.
But he's not even a good Muslim. Good Muslims DO NOT put up statues of themselves.
Of course, to be a good Muslim, or a good anything, you have to, on some level, submit your own immediate inclinations to some higher principle -- which is apparently not the sort of thing this guy's into at all. He's just a loser all around, that's all there is to it.
To think of the millions of people living under his rule...
Not to make light of it, but the first time I read the post, something was nagging at me about "Ashkhabad."
Upon rereading it now, hours later, it occurs to me what it was: Azkaban. Knowing Rowling's penchant for subtle allusions, I doubt it's coincidence.
What an intriguing suggestion, that Rowling tweaked the name of the Turkmenistan capital to create the name of the wizard prison. Very astute, Jane.
And I can't think of a good-anything that erects statues of themselves. Commissioning a statue of oneself is such an incredibly egotistical thing to do.
It's ironic, considering the topic of the post immediately above this one...Dmitry can't bear to be made conspicuous in any way while this guy's having statues built of himself.
Unbelievable, simply unbelievable...
Well, if that's true then how do you explain a giant spider named Aragog? Surely she's not making fun of Aragorn!
Well, of course, no good-anything builds statues of himself. But considering that Islam in particular is so vehemently against the depiction of humans -- and sometimes any created thing -- in images in any form that traditionally all their artwork is geometric design, it's particularly notable in this case that he's not being a good pillar of that which he claims to uphold.
No, Kelly, I'm sure it has nothing to do with Aragorn. LOL But I'm thinking that considering words like "arachnid" and "agog" might be looking in the right direction....
Just after I posted this, I got to the part where Aragog says his wife's name was Masagog, or Marasog or something like that, so then I thought of Gog and Magog. But your guess is cool, too. I like the way she sticks words together... "Disapparate." LOL
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