Posts tagged Uzbekistan
June 17, 2010 · Filed under Blogroll · Tagged Astana, Bishkek, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Osh, Radio Free Europe, Russia, Soviet Union, Uzbekistan
I have watched very closely what is happening in southern Kyrgyzstan, in Osh particularly. I can’t remain silent too long without blogging about the ethnic unrest. I have American friends in Bishkek who have friends in Osh and it is of great concern to them what is happening. (Coincidentally, and totally off topic, one of my Am. friends living in Bishkek who I have known since 1993 when I lived there also has a niece competing this weekend in the Miss Minnesota pageant, it truly is a small world. Of course I’ll be rooting for my niece Aja!!!).
Back to the sad news that has many Central Asians and those of us who live close to this violence in Kazakhstan wanting to know what will happen next to the nation south of us. Living in northern Astana, close to the Russian border, we are much farther away from the instability that has happened since April 7th. Naturally there was MUCH under the surface we didn’t know about. It has taken years for it to reach this point so it leaves us wondering how did this unrest begin. The following is from an article written by Radio Free Europe titled “Ten Things You Need to Know about the Ethnic Unrest in Kyrgyzstan.”
How are the effects of the Soviet Union’s demarcation of the region still being felt today?
That’s probably the biggest contributor to the problems today because traditionally the Central Asians were divided between sedentary (Uzbeks) and nomadic (Kyrgyz) peoples. That changed a little over the course of time, and there were two khanates and an emirate that would have included representatives of all the peoples, but no one would have recognized themselves as being Kyrgyz, Uzbek, Kazakh, or Tajik. They would more have identified themselves as being from Kokand Khanate or the Emirate of Bukhara, or something.
So, when the Soviet mapmakers came along between 1917 and the mid-1930s and redrew all the maps, they really had no meaning. But since the fall of the Soviet Union, those lines they drew on maps 80 years ago have suddenly taken on great significance. And people really do recognize that there is a border of a Kyrgyzstan, of an Uzbekistan, whereas until 1991 or ’92 that had almost no meaning at all. And traditionally the people — and by traditionally I mean hundreds and thousands of years — would have just wandered freely from one place to another without recognizing any borders or without there having ever been any borders there.
June 8, 2010 · Filed under Blogroll · Tagged Astana, Bangladesh, Buddy Bears, Haiti, Kazakhstan, Moldova, Star Spangled Banner, Ukraine, Uzbekistan
Yesterday someone sang a verse I hadn’t heard before to our national anthem. It struck me that I only knew the first verse because we hear at every game back in the U.S. This person sang from the heart which brought tears to my eyes. Actually, truth be told, the tears were rolling down my cheeks, I couldn’t stop crying. I know that every country represented in the Buddy Bears has their faithful and loyal country men. In fact, I just met a girl named Olga from Moldova who was so tickled to see a photo of the Moldovan Buddy Bear when I showed her my slideshow of photos I’d taken. Probably Moldova’s is one of my favorite because it shows the artist’s humor of being from a small country that noone seems to know about. Take a look on the map and you will find Moldova next to Ukraine. Kazakhstan is a much larger country, too big to ignore but people do and I hope that that changes. It is an amazing country next to my own, of course. I would hope that all Kazakhs and Kazakhstanis love their country and try to promote it by being the best they can be.
I know this is premature to blog about the Star Spangled Banner before Fourth of July but I think the words are so rich and meaningful. Since I have lived in other countries away from my homeland for almost 16 years, I believe it makes me even more loyal and more patriotic to be an American. Our country where we are born is part of our bare necessities, just like having one’s own family. I am also very blessed to have a wonderful family as well. The last three verses of the American national anthem:
“On the shore, dimly seen through the mists of the deep,
Where the foe’s haughty host in dread silence reposes,
What is that which the breeze, o’er the towering steep,
As it fitfully blows, half conceals, half discloses?
Now it catches the gleam of the morning’s first beam,
In full glory reflected now shines in the stream:
‘Tis the star-spangled banner! Oh long may it wave
O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave!
***
And where is that band who so vauntingly swore
That the havoc of war and the battle’s confusion,
A home and a country should leave us no more!
Their blood has washed out their foul footsteps’ pollution.
No refuge could save the hireling and slave
From the terror of flight, or the gloom of the grave:
And the star-spangled banner in triumph doth wave
O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave!
***
Oh! thus be it ever, when freemen shall stand
Between their loved home and the war’s desolation!
Blest with victory and peace, may the heav’n rescued land
Praise the Power that hath made and preserved us a nation.
Then conquer we must, when our cause it is just,
And this be our motto: “In God is our trust.”
And the star-spangled banner in triumph shall wave
O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave!”
May 27, 2010 · Filed under Blogroll · Tagged Astana, Babi Yar, IWC, Kazakhstan, Tashkent, Ukraine, Uzbekistan
My latest theme is to capture the buildings that exist or others I see going up around me everywhere in Astana, Kazakhstan. Some have functional or comical names attached to them to help identify according to their shapes. See what you think of these buildings while some are under construction, 24/7!!! 
Yesterday’s talk to the International Women’s group in Astana went very well. I re-used the powerpoints that my former students Aida, Aray and Laura had done at the Almaty Intl. Women’s club on March 11, 2009. The women listened carefully the whole 30 minutes I talked and asked some very good questions. The comments I received when I mingled with them were instructive as well. One woman was from Tashkent, Uzbekistan and she said that there was a monument in the center of Tashkent where people were trained in from different parts of the USSR and once they deboarded were shot. Thousands of people from all over the Soviet Union died at this place, kind of like Kyiv Ukraine’s Babi Yar. I’ll have to look up more information about that.
Another Kazakh woman confided that her grandfather and his brothers had been killed because they were considered kulaks. This was an emotional presentation for her to watch, it was close to home for her. Her older relatives were just normal, garden-variety Kazakhs who had sheep and cattle. Also, she said that a Russian woman with a cow and other material possessions wandered into their Kazakh community. So the woman I was talking to yesterday has a bit of Russian in her because the Russian woman became the wife to one of her great grandfathers, someone else got her cow.
One other international woman, I’m not sure which country she is from, who has the same name as me had asked a good question about cheating and plagiarism in schools but commented later that she has a daughter going to a Kazakh international school in Astana. She was dumbfounded when her daughter’s report card came back with the Kazakh teacher’s comment, “Your daughter is honest.” This could only mean that her daughter as a foreigner didn’t go along with the rest of her Kazakh classmates, maybe a remark “Your daughter doesn’t cheat” would have been more accurate.
I told the group yesterday that THAT is the reason I dig back into the stories about my students’ grandparents, it helps me to understand the present realities in a classroom full of Kazakh and Kazakhstani students where I have taught the last two years. Somehow the theme from the grandparents’ era is not as sad as it could be because the information I get has been filtered through, the tears are dried as the next generation looks forward to the future. I can remain bouyant and hopeful because these young people have come from a strong line of survivors through the most awful of stories.
May 16, 2010 · Filed under Blogroll · Tagged Armenia, Astana, Baiterek, Buddy Bears, Canada, China, Israel, Japan, Kazakhstan, Statue of Liberty, Uzbekistan
April 15, 2010 · Filed under Blogroll · Tagged Almaty, Astana, Bakiyev, China, Fergana Valley, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moscow, Russia, Tajikistan, Tien Shan mountains, Tulip Revolution, Uzbekistan
Sorry, I still can’t let this news story about Kyrgyzstan of a week ago go. I have too many Russian comments (hacker-wanna-bes) who get on MY blog and say stupid things in Russian. I delete ALL their comments!!! Apparently whatever little information I know and try to disseminate in English gets under their skin. I do a lot of scanning of the other blogs on WordPress and I have found that some other bloggers may have it right. So, whatever I quoted yesterday from a Russian writer out of Washington D.C. may be somewhat contrary to this latest perspective. Things are swirling in the geo-political sphere and it definitely impacts us here in Kazakhstan, albeit in Astana, the northern capital of Kazakhstan!!! We are that much closer to Russia and thus my concern. The following is what “Seeker401” wrote:
“This past week saw another key success in Russia’s resurgence in former Soviet territory when pro-Russian forces took control of Kyrgyzstan.
The Kyrgyz revolution was quick and intense. Within 24 hours, protests that had been simmering for months spun into countrywide riots as the president fled and a replacement government took control. The manner in which every piece necessary to exchange one government for another fell into place in such a short period discredits arguments that this was a spontaneous uprising of the people in response to unsatisfactory economic conditions. Instead, this revolution appears prearranged.
Opposition forces in Kyrgyzstan have long held protests, especially since the Tulip Revolution in 2005 that brought recently ousted President Kurmanbek Bakiyev to power. But various opposition groupings never were capable of pulling off such a full revolution — until Russia became involved.
In the weeks before the revolution, select Kyrgyz opposition members visited MOSCOW to meet with Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin. STRATFOR sources in Kyrgyzstan reported the pervasive, noticeable presence of Russia’s Federal Security Service on the ground during the crisis, and MOSCOW readied 150 elite Russian paratroopers the day after the revolution to fly into Russian bases in Kyrgyzstan. As the dust began to settle, Russia endorsed the still-coalescing government.
There are quite a few reasons why Russia would target a country nearly 600 miles from its borders (and nearly 1,900 miles from capital to capital), though Kyrgyzstan itself is not much of a prize. The country has no economy or strategic resources to speak of and is highly dependent on all its neighbors for foodstuffs and energy. But it does have a valuable geographic location.
Central Asia largely comprises a massive steppe of more than a million square miles, making the region easy to invade. The one major geographic feature other than the steppe are the Tien Shan mountains, a range that divides Central Asia from South Asia and China. Nestled within these mountains is the Fergana Valley, home to most of Central Asia’s population due to its arable land and the protection afforded by the mountains. The Fergana Valley is the core of Central Asia.
To prevent this core from consolidating into the power center of the region, the Soviets sliced up the Fergana Valley between three countries. Uzbekistan holds the valley floor, Tajikistan the entrance to the valley and Kyrgyzstan the highlands surrounding the valley. Kyrgyzstan lacks the economically valuable parts of the valley, but it does benefit from encircling it. Control of Kyrgyzstan equals control of the valley, and hence of Central Asia’s core.
Moreover, the Kyrgyz capital of Bishkek is only 120 miles from Kazakhstan’s largest city (and historic and economic capital), Almaty. The Kyrgyz location in the Tien Shan also gives Kyrgyzstan the ability to monitor Chinese moves in the region. And its highlands also overlook China’s Tarim Basin, part of the contentious Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region.
Given its strategic location, control of Kyrgyzstan offers the ability to pressure Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and China. Kyrgyzstan is thus a critical piece in Russia’s overall plan to resurge into its former Soviet sphere.
April 14, 2010 · Filed under Blogroll · Tagged Akaev, Alisher Khamidov, Astana, Bakiev, Bishkek, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Manas, Moscow, Pyramid, Russia, Talas, Uzbekistan
I just can’t seem to move on to everyday events that make my life seem normal in Astana, Kazakhstan (if that is possible) when people south of us in Kyrgyzstan are still patching things up after a bloody revolution. Difficult to move off this topic of the “UN-Tulip” revolution of what happened just a week ago in Kyrgyzstan even though I have other material to write about Kazakhstan. I have anecdotes and photos to show of sweet Kazakh students and also a traditional Kazakh concert Ken and I attended at the Pyramid concert hall. I still wait for some American friends to respond to my queries about how they are doing, still no word from them.
I appreciate what this author, Alisher Khamidov had to write from his perspective, I’m quoting the last half of his article. This revolution does impact us in Kazakhstan, it’s too close.
“In particular, three factors served to turn mass dissatisfaction into protests. They were the arrest of several opposition leaders by the Bakiev regime in relation to mass disorder in the town of Talas, where protesters occupied a government building; a steep hike in utility prices, which hit the population in the remote northern regions the hardest; the exclusion of a number of important northern elites in the Kurultai, or informal gathering of all Kyrgyz, by the Bakiev administration in March; and economic sanctions by Moscow such as the introduction of higher prices for gasoline.
That move was seen as Moscow’s way of punishing the government for reneging on a 2009 agreement under which Kyrgyzstan would receive close to $2 billion in loans and aid in exchange for evicting U.S. forces from the air base in Manas. Bakiev got some of the Russian money, but then extended the lease for the base under a different status. The Russians were livid. As a result, the Russian media offered negative coverage of the Bakiev regime, a contributing factor to his sagging reputation.
Yet another notable difference between April 2010 and March 2005 were the “engines” behind the change. During the March 2005 protests, demonstrations were organized by wealthy elites who felt that their bids to gain seats in the parliament were threatened by the incumbent Akaev regime. Such elites then mobilized their supporters in their towns and villages, relying on local networks and offers of cash. The protests we saw on 7 April were sporadic and chaotic. In many ways, they appeared to be more an uncoordinated grass-roots revolt by a disenchanted population than an elite-driven and planned campaign.
As a result, the speed with which the protests erupted and spread was surprising, not only to international observers, but also to many locals.
The administration and some opposition leaders seem to have not appreciated the extent of popular anger and were themselves taken aback. In other words, because there was no credible information about the distribution of power before the protests, there was little room for opposition factions and the incumbent regime to come to a negotiated settlement.
Neither the government nor opposition factions are in full control of the crowds. Already, there are reports of destruction of property and marauding in Bishkek and the regions that have seen protests. This is a bad sign for opposition factions because it discredits them.
****************
Whatever the outcome of the protests, it is clear that Kyrgyzstan has plunged into deep chaos. It will take months, if not years to recover from this. The concern is that instability in Kyrgyzstan is already spilling over to its neighbors. Kazakhstan has closed borders as scores of Kyrgyz are trying to cross the border and find refuge in Kazakhstan. Uzbekistan is most likely to follow suit.”
February 16, 2010 · Filed under Blogroll · Tagged Bill Gates, Carrie Ann Tajaran, George Patten, Kurtsy, Lao Tzu, Marcus Aurelius, Nietzsche, Plato, Stephen Covey, Tamurlane, Tashkent, Thomas Jefferson, Uzbekistan, William Penn
These thoughts are not my own but what I compiled from Central Asian students answering a question about what THEY think good leadership is. I haven’t had time to check to see if the quotes they took out of books or off the Internet are accurate, if my dear readers find one that is out of line, please comment. I’ll be quick to make a correction. I write that caveat because I checked a quote several years ago that was supposedly a Kyrgyz proverb and it turned out to be classic Karl Marx.
First of all, leaders must be good orators. If you see the history of leadership you can see that each leader had a good oratorical talent that made people do things not with threats, but just with their speech. We know Bobur, one of the famous Uzbek leaders, because he built up a great empire. Thanks to his oratorical talent he had encouraged his army before the fight against India and won it, although the number of his soldiers was 20 times fewer than his enemies…I think Amir Temur as one of the great leaders. He was also known as one of the best orators in his time. He was the master of his work. I mean, he knew in advance what would happen next from a situation. Once when he was going to fight against soldiers he had few soldiers. Then he made a good tactic by ordering soldiers to tie branch of trees to their horses. While riding horses with branch of trees toward enemies, the soldiers of Temur frightened enemies who saw dust from distance and thought the number of soldiers is larger than theirs. Temur’s obstinacy gave him a chance to build p Temurids Empire. There was a big fight between Mongols and him, called “Loy jangi” for Tashkent. Although he lost the fight, thanks to his obstinacy, he was able to squeeze out Mongols from the city later.
Bill Gates “As we look ahead into the next century, leaders will be those who empower others.”
Motto: “Today you are a reader, tomorrow you are a leader.”
Marcus Aurelius – “Waste no more time arguing what a good leader should be. Be one.”
George Patton “leaders are willing to make decisions.”
Lao Tzu “To lead the people, walk behind them.”
William Penn “No man is fit to command another who cannot command himself.”
Plato “The first and greatest victory is to conquer yourself; to be conquered by yourself is of all things most shameful and vile.”
Russian saying: “He who does not risk, will never drink champagne.”
Tamurlane “It is better to die than to kneel.” “Power is justice.” Tamurlane awarded soldiers according to their service.
Kurtsy “Army without a commander is a body without a soul”
Thomas Jefferson “All management skills consist in the art to be fair.”
Carrie Ann Tajaran; “A good leader directs the path to success and let his followers use their own skills and knowledge in achieving it.”
Stephen Covey “Management is efficiency in climbing the ladder of success; leadership determines whether the ladder is leaning against the right wall.”
Friedrich Nietzsche “To do great things is difficult; but to command great things is more difficult.”
Famous Am. Business leader and writer Harold R.McAlindon “Do not follow where the path may lead. Go instead where there is no path and leave a trail.”
January 6, 2010 · Filed under Blogroll · Tagged Almaty, Kazakhstan, Korean, Soviet, Tatar, USSR, Uzbekistan
At first, I want to say that, unfortunately, I don’t know at least seven ancestors of mine, as Kazakhs have to. But actually, I’m not a native Kazakh, I’m half-Tatar and half-Korean, so I guess the history of my family and the history of how my family appeared in Kazakhstan, in Almaty actually is very interesting.
****************
In my essay, I decided to write about my grandmother, mother of my mum. Unfortunately, she is not with us now. She has gone to a better world. She and her six brothers and sisters were born in Tashkent, Uzbekistan. Then in late 1940s or 1950s they moved to Almaty. So since that time almost all of them are living here. She was working in “Almatyglavsnab” in the Soviet times as a head accountant for a long time (I guess that‘s why I‘m good at math).
But when the USSR collapsed, she lost her job. But at this time I was born, and she gave all her forces to my upbringing. She was like my second mother. I shared all my secrets with her. I spent all my childhood with her, because my mother and father were at their work. She had only one child, my mother. My mom says that she has a sister, but no one knows where she is now, because my granny and grandfather divorced (my mom was only 1 or 2 years old) she had gone away with him. I don’t even know her name. I wish one time I would meet her.
In conclusion, I want to explain why I decided to choose my granny. She was a very close friend of mine, she is one of the most important parts of my whole life. Also she was a very good woman herself, I consider her as an idol of a mother or a grandmother. I think that I could write my essay much more longer, but I don’t have words, only emotions. When I was writing this essay I remembered all the moments I had spent with her. Now I really miss my granny.
January 2, 2010 · Filed under Blogroll · Tagged "baimanaps", Central Asia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Soviet Union, Tashkent, Uzbekistan
I’m going to write about my two great grandfathers, from my mother’s side and my father’s side. They both worked as public prosecutors during the Soviet Union.
From my father’s side my great grand father’s name was Tule, he was born in 1912, Naryn Region, Kyrgyzstan. He graduated from two universities, one in Moscow and the second in Tashkent Uzbekistan. He worked as a public prosecutor for the whole Central Asia during a long period. However, in 1948, two days before transferring to a new job as judge of Central Asia, he was repressed and killed in Tashkent.
I’m proud of him for two reasons: firstly, during that period was very difficult to have 2 higher education degrees but he had. Secondly, to be in such high work position you should have had parents with money, but his family were “baimanaps” and Soviet Union didn’t like such people. My grand father was telling me stories of my heritage, and from such stories I found out about him. I have his two diplomas at my home.
My great grand father, from my mother’s side name is Osmon. He was born in 1912,[sic should maybe be 1907] on the 9th of May in Naryn Region, Kyrgyzstan. He also worked as a public prosecutor in Talas Region. He had, so many wives and 12 children. He died at the age of 100, 2 years ago in December. I’m proud of him because, he was very easy-going, a kind, intelligent person. All his great grandchildren loved him so much; he was telling us so many interesting stories. Once he told me, that he and my great grand father Tule, were friends and he didn’t think that they would become relatives. I knew him and saw him when he was alive.
It is my heritage and I’m trying to do the best what depends from me for great grand parents to be proud of me the same way I’m proud of them.
November 5, 2009 · Filed under Blogroll · Tagged AIWC, Australia, bride kidnapping, Cambridge, Deloitte, human trafficking, Uzbekistan
Thanks to a LOT of help from my friends, I have had some very good speakers come to talk to my three different listening classes. So far, I have had six speakers videotaped. The students are loving it!!! These first year and graduate students have heard different accents and witnessed various styles of presenting. Yesterday I had Scott come to talk about a favorite topic for many young people, “How to Make a Music CD.” I don’t know how many budding musicians we have that have the same dream as Scott had ,but he was very thorough and entertaining. I hope I see good, typed up notes from my listening students tomorrow. 
Thanks Scott!!!
Yesterday morning I had a former MBA student come to talk about “Women against Violence” at the AIWC (Almaty Intl. Women’s Club) meeting. Katya did a GREAT job, she was very poised in front of about 35 international women talking about something close to her heart. (bride kidnapping, human trafficking, etc.) I finally found out from Katya why this topic is such a passion for her. Her explanation will go into a later blog entry.
The night before I had another woman who I recently met at AIWC come and talk about something close to her heart. Elena was originally from Uzbekistan but has her citizenship from the U.S. and received her MBA degree there, then went to Cambridge to receive her MPA degree also. I wanted her to talk a bit about student centered vs. teacher centered issues since she has experienced both. Later, she had very interactive discussion with my masters students about consumer rights.
Tonight I will have Kathy Banham’s husband come and talk about his place of employment at Deloitte and what brought them both here from Australia. I feel very blessed with all those who are coming to my aid during this tough time of tangling with students over their rough draft papers. Some are pretty unsightly, but by next week I hope to see better final versions from ALL of them.
Kazakhnomad's Blog: A Westerner's View of Kazakhstan 