Tuesday, August 31, 2010

A Small Movement Toward Rationality

The gold-covered statue of Sapurmurat Niyazov, late president of Turkmenistan, is being dismantled. The statue rotated to face the sun. Or perhaps to allow the sun the pleasure of the face of The Father of All Turkmens.

It's possible that his successor, Kurbanguly Berdymukhamedov, may simply have in mind a more modern sort of dictatorship, but even that would be a step toward rationality.

I'm a bit more optimistic than Jamie K on this; Berdymukhamedov has opened the country a bit more to commerce with the West. Only time will tell.

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