UZBEKISTAN'S RIOTS YIELD MIXED RESPONSE IN RUSSIA
By Sergei Blagov
Thursday, May 19, 2005
[...] Russian politicians appear split over the situation in Uzbekistan. Dmitry Rogozin, head of Rodina party, claimed that Karimov became a target of radical Islamists when he allowed U.S. military bases on Uzbek soil. Konstantin Zatulin of the pro-Kremlin United Russia party argued that Karimov "did it all right" to forestall destabilization. Alexei Mitrofanov, deputy of the Liberal-Democratic party, blamed U.S. interference in Afghanistan for general destabilization across Central Asia.It's interesting to see that each of the Russian politicians mentioned in the first two paragraphs came up with an interpretation of the crisis that fit his own worldview. Sort of like the old joke about different people blindly feeling different parts of an elephant and coming up with totally different conclusions about what it is. Rogozin finds a way to blame both the US and Islamists; the United Russia guy provides a scary look inside the mind of Russia's leadership today, though hopefully Russia would not actually handle a crisis like Andijan the way Karimov did; the LDPR guy stays in character with an implausible, verging on outlandish, theory about the causes behind Andijan; and the politicians belonging to the fractious group of Russian "liberals" stay on-message by concluding that the Kremlin is doing things wrong. The article continues:
Yet, Sergei Mitrokhin of Yabloko warned against Russian support for the Karimov regime, which could trigger civil war in Uzbekistan. Boris Nemtsov, of the Union of Right Forces, picked up this notion and argued that the Karimov regime was doomed and that by supporting Karimov the Kremlin had picked a loosing scenario, as it had in Ukraine. [...]
Russian media outlets were divided over the Andijan crisis. Some, like NTV and RenTV channels, were critical of Karimov's crackdown and questioned the wisdom of the Kremlin's support of Karimov. The second group, notably official media outlets, tacitly backed Uzbek authorities and suggested continued Russian support of Karimov's "secular regime." The third group highlighted broader geopolitical maneuverings as crucial factors behind the Uzbek riots.Check out the rest of the article for more on Russian newspaper coverage of the situation in Uzbekistan.
Initially, the mainstream media in Russia, notably First Channel and RTR television, appeared to be siding with Karimov and interpreted the events in Uzbekistan mainly as a plot by Islamic extremists. The one-sided view seen on Russia's major television channels earned a measure of criticism from other Russian media outlets. Izvestiya ran a series of articles, headlined: "Events in Uzbekistan: Popular revolt or extremist rebellion?" The daily described events in Andijan as a revolution, adding that the coverage by Russian official media outlets was somewhat detached from reality. Izvestiya specifically criticized Russian First Channel, which merely followed Uzbek official statements, described Uzbek protesters as extremists, and ignored alternative versions of the Andijan events (Izvestiya, May 17).
Presumably responding to such criticism, the First Channel on Tuesday reported not only the official death toll of 169 for Andijan, but also mentioned unofficial estimate of 745 fatalities (TV First Channel, May 17).
3 comments:
too much on Andijan last time. who cares about those wild Uzbeks?
Who cares about those wild Uzbeks? I'll tell you who, the McCarthy Joneses that's who! Whatup, this is a little bday shoutout (that's right its still your birthday in the U S of A, do the math). You're closer to 55 than you are to 0, THINK ON THAT SUCKA. Anywho, we know you tore up karaoke, no one can compete with your rich bilingual baritone. On a personal note, I hope you didn't cave to the scoring system. No one should tame the unbridled artistic (Murch) mustang that you are. The Chocolate City misses you, and awaits your return. Until then, we'll continue pouring one out for our Russian brotha. Much love, Tommy, Margie, and the old ones.
Thanks for the birthday shout-out. I disregarded the scoring system on the karaorke ish, except when I got 100 that one time. You know how we do. See y'all soon back home.
In response to the prior comment, I know I covered "those wild Uzbeks" a lot in the last week, but it seemed to me like an important and interesting story which was not getting much coverage in the international press. What is there to cover in Moscow, anyway? Just the Khodorkovsky show, which is depressing to watch.
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