"Bad, Brutal And For Rent
July 13, 2011: In the last two years, the U.S. and NATO have increased (from ten to 40 percent) the portion of military supplies moved to Afghanistan via Central Asian and Russian railroads. This has been an economic boost for Afghanistan's northern neighbors, and a loss to Pakistani trucking and port firms.
Kazakhstan dictator Nursultan Nazarbayev is facing his most formidable opposition from thousands of oil workser. Oil is a major source of foreign currency, and the oil workers want their share. Nazarbayev disagrees. The oil workers are fighting with strikes and demonstration, while Nazarbayev counters with violence and threats. So far, it's a stand-off. The one thing Nazarbayev and the United States have in common is opposition to Islamic terrorists. Thus, two months ago, Kazakhstan sent some counter-terrorism troops to Afghanistan. So far, Kazakhstan has kept Islamic radical groups under control (as in chased them out of Kazakhstan), and wants to keep it that way. Nazarbayev, like the other Central Asian dictators, will eventually face rebellion fueled, not by Islamic conservatism, but anger at corruption and a lack of jobs.
Tajikistan has shut down 37 Islamic schools in the southern part of the country. Such schools cannot open without government permission and supervision. Most Central Asian nations are exercising more control over mosques and religious schools. This is not as volatile a subject as it would be in Afghanistan or Pakistan, because the Russians did this for over a century in Central Asia, until the Soviet Union dissolved in 1991."
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