Former ambassador Craig Murray commented on the threat of a raid at the embassy:

Not even the Chinese government tried to enter the US Embassy to arrest the Chinese dissident Chen Guangchen. Even during the decades of the Cold War, defectors or dissidents were never seized from each other’s embassies. Murder in Samarkand relates in detail my attempts in the British Embassy to help Uzbek dissidents. This terrible breach of international law will result in British Embassies being subject to raids and harassment worldwide.

The government’s calculation is that, unlike Ecuador, Britain is a strong enough power to deter such intrusions. This is yet another symptom of the “might is right” principle in international relations, in the era of the neo-conservative abandonment of the idea of the rule of international law.

The British Government bases its argument on domestic British legislation. But the domestic legislation of a country cannot counter its obligations in international law, unless it chooses to withdraw from them. If the government does not wish to follow the obligations imposed on it by the Vienna Convention, it has the right to resile from it – which would leave British diplomats with no protection worldwide.

I dont understand what overthrowing Mongolian rule after over 2 centuries of rule has to do with it being European? If anything this would be a pre-requisite for being considered asian i.e. China,parts of India and the various 'stans etc (all of which kept their own unique cultures)........

Russia is as culturally distinct from the narrow minded stereotype of Asians (i.e. the Chi-panese Kung-fu people) as are the indians and 'stanis. Are the Kazakhistanis asian? Uzbeks? Tajiks? They were all part of the USSR until its collapse. Does this mean that they were European and are now Asian because they were dropped by Russia?

Russia is just as out of place in Europe as it is in Asia but saying that it is not Asian just as saying that it is not European is wrong and is essentially reinforcing the racist stereotype that all asians are chinese.

Asia is a big continent it holds much more than just chinese people and shaolin monks.


>> ^ghark:

>> ^Confucius:


>> ^Shepppard:
Asian channel description:
"This channel is dedicated to the ancient cultures and traditions of Eastern Asia, particularly China and Japan, that began thousands of years ago and continue to this very day only slightly if at all affected by the modern world. It covers everything from period Shaolin martial arts videos in China to wacky reality Japanese shows of today"
so, I'm going to say this one doesn't belong.
Nochannel
wtf
drugs
dance


I dunno, I mean they got beaten up pretty badly over the centuries by raiding armies from areas such as Mongolia, but they kept their own unique culture through all that, rather than being assimilated as happened in other countries that experienced similar defeats. Russia was just too big, vast and harsh to conquer permanently, so I think that it deserves to be considered as an entity outside what might be defined culturally as Asia, regardless of geographic location. To further confuse things, it was apparently pretty popular historically amongst Russians to consider Europe as extending to the Urals, and also part of Siberia is on the North American plate.

Hehe I know. I was kidding too. I think that part in Snatch is hilarious.

In reply to this comment by Throbbin:
>> ^Farhad2000:
As an Uzbek am deeply offended.
>> ^Throbbin:
Sneaky fuckin Uzbekistani.



Really? Sry bro. Was just trying to carry on with the 'Snatch' theme.

>> ^Farhad2000:
As an Uzbek am deeply offended.
>> ^Throbbin:
Sneaky fuckin Uzbekistani.



Really? Sry bro. Was just trying to carry on with the 'Snatch' theme.

As an Uzbek am deeply offended.
>> ^Throbbin:
Sneaky fuckin Uzbekistani.

>> ^illeto:
Note that this is in Kazakhstan.
The land of Borat.
And they are Asian? No!

I heard Borat was filmed in Romania because those people look more like what Americans think Kazakhs look like.

Kazakhs are Mongoloid, as are Uzbeks, Kurds, Turkmenistanis, Turks, and a lot of "Chinese," among others.

Glad I didn't see the "Happy" tag. That would have been a dead giveaway.

I went to Uzbekistan for a month last year and two months at the start of this year, the country has gotten worse rather then better but that's not surprising considering we have had nothing but 15 years of Islam Karimov, who has only succeeded in creating a despotic authoritarian state. Some anecdotes of which I blogged http://blog.videosift.com/Farhad2000/Signs-You-Live-in-a-Dictatorship

My point about limited regional development is very valid in my nations case, it has alternated between cooperation with the West to cooperation with the Russians. Relations with the west were pretty much terminated once questions started to be asked about a violent government action against civilians in the province of Andijan.

Economically the nation has fared poorly, but you wouldn't think that reading the glossy magazines the president's daughter publishes, there are hardly jobs, the average wage is 100 dollars for professional doctors. The infrastructure is dilapidated, there is high organized crime, drug addiction and preventable diseases are running in number. Basic civil services are volatile in the capital, my home district had no power for the two days I spent in the Winter, its almost non existent in other cities and provinces.

Political power is held because of a mixture of cooperation with the West towards fighting terrorism, which our government proclaims it is fighting when its really a false flag for suppression of democratic movements and political dissent. A factor the US/UK has ignored while fixated on it's war against terror and need of a US airbase for actions in Afghanistan, both were kicked out when they questioned the Andijan actions.

There is massive diaspora of Uzbeks who now live overseas, this has created a huge brain drain, the highest education professionals being the most able to migrate, though there is a lot of low income earners who leave to Kazakhstan and Russia.

Other strange actions by the government like the mandatory imposition of Uzbek as a educational language along with predictable lack of investment has meant that education standards have fallen as well. There are no high level education books in my language, which is stupid considering Russian text books exist in abundance and was the defacto language of communication after 60 years of communist rule. Leading to a strange love/hate relationship politically with the Russians, we stopped using Cyrillic in favor of Latin for example. Russia however remains the largest ally of Uzbekistan politically.

It's sad and pretty insane to just count off the numerous way the country has become worse, am trying to think of some positives as well but its hard, most of the people who are doing well are doing well because of some hidden income from illicit activity or basically being one of the lucky ones in the loop to benefit, nepotism with regards to securing commercial contracts is common either exclusive distribution rights or simply the ability to reclaim private businesses via the government. Karimov's daughter has become a relative master at this, she has confiscated numerous businesses for her own lil' private empire. There are more goods I guess, but then again 80% of the population cannot afford them, nor can they afford the new high tech medical facilities opening up. Educational diplomas from some of the most respected medical institutions can now be bought for a few thousand dollars.

People are (finally) getting sick of it, my cousin is currently visiting me right now, he says that government criticism is pretty prevalent now among the taxi drivers (which are always a good indicator of the national pulse in my view). However I do not see a possible way for democratic and smooth hand over of power, it will either be violent and impose a new kind of despotic ruler who may or may not improve the nation in the same manner Kazakhstan has or not. In all likely hood a power struggle will take place when Karimov dies, with various lackeys stepping in, I don't think his daughter would be successful, the man is old and his days are numbered. But then again we have all seen how long people like Fidel stay alive. So you never know.


In reply to this comment by EDD:

But talking about inequalities in regional development, I'm guessing you can share some experiences, right? Trenin argues that smaller cities are also a lot better off now than they were ten years ago, but I suppose you're talking about the very far East and the countryside, yes? When was the last time you went to Russia or Uzbekistan?

>> ^Farhad2000:
I used to take French and actually lived in Quebec, until I realized French/Quebecan people don't want other people speaking French.

>> ^Payback:
They don't even want people from other French-speaking countries speaking French. As do all the other French-speaking countries, especially France.
They all have run away from wars started over mispronunciation.


Come on guys. Quebec, although only a province, is one of the biggest supporter of the International French Community (la Francophonie), both in manpower and money. It's our only protection from the English Commonwealth of Nations since most of us detoxed from all the wine and bread of the Catholic Church in the 1960s. It helps to keep us sane in this cold and anglicized "North of North-America" climate. I'd guess the reason why Farhad felt unwelcomed though is because he's Uzbek as there are (too) many xenophobes in Quebec. It goes with the whole assimilation thing the English tried to pull on us. We are also not immune from islamophobia, so everyone that looks middle eastern is taken as a Muslim-potential-terrorist. There are many french-speaking Muslims from Northern Africa and it's not the fact that they speak French that's scaring the unwashed masses both in Quebec and France! On the other hand, most francophone countries agree to say that France and the Académie are too protective of "their" language. Ironically, France is one the worst offender when it comes to official usage of anglicism and English-loanwords-with-perfectly-acceptable-French-equivalents in mass media and governmental publications. They also have the most americanized Head of State the whole world 'round (except maybe North Korea).

As for me, I see myself as a citizen of the world. What would I be doing here otherwise? I speak French and English, Japanese, German, a little Esperanto and Mandarin. I read some Ancient Greek and Latin, as little as I can get away with really. Next I need to learn Spanish, Arabic and some Sanskrit. I'd also like to speak better Mathematics (yeah I consider that a language of its own). I have always been fascinated by all human languages, though I've not always put much effort into learning them fully.

I speak Russian and English, I would say English is now my first language. I understand Uzbek but do not speak it.

I used to take French and actually lived in Quebec, until I realized French/Quebecan people don't want other people speaking French.

"If you have a less than totally ridiculous idea for how it should function, we're all ears, so please enlighten us."

translation for Uzbek

"Get up and get it yerself, bitch!"

so allllll that to say that any excuse for any unilateral action on the part of a military and intelligence community with a will of someone others than that of the people they supposedly serve and protect is a good one???? Sounds like a secret government to me-sounds like money continues to be able to convince any man to perform any act against another man, regardless of any immediate consequences-
Sounds like, a vote for a president has as good of odds for you (the voter)winning, as in any traveling carnival midway ring-toss

The Magic Christian scenario played out daily on the Risk board of human experience, in the current, long-winded, predictable paradigm-

Still happy that the Israelis have some solid brass balls with regard to their less than civil, socially-undomesticated, back-asswards Allah-loving desert-gibbons(not you farhad, you don't count, Uzbek-yer a transplant)

I still reel with delight at the memory of June 7, 1981, when Bagdad got their pretty French Nuke plant double wing fist-fucked(thank you Jews)-That's what the 8th century throwback fuckers deserved....NO TOYS till you learn how to pick a frikkin' leader.....Too bad France sucks major balls-too bad the U.S. does....too bad (insert whore of Babylon punk country here) does.


-make free energy available to all
-get rid of money
-make knowledge accessible to all men

it is at this point, the ENTIRE human race will begin to really tap into evolution's pineapple, not simply a few, fat, inbred fucks.

It's pretty simple.

Tags for this video have been changed from 'uzbek, hip hop, 90s, classic, catchy, sad, happy, song' to 'assholes uzbekistan, hip hop, 90s, classic, catchy, sad, happy, song' - edited by therealblankman

Infectious little tune. Surprising that it came from some Uzbek asshole. (Borat fans know where that's coming from.)

I would disagree that it's the Soviet's fault entirely, the Uzbek goverment has expanded and used the same inefficient water irrigation system for the last 15 years without giving a damn about the ecological and environmental effects, that is sapping the supplementary Amur Darya and Ser Darya rivers that once feed the Aral.

I knew it!!! Those Uzbek BASTARDS!!!! A prophet is never welcome, in his own country....