Thanks.

In reply to this comment by marinara:
*promote

and i hate cats. the sift should develop a fondness for videos featuring the mentally ill, i could tell profit off that.

Ha!

That was hilarious!!!

In reply to this comment by EDD:
I want to see Vader doing fencing coverage.

"USE YOUR ANGER. STRIKE HIM DOWN!"

"THE FORCE IS STRONG IN THIS ONE"

"WHO'S YOUR DADDY"

That is exactly what they are. Philistines. I have said this for a long time...

Some MP3s of Cambodian Rock and Roll for you http://blog.wfmu.org/freeform/2007/12/cambodian-rocks.html

In reply to this comment by jonny:
you fucking philistines are going to watch this and like it dammit

*promote

Excellent job on editing and working with the Nikon D90 I must say! Bravo.

In reply to this comment by youdiejoe:
my vid

http://www.vimeo.com/2798928

Oh and check this out http://www.videosift.com/video/Om-The-Feral-Kid

Been getting into some new prog rock again.

In reply to this comment by bamdrew:
woah!

Ass kissing scum. fr

In reply to this comment by schmawy:
Thank you, My Liege. It's a delight to be back in the Kingdom of Sift.

In reply to this comment by Zifnab:
Glad to have you back schmawy, the place just wasn't the same without you.

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?

I posed the same question to my dad's friend who is a proud Russian patriot, he said that the nation is prosperous but is again sliding in to the same political system that was prevalent in the USSR.

This is something reflected now in the way Russia is dealing with Iran and Georgia. I still believe the economy is over reliant on oil and gas pipeline control from Central Asian nations going into European markets. Alternative pipeline development in Georgia is a reason I believe Russia is meddling in it's affairs, as an alternative gas line from Central Asia to Europe would hinder Russia's ability to control the market to it's benefit as it has been trying to do with Ukraine.

Economy development is nice and all but it doesn't correlate directly with political and democratic freedom, at the same time that Russia's economy is developing we have an entrenchment of power via the Nashi / United Russia Party. Putin's role in bringing Russia back has been hyped up, when in reality they are benefits of difficult economic decisions made by people under Yeltsin, which Putin reaped politically. Economic development has also been centralized in Moscow, its not like Serbia or any other Russian backwater is better off now on the same level.

People in Russia didn't want Putin to leave actually, he didn't change the constitution to validate a third term, but am sure he will after Medvedev is done, to me that is basically the return of the politburo in the high echelons of power in the Kremlin.

My view is pessimistic, as Putin represents that most dangerous element of human psyche, someone raised in the mystique and power of the old Soviet Union, trained by the KGB to watch it all collapse in 1991, now working to build up its power once again but not through democratization but through a return to centralized power.

This is of course the same kind of Managed Democracy we see in China, and every former Soviet State. The important factor uniting them being the illusion of simple 'consumer' freedom.

In reply to this comment by EDD:
In reply to this comment by Farhad2000:
I disagree with you Legacy, Putin is centralizing power under himself thus its a authoritarian regime. History proves that too much power concentrated in one singular person always leads to a collapse not a sprout of growth and progress. This is why Nazi Germany failed, why the USSR failed and why every despotic regime fails.

Furthermore it is not economic stability when a country is wholly dependent on its oil export revenue to sustain a military expansion that is slowly leading into a new cold war.

I'd really like to super-promote your comment right now.

Although to be fair, legacy had some valid claims - at least the idea that a civic society in Russia would eventually arise through strong consumer society is backed up by Dmitri Trenin's Getting Russia Right, which I am currently in the process of finishing translating.

Hope I'm not bothering too much by following up on old comments. If you're not bothered too much, what's your take on Russia nowadays - up or down? How likely we really lapse into a new cold war with all the recent bs going on?

I actually copy pasted it from another site, seems they got it all wrong. I corrected it now.

You came off sounding like a dick though. I hope that wasn't intentional.

In reply to this comment by jonny:
hey man - unless you were intentionally taking some literary license, I think the lyrics you wrote down for slick rick are all screwed up.

Oh crap... now I have to beat you senseless for inducing a riot response...

Can you promote this when you can? Please?

http://www.videosift.com/video/El-Perro-del-Mar-God-Knows-You-gotta-give-to-get

My stuff. Why are you not upvoting it then?

http://farhad.videosift.com/member/Farhad2000/queued



In reply to this comment by jonny:
Thanks! I hate to seem ungrateful or anything, but, um, isn't it worthy an upvote if it's worth promoting?

In reply to this comment by Farhad2000:
*promote

Lemon Jelly is ace, too bad i missed that post of yours. I will be sure to resurrect it when my powerpoints refill!

I sifted All the ducks are swimming in the water... a while back... My queue is full of chillout right now. Hope you enjoy it

In reply to this comment by jonny:
Since you're by the far the biggest purveyor of chill out music here, I was wondering what you thought of Lemon Jelly - my attempt to sift chill music didn't get very far.

Great varied collection