Aug 21, 2009
Uzbekistan: So Where Is the Outrage?
Tuesday’s Guardian carries a long dispatch from Ed Vulliamy who has written by far the most complete account of the Uzbek massacre of May 13. That’s the one where President Islam Karimov—protege of Vladimir Putin and, until recently, a crucial ally to Britain and America in the"war on terror"—dispatched his troops to kill hundreds, possibly thousands, of innocent civilians at Andijan in eastern Uzbekistan.
The massacre received comparatively little coverage both at the time and in the months that followed. Far less coverage, it might be added, than any ballot-rigging by Viktor Yanukovych that precipitated the Orange Revolution in Ukraine. It's also noteworthy how little the American, British and other European governments have protested the massacre. Yet from all accounts it can only be described as government terror of the worst sort. So, George Bush and Tony Blair, where is the outrage? Or are the demands of U.S. and Nato policy in Central Asia determining whose rights are worth protesting and whose rights can be ignored?
The massacre received comparatively little coverage both at the time and in the months that followed. Far less coverage, it might be added, than any ballot-rigging by Viktor Yanukovych that precipitated the Orange Revolution in Ukraine. It's also noteworthy how little the American, British and other European governments have protested the massacre. Yet from all accounts it can only be described as government terror of the worst sort. So, George Bush and Tony Blair, where is the outrage? Or are the demands of U.S. and Nato policy in Central Asia determining whose rights are worth protesting and whose rights can be ignored?