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Notes on Tajikistan

mattlakeman.org

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Re: Notes on Tajikistan

#11

Post by geoka9 »

OutOfHere wrote: post #5

Tajikistan looks to be an interesting case of Islam being kept in check without resorting to either extremism or terrorism. But this is neither free nor assured, and it probably requires constant wilful effort. In the long term, I can see it bleeding more territory to China due to the significant difference in military power and aggression. This is so long as there isn't a NATO-like structure to keep Chinese aggressi…

I think there's more danger of bleeding territory to the Taliban, at least it has been the case until recently. Especially if Russia (who has had a big military base there forever) becomes irrelevant.

Re: Notes on Tajikistan

#12

Post by ssijak »

OutOfHere wrote: post #5

Tajikistan looks to be an interesting case of Islam being kept in check without resorting to either extremism or terrorism. But this is neither free nor assured, and it probably requires constant wilful effort. In the long term, I can see it bleeding more territory to China due to the significant difference in military power and aggression. This is so long as there isn't a NATO-like structure to keep Chinese aggressi…

[flagged]

Re: Notes on Tajikistan

#13

Post by nradov »

lye wrote: post #3

> The government and locals don’t like when you bring up Borat Depends on which locals. Younger generations never really cared about this. All my friends have always found the movies hilarious, especially the first one. When the sequel was released, the government finally started acting like adults: https://youtu.be/eRGXq4t9wY4 I'm pretty sure this is also caused by generational change in the government.

At one point the government of Kazakhstan threatened legal action over Borat and Sacha Baron Cohen hilariously responded in character.

“I fully support my government’s position to sue this Jew.”

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/business/business-news/bor...

Re: Notes on Tajikistan

#14

Post by geoka9 »

kylehotchkiss wrote: post #8

I wanted to go once but heard that either the taliban or al queda were in the area, which is unideal as an American citizen. Is that not the case anymore?

Taliban (across the Panj river) has been a threat until recently. But for now they seem to be friends with Russia and Tajikistan has always been a Russian client state.

Re: Notes on Tajikistan

#15

Post by ssijak »

rvense wrote: post #6

An amazing place. I visited twice about 15 years ago and have many fond memories of it, but mostly when I think about it I'm filled with sadness, because the people there deserve so much better. They're constantly knee-deep in corruption, both street level and just the very blatant kleptocratic presidential family. There's a lot of ethnic Russians, both expat workers and ones that didn't manage to leave after the col…

Your description does not sound like an amazing place that you said it is in the first sentence?

Re: Notes on Tajikistan

#16

Post by rvense »

kylehotchkiss wrote: post #8

I wanted to go once but heard that either the taliban or al queda were in the area, which is unideal as an American citizen. Is that not the case anymore?

There has been, as far as I know, one single case of tourists being attacked (and killed) by militant Islamists, which happened a few years ago. So statistically it's probably safer than a lot of places. There is significant resistance to the regime under the surface, but everything is still held together by an aging, kleptocratic authoritarian. So in some sense it's a volatile place, and the situation could obviously change significantly in a matter of hours or days in a way that's unlikely to happen in, say, Europe. (Or at least Europe of five years ago...)

I think it is still a very safe place to visit, and many tourists, including Americans, visit every year. Extreme things can happen anywhere. The likelihood of getting mugged I'd say is effectively zero, at least compared to London or Barcelona.

Re: Notes on Tajikistan

#17

Post by [deleted] »

ssijak wrote: post #15
rvense wrote: post #6

An amazing place. I visited twice about 15 years ago and have many fond memories of it, but mostly when I think about it I'm filled with sadness, because the people there deserve so much better. They're constantly knee-deep in corruption, both street level and just the very blatant kleptocratic presidential family. There's a lot of ethnic Russians, both expat workers and ones that didn't manage to leave after the col…

Your description does not sound like an amazing place that you said it is in the first sentence?

[deleted]

Re: Notes on Tajikistan

#18

Post by rvense »

geoka9 wrote: post #14
kylehotchkiss wrote: post #8

I wanted to go once but heard that either the taliban or al queda were in the area, which is unideal as an American citizen. Is that not the case anymore?

Taliban (across the Panj river) has been a threat until recently. But for now they seem to be friends with Russia and Tajikistan has always been a Russian client state.

Have the Taliban ever conducted any operations in Tajikistan? I know people go back and forth over the river (I went to Badakshan once and saw them swim across!), so there's contact, but I don't think the Taliban have a habit of going to Tajikistan to take hostages or anything like that?

Re: Notes on Tajikistan

#19

Post by kylehotchkiss »

rvense wrote: post #16
kylehotchkiss wrote: post #8

I wanted to go once but heard that either the taliban or al queda were in the area, which is unideal as an American citizen. Is that not the case anymore?

There has been, as far as I know, one single case of tourists being attacked (and killed) by militant Islamists, which happened a few years ago. So statistically it's probably safer than a lot of places. There is significant resistance to the regime under the surface, but everything is still held together by an aging, kleptocratic authoritarian. So in some sense it's a volatile place, and the situation could obviousl…

Good perspective, thank you for sharing :) I think I originally saw my concern in this "The World's Most Dangerous Places" book which is probably incentivized to exaggerate a little bit (https://www.amazon.com/Robert-Peltons-Worlds-Dangerous-Place...)

Re: Notes on Tajikistan

#20

Post by geoka9 »

ssijak wrote: post #15
rvense wrote: post #6

An amazing place. I visited twice about 15 years ago and have many fond memories of it, but mostly when I think about it I'm filled with sadness, because the people there deserve so much better. They're constantly knee-deep in corruption, both street level and just the very blatant kleptocratic presidential family. There's a lot of ethnic Russians, both expat workers and ones that didn't manage to leave after the col…

Your description does not sound like an amazing place that you said it is in the first sentence?

Some of the most beautiful mountain scenery I've ever seen and very hospitable people. A very nice place to visit. Not a very good place to live though unless you're so rich that you don't have to rely on the local infrastructure and services for survival and quality of life.
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