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Notes on Tajikistan

mattlakeman.org

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Re: Notes on Tajikistan

#271

Post by [deleted] »

thriftwy wrote: post #194
mopsi wrote: post #149

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I can forgive people for forgetting to mention that Baltic states were part of Russia for centuries before they were re-annexed by the USSR in 1945. Indeed I can see how people had 20 years of independence and weren't fans of being included into a socialist utopia. There's fair bit more history than the 20 years of independence squished by Russians in 1940. Finland, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania were always very di…

Before early XX century most of the globe was comprised of countries who looked like that. > the main language used in administrative affairs was German > to portray Georgia as a mere "province of Russian Empire" is ridiculous given that they are so distinct that you cannot even read what they write Please don't tell me that many Englishmen could read Devangari script or that many Frenchmen could read (pre-Latin) Vie…

[deleted]

Re: Notes on Tajikistan

#272

Post by a_c_s »

cpursley wrote: post #253
lykahb wrote: post #171

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Most Russians hold racist views. It doesn't change if they are expats. As a result of the colonial conquests, Russia is a multiethnic state. But the minorities have never been fully accepted. The govt balances between suppressing the far right and managing it for its own purposes. This wiki article has plenty of references, with many pointing to the racist actions by the senior officials https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki…

> Most Russians hold racist views I understand that people are unhappy with Russia right now, but what a truly gross thing to say (and absolutely not true).

Very true when it comes to antisemitic views: only 1 in 10 Russians would be ok having a Jewish friend.

"In a Levada Center poll, for instance, 45 percent of Russians said they had a positive attitude toward Jews in 2021, up from 22 percent in 2010. Russians said Jews were the minority group they were most comfortable having close to them — but only 11 percent said they’re ready to have a Jewish friend, up from 3 percent in 2010."

https://www.politico.eu/article/vladimir-putin-ukraine-war-f...

Re: Notes on Tajikistan

#273

Post by navane »

numbers wrote: post #55

I love this style of writing and how it introduces a place I almost never thought about before. I didn't know anything about Tajikstan except its name so this was all new information. Thank you!

I liked his style too: "hoarding wealth like a Crusader King" is such a novel analogy.

Re: Notes on Tajikistan

#274

Post by kergonath »

brnt wrote: post #218
kergonath wrote: post #177

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You can, in fact, be fighting for liberty and be a brutal murderer. You can even be fighting for liberty one day and a brutal dictator the next. Hiding genocides under the carpet because they are done by the former colony or satellite is not great.

There was forced deportation, not genocide.

Yeah, I had other examples in mind. Ethnic cleansing is not that much better, though.

Re: Notes on Tajikistan

#275

Post by racional »

mopsi wrote: post #263
dang wrote: post #163

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Please don't perpetuate flamewars like this on HN, and please don't cross into nationalistic attack on a fellow user, regardless of their (or your) nationality. Having replied as I did to the other user I feel I should add that you also are welcome here. The two of you are equally welcome, but we need you both to follow the site guidelines: https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html . Edit: it looks like you've…

I just honestly don't understand what the issue is with NATO bombing of Yugoslavia and why Russians in particular are so butthurt about it. During some of the worst massacres in Yugoslavia, more people were murdered in the span of a few days than died during the entire aerial campaign. The campaign put a decisive end to wars, and the following decades have brought massive success. Former parts of Yugoslavia like Croa…

I think Dan's point is that there's never a need to introduce references to a commenter's nationality or other presumed essential traits.

No matter how self-evidently full of excrement their droppings here may be.

Re: Notes on Tajikistan

#276

Post by furyg3 »

I'm regularly going to Tajikistan for hiking trips to help map out the Pamir Trail, a 1200km long hiking trail across the mountains of Tajikistan.

https://www.pamirtrail.org

It's a beautiful country if you love hiking or mountaineering, though certainly has a lot of practical challenges. The article did a very good job of explaining the local situation in Tajikistan and giving you a bit of a feeling of what it's like to be there.

Re: Notes on Tajikistan

#277

Post by kergonath »

dyauspitr wrote: post #180
kergonath wrote: post #179

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No, it is not “kind of nice”. That’s how you get blood feuds and honour killings. It might be better than a thoroughly corrupt police force, but it is not the rule of law.

That’s not a given. Some cultures have worked out not to involve the law all that much without devolving into blood feuds and outright violence. The first ones that come to mind are Southern India and SE Asia that don’t have a lot of police presence and their societies have low levels of violence. I just don’t know if Tajikistan is one of them.

> The first ones that come to mind are Southern India and SE Asia that don’t have a lot of police presence and their societies have low levels of violence.

As long as you behave, are not of the wrong minority, do not end up as scapegoats, do not get close to the wrong social group, and do not cross anyone who’s a bit charismatic.

Also, I am not sure which SE Asia you speak of. Myanmar is a genocidal military dictatorship, Thailand is a totalitarian police state, Singapore is a quasi-dictatorship, the Philippines are rife with violence, and I could go on. Sure, some countries of the lot are better but “SE Asia” overall is not really an example to emulate.

And every time I went there, southern India did not look that different from central India, or particularly pleasant if you are in the wrong family or social group.

Anyway. Yes, I’ll take a half competent police and a decent legal system any day.

Re: Notes on Tajikistan

#278

Post by jcranmer »

coldtea wrote: post #239
blackhawkC17 wrote: post #233

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> No, but kicking out the greedy WASPs and their lackeys and post-colonial infuence schemes does though - though seldom realized This is the same mentality that contributes to these countries remaining poor. Just kick out the “WASPs”…so that the local kleptocrats take over. The problem is corruption and lack of rule of law, not WASPs or whatever acronym can be used to blame foreigners instead of taking responsibility…

> This is the same mentality that contributes to these countries remaining poor. Just kick out the “WASPs”…so that the local kleptocrats take over. The "local kleptocrats" are usually just lackeys of those WASPs, put in place, supported financially and diplomatically, with arms and so on (and by pressuring their opponents) to ensure the stealing continues. On their own, they're small time crooks, the real bulk of the…

By your logic, Zimbabwe should be the flourishing paradise of Africa; I'm not sure there's a country that has seen so thorough an enmity between its post-colonial ruling elite and its former colonial master (well, maybe Algeria). Yet ZANU-PF's signature achievement is the forced redistribution of land away from the white settlers, and in the process promulgated the utter ruination of its own economy.

Re: Notes on Tajikistan

#279

Post by wruza »

anal_reactor wrote: post #238
generic92034 wrote: post #237

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Being filthy rich in a rich country, perhaps? :)

No because in a rich country you need to adhere to laws and regulations while in a poor country you can just pay bribes and do what you want

That really depends on what you want. A poor place may simply not have a “utility” that you might want to fully entertain due to inherently low standards. They may literally not know any better and nobody went there to fix that.

Re: Notes on Tajikistan

#280

Post by red-iron-pine »

sunaookami wrote: post #243
anal_reactor wrote: post #238

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No because in a rich country you need to adhere to laws and regulations while in a poor country you can just pay bribes and do what you want

That still holds true in rich countries...

really just a function of how much money, and how you define "rich".

poor countries just shift that number lower. but if I had $100MM I'd rather be sorta-rich in Los Angeles than mega-rich in Bolivia

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