Jehovah's Witnesses Jailed in Uzbekistan Terror Raid

Forum 18 reports that two Jehovah Witnesses have been jailed after a raid by anti-terrorist police. Other members of the faith have been fined or sentenced to labor camps. The current total of Jehovah's Witnesses now imprisoned in Uzbekistan now stands at four.

Authoritarian regimes in the region have used the 'threat' of terrorism as an excuse to lock up or persecute religious minorities consistently since 9/11, including minority Muslim groups that don't subscribe to 'official' Islam. The Jehovah's Witness faith was outlawed in 2006 and the members of the organization were arrested as part of a special terrorist cleaning campaign.

Salafism Spreads in Tajikistan

RFE/RL has an interesting article about the spread of Salafism in Tajikistan.

Hey, Russia, Stop Being so Freakin' Emo

Fearful of Russia's moral decline, Russian parliamentarians have introduced measures to curb 'un-Russian' influences. RFE/RL reports that a number of measures, such as bans on piercings, Halloween and St. Valentines Day, are being debated in the Duma and are likely to pass.

Top on the list of immoral foreign influences is the emo culture, which is feared to promote bi-sexuality.

But cheer up emo-Putin, Nashi still loves you.

Football Diplomacy Update

Turkey has still not decided whether or not to accept Armenian President Serzh Sarkisian's invitation to the 2010 World Cup qualifying match on Sept. 6. Turkish Foreign Minister Ali Babacan has said that the decision will be made based on "developments that occur between today and the match date," according to the AP.

For more information on Nagorno-Karabakh, check out this article at globalsecurity.org

Afghan Olympian Flees

Nineteen-year-old Mahbooba Ahadyar has fled her Olympic training camp in Italy in fear of her life, Eurasianet.org reports.

"When I was in Kabul, I received many anonymous phone calls from people who threatened me and told me not to compete in sports. Even some of our neighbors have harassed me about it," Ahadyar said.

The Olympic committee in Afghanistan plans to send someone in her place, but it's a shame that this young women will be unable to represent her country.

UPDATE: CBC Video on Mahbooba Ahadyar

Mongolian Unrest

I don't know very much about Mongolia, but this article sums up well what is currently happening in a rare democracy in their part of the world. Let's hope things clear up and work out for the best.

The ruling Mongolian People's Revolutionary Party won a parliamentary majority of 45 seats in late June elections. The Democratic Party won 28 seats, with smaller parties making up the difference in the 76-seat chamber. But instead of accepting defeat, the opposition leader stirred mass protests with allegations of cheating, all broadcast on television. After the dust settled, the MPRP headquarters was burned, five people were killed, and more than 300 injured.

Five Books on Afghanistan

The Wall Street Journal offers a list of five of the best books to familiarize oneself with Afghanistan.

Armenia's President Takes the First Step

Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan took an important step in normalizing Armenia's tense relationship with Turkey, extending a hand of friendship and cooperation through a Wall Street Journal editorial espousing the benefits of open borders between Armenia and Turkey. The result of Turkey's solidarity with cousins Azerbaijan during the Karabakh conflict, Turkey's closed policy toward Armenia only serves to damage a struggling democracy and maintain the dysfunctionality of Armenian-Azerbaijani relations. Turkey and Armenia reengaging with each other would certainly upset Azeris, but it would be an important step toward a healthy Southern Caucasus and would maybe push the Azeris to reconsider their extreme animosity to all things Armenian.

During the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, Turkey closed its border with Armenia as an expression of ethnic solidarity with Turkic Azerbaijan. The regrettable result is that for almost 15 years, the geopolitically vital border between Armenia and Turkey has become a barrier to diplomatic and economic cooperation. It is closed not only to Armenians and Turks who might want to visit their neighboring countries, but to trade, transport and energy flows from East to West.

There is no real alternative to the establishment of normal relations between our countries. It is my hope that both of our governments can pass through the threshold of this new open door. Establishing normal political relations would enable us to create a commission to comprehensively discuss all of the complex issues affecting Armenia and Turkey. We cannot expect tangible progress without such structured relations. Only through them can we create an effective dialogue touching upon even the most contentious historical issues.

Hopefully, Turkey will be willing to set aside old differences for the general good and President Sargsyan's goodwill and optimism(two sentiments severely lacking in the region) will not be misplaced.

Al Qaeda Recruits Children in Central Asia

According to a CBS news report Al Qaeda has moved into the former Soviet Union in order to recruit children for their cause. The terrorist organization is estimated to have recruited a few hundred children, mostly from Uzbekistan and Tajikistan, CBS's source has said.

"'The effort to recruit young boys for the cause has been extended to central Asia. We have reports that this effort may now be up to two years old,' said one senior Middle Eastern security official who spoke to CBS News on condition of anonymity. "

If this report is true, the likely result is increased cooperation between the US, NATO, Russia with Central Asian dictators to combat terrorism. It wouldn't be surprising if China got more involved either. Russia will be especially forthcoming in military aid as Al Qaeda makes in roads into their 'backyard'.

In the long run, recruiting children in Central Asia will probably be a PR defeat for AQ in Central Asia as Central Asian Muslims are generally more moderate than their Afghan coreligionists. Hopefully, the collective disgust of recruiting child-terrorists will translate into communities working together to eject AQ from Central Asia. I'm curious to know how Uzbeks and Tajiks on the street will react/are reacting to this news.

Shi'ism: Part III

Here is footage I accidentally took with digital camera on the way to Guba, Azerbaijan. This shrine is located at the foot of Beshbarmak Mountain, which is considered a holy place local Muslims. The mountain is visible in the background. In the foreground to the left is the shrine and to the right is a fountain visitors use to wash themselves.

Our driver, Chingiz, a Sunni, told us he didn't believe the shrine was true Islam, just superstition. I wish I had more info about the shrine, but I can't find any.

Ashoura

Ashoura in Shiraz, Iran, 2007.

"Every year on the tenth day of the holy month of Muharram, the first on the Islamic lunar calendar, Shia Muslims show a distinctive face of Islam, one that sees spirituality in passion and rituals rather than in the law and the familiar practices that punctuate Muslim lives. . . . No observer of this day, the festival of Ashoura, will remain unaffected by the Shias' display of fealty to their faith."

Vali Nasri, The Shia Revival: How Conflicts within Islam Will Shape the Future

The Shia Revival

There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio,
Than are dreamt of in your philosophy.

I'm reading The Shia Revival by Vali Nasr and at about 140 pages in I'm hooked. I got the book from my brother for my birthday the other night and I read over hundred pages of it today. Nazri's book is a well balanced blend of popular history, insightful analysis and colorful anecdotes. Above all, it is well and thoughtfully written.

The thesis of Nasr's book revolves around the millennium and a half conflict between the Sunni and Shia branches of Islam and how that conflict continues to shape events in the Muslim world today. Essentially, Nasr argues that the war in Iraq has revitalized the sectarian antagonism between the two branches of Islam and that this renewed internecine feud will play a leading role in shaping the Muslim world now and in future.

This book is an excellent read for a general audience and anyone interested in getting a better understanding of the forces at work in the Islamic world will find this book fascinating. Anyone interested in the future of the world will find it fascinating, for that matter.

Banned in Uzbekistan

"...authoritarian systems reinforce, while discouraging attempts to puncture whatever quixotic illusions may exist at the top."
-John Lewis Gaddis, We Now Know

Independent news websites and blogs from Uzbekistan have joined a campaign against internet censorship, according to RFE/RL. The idependent newsite Fergana.ru, reports that government authorities have systemically cracked down on internet sites since the 2005 Andijon massacre. Not suprisingly, the Paris based agency Reporters without Borders rates Uzbekistan tenth from the bottom in it's freedom of the press rankings along with Turkmenistan, Cuba, North Korea, China and Iran. In their annual Nations in Transit 2008 study, Freedom House gave Uzbekistan a seven out of ten score for independent media, which gives Uzbekistan a tie with Turkmenistan for the worst score in the former Soviet Union.

A statement from the uznews.com states "A technical ban on surfing independent websites became widespread in Uzbekistan after the Andijan massacre in May 2005. Since then, experts estimate, Uzbek Internet users have been deprived of access to hundreds of websites."

So, what is so dangerous about these websites that they've been banned by the Uzbekistan government? Check them out and see for yourself.

Fergana.ru
Uzbekistan's Civil Society
Uznews.net