Comments on: Islamic Renaissance Party leader dies

By: Elizabeth

Elizabeth — Mon, 14 Aug 2006 04:41:32 +0000

Difficult as I’ve left the region and moreover it was very difficult to get ahold of the opposition papers. I think that few people hoped to see meaningful representation of their interests, by Islamists or anyone else, within their lifetimes.

You write of “political maneuvering” by Rahmonov- I think most of us would call it something much less polite than that. Threats of violence, ballot-box stuffing, total lack of transparency, total control of the media. The Islamists never had a chance anyway, so one wonders whether anyone who values his life or even who has a mild sense of reality would be willing to sacrifice so much for so little.

Most people think Rahmonov won’t leave without a fight and that Russia will support him. So what difference does it make?

By: Younghusband

Younghusband — Sat, 12 Aug 2006 01:22:21 +0000

Double-posted to the Kazakhstan blog

Very cool! I tried to look him up in my trusty Great Game to no avail. Someday, I will have to read the Morgan book.

By: James

James — Sat, 12 Aug 2006 01:12:11 +0000

Ah, that is a face you should know all too well, for it will be the last thing you see before Imperial Russia marches right through the Khyber Pass into the British Raj. It is none other than Valikhanov, Kazakh gentleman-adventurer-soldier-scholar-spy for the Russian Empire. Just kidding. I posted some information on him over on kazakhstan.neweurasia.net though. I read some of his narratives in school, and I figured it was an appropriate visage for lurking around Coming Anarchy.

By: Younghusband

Younghusband — Fri, 11 Aug 2006 06:04:34 +0000

Hey James, great Gravatar. Who is that?

By: Younghusband

Younghusband — Fri, 11 Aug 2006 06:02:36 +0000

Interesting commentary by James (who also links to other coverage of Nuri’s death):

… Nuri will be remembered as a peacemaker and as a moderate Islamist in a region where government policy has made such a notion practically unknown.

Elizabeth, do you have anything to add?

By: James

James — Fri, 11 Aug 2006 06:01:54 +0000

Thanks YH! I wrote a short post on this topic in response to your query, but I hoping some of our Tajik bloggers will give us more of an inside scoop. Basically, I think his death is a big deal, but not nearly as big a deal as it would have been a few years ago. I wonder if this will tip the scales toward his party in our free & fair online election over at neweurasia (shameless plug...). Right now the Islamic Revival Party only has 13% of the online vote.

By: tajikistan.neweurasia.net

tajikistan.neweurasia.net — Fri, 11 Aug 2006 05:56:53 +0000

Death of a Peacemaker

Said Abdullo Nuri died from an illness that was most likely cancer, as Younghusband over at ComingAnarchy and Ataman Rakin report. Younghusband asked for the Tajikistan bloggers over here at neweurasia to weigh in on the significance of this developm…