A large hole has appeared in the U.S. network of alliances in Central Asia. Turkmenistan's Foreign Ministry press service has carried an "open letter" to U.S. State Department spokesman Philip Reeker from the editors of the main newspapers that accuses U.S. Ambassador Laura Kennedy of connections with a recent 'coup attempt' against the regime. The open letter claims Kennedy "talked on the phone and consulted with (former Turkmen foreign minister) Boris Shikhmuradov three times after he was declared wanted as a dangerous criminal and branded as an international terrorist." Shikhmuradov, accused of being behind the Nov 25 assassination attempts against Turkmen President Saparmurat Niyazov, was sentenced to life imprisonment by the Halk Maslahaty (People's Council). Reeker's own press briefing of Dec. 31, denouncing the summary trials and mass arrests and "credible reports of torture and abuse of suspects," is denounced in the open letter as "barefaced calumny."
You know, if crazy Niyazov just kept his mouth shut and oppressed his people no one would care. He keeps making charges like this and somebody is going to get tired of his shit and fund a real coup. Imagine, charging a U.S. State Department official with making false statements. |