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Caucasus/Russia/Central Asia
‘Foreign hand behind Uzbek uprising’
2005-10-06
TASHKENT: A witness in the trial of 15 men charged in the May uprising in eastern Uzbekistan said Wednesday the rebels had several US and German-made guns. Mikhail Rudakov, a convicted murderer who was released after insurgents stormed a prison in the city of Andijan on May 13, said he had been used by rebels as a weapons expert. Rudakov said insurgents had 250-300 automatic rifles, many pistols, some land mines, and several types of grenades. He said most of the weapons were old Soviet-made ones, but that he also saw one German Lunger assault rifle and two US M-16 rifles.

Uzbek authorities have alleged that the insurgents had foreign support and the testimony that they had Western weapons appeared to hint at corroborating that contention. Human rights groups say the testimony given by defendants in the carefully orchestrated trial has been squeezed out of them through torture.
Posted by:Fred

#6  Yep... that foreign hand would probably be none other than Russia who has nothing to lose and much to gain by facilitating the circumstances in response to the current Uzbek regime. The Russians are probably playing both sides of the fence, but make no mistake that they will go to great lengths to prop their own puppet in Uzbekistan. It is the same thing the ChiComs are doin in Nepal rather than the earlier ugly Tibet invasion that brought world scorn to the imperialistic ChiCom global goals. The Russians will use any means to get national Uzbeks to tear down the Uzbek government, but without Islamic extremists. It can be flavored a little with them to make the uprising appear more legit. The Russians even set up an alleged natural resources (minerals, oil, metals, ores) conference in the D.C. area in late-December 2004, early-January 2005 as a cover to pull together the most dedicated and brightest Uzbeks with like-minded ideas. These ideas are for the betterment of a future Uzbek, without many of the current regime members, and play a future role in development and governance of Uzbekistan. The benefit to Russia would be re-establishment of a close relationship in global strategic goals, and a friendly working relationship in developing the means and extracting the much un-tapped natural resources within Uzbekistan's borders. When the West fell over itself by dispatching teams, resources and money into areas of the Russian artic to develop a better infrastructure to extract oil, and get a slice of the profits, the Russians in turn got the idea to do the same to their former fellow socialist neighbors like Uzbekistan. Except in this case, the Uzbeks will not be allowed to push the Russians out like Russia did to the Westerners. The Russians will already have had the right people culled from within, and the proper puppets strung from their sticks and strings. I will admit that this all sounds far-fetched. But in time... time will be the judge. Never trust the Rooskies, never trust the ChiComs and god almighty never ever trust the North Koreans. Uzbekistan? Just another future economic colony of Russia by any means possible.
Posted by: Elmoluns Flereth7979   2005-10-06 12:34  

#5   Well I've noticed they've ditched the Islamist line, which I would actually consider to be a far more plausible explanation under the circumstances than anything else. Given that the massacre more or less pissed all over our fair weather friendship with Karimov to begin with, so now he's going for the lowest common denominator of anti-Americanism that should play well with his Third World buddies.

God only knows what his Plan C is ...
Posted by: Dan Darling   2005-10-06 01:51  

#4  So you think the current party line is someone's "Plan B" or "Plan C"?
Posted by: Phil Fraering   2005-10-06 01:08  

#3   The Uzbeks originally tried to paint the whole thing as an al-Qaeda front, but that collapsed pretty quickly under international scrutiny. A short version of what happened in Uzbekistan is that the peasants and local businessmen rose up, inspired by what had happened in Kyrgyzstan and looking to see the end of their Soviet-era president for life. The IMU, being the loathsome and parasitical body that it is, took advantage of the situation and tried to start an uprising. The government, recognizing the IMU threat and deciding to paint the whole thing as Islamist and rid themselves of both the IMU and the meddlesome peasants.

Since the claim that all the massacred were Islamists hasn't stood up under scrutiny, now the Uzbeks are trying to claim that we were behind the whole thing was some kind of CIA plot to hitch themselves a ride on the anti-American bandwagon.
Posted by: Dan Darling   2005-10-06 00:29  

#2  Relevant quote:
According to official information, 169 people died as a result of the mutiny in Andijan.

Western observers and local human rights activists affirm, though, that the number of victims reaches 800 people.

Until recently, the Bush's administration insisted on the need to conduct an international investigation of the Andijan tragedy. An official spokesman for the US State Department, Sean McCormack, said that the USA was willing to render all adequate help to Uzbekistan. The administration of the former Soviet republic turned down the suggestion, though. In return, Washington decided to freeze the financial help of $22 million to Uzbekistan.

Observers say, however, that the USA has taken such a negative attitude towards Uzbekistan shortly after unsuccessful attempts to convince Uzbek President Karimov of the need to extend the term for the US army base to stay on the territory of Uzbekistan...

...To crown it all, the current trial of 15 men accused of May's unrest in Andijan, which currently takes place in Tashkent, added more fuel to the fire: it was said during the process that the US embassy in Uzbekistan had sponsored the mutiny.


Why all of this is going on is a mystery to me.
Posted by: Phil Fraering   2005-10-06 00:16  

#1  Fred, check my post from yesterday. Pravda is reporting that the trial has shown that it was the United States behind the Uzbek uprising.
Posted by: Phil Fraering   2005-10-06 00:10  

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