A Stitch in Haste

I've developed an unhealthy interest in the antics of Turkmenistan "president for life" (i.e., dictator) Saparmurat Niyazov — see the chain below.

For his latest demonstration of loopiness, the oil-rich autocrat wants to build, in the desert, a penguin sanctuary:

"The zoo will be situated north of Ashkhabad where the Kara Kum desert begins. The animals will live there in conditions close to those of their natural habitat and the zoo will cost several million dollars," said an official at the Turkmen environment ministry, which will select the animals.

"We are examining the possibility of acquiring animals from the four corners of the planet, such as penguins from the north [sic!]," the source said.

The zoo is the latest in a series of grandiose projects ordered by the man who styles himself "Turkmenbashi," the leader of all Turkmen, whose gas-rich country of five million is dotted with statues of himself and his mother.
...
Last month, state-run media reported Niyazov's spiritual guide book Rukhnama was blasted into space with two Japanese satellites from the Russian launch station in Kazakhstan as proof that Turkmenistan had joined the space-powers club.

I wholeheartedly agree that Niyazov is a space cadet.

But as for the penguins, one would hope that other countries would abstain from sending innocent animals to a third-world crackpot dictator for his amusement.

Then again, if "civilized" countries such as China let their chimpanzees smoke, then I fear that Niyazov will have little difficulty acquiring whatever animals he might want.

And while we're on the subject — don't penguins come from the south?

Seriously though, Turkmenistan borders both Iran and Afghanistan. It should warrant more attention from us.

POST SCRIPT: As for that other "oil-for..." scandal, see here. Hot off the presses, though I note that the U.N. encrypted the 108-page PDF so one cannot copy passages but must instead type them out manually. Gee, I wonder why.