A Stitch in Haste

A disturbed dictator oppressing his country, located in a strategically critical part of an unstable, oil-rich region, is toppled — without a single American casualty!

No, not Bizarro-Iraq, but Turkmenistan:

Turkmen President-for-life Saparmurat Niyazov has died, Turkmenistan state-controlled television said on Thursday confirming an earlier report from a government source.
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Niyazov, 66, had been in power in his reclusive Central Asian state — the second largest natural gas producer in the former Soviet Union — since 1985 before independence from Moscow.

He tolerated no dissent and enjoyed a flourishing personality cult with thousands of portraits and statues to him throughout the country.

As a reminder, Turkmenistan borders both Iran and Afghanistan. And yet nobody here seems to have heard of it? (Hint: No, it's not where Borat comes from.)

It was fun over the past two years to mock Niyazov's narcissistic antics — penguin sanctuaries in the desert and such. But it is time to put humor aside:

Turkmenistan has never held an election judged to be free and fair by foreign monitors. Until the new polls, which have to be held within two months, Deputy Prime Minister Kurbanguly Berdymukhamedov, 49, will be acting head of state.

But Niyazov, who held all top posts, left no designated heir and his sudden death raised concerns about the transfer of power in the ex-Soviet nation of 5 million[.]

We all know about the depletion of our military resources due to the Iraq debacle — but clearly our diplomatic resources (not to mention our goodwill throughout the world and particularly in this region) must also have been depleted. Nizazov's death could have been a golden opportunity to help foster a true democracy when there was none before, and perhaps even make inroads with Turkmenistan's neighbors.

From "Mission Accomplished" to "Opportunity Squandered"?

Stay tuned...

More thoughts from Distributed Intelligence.