- ISBN13: 9781561634545
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Product Description
At a year-end publishers’ party at the zenith of the roaring 1990s, the editor of a "laddie" men’s magazine asked his newest staff writer to pitch him the wildest, most over-the-top idea for an adventure travel piece that he could think of. "You name it, we’ll do it!," the editor promised. Remembering his childhood fascination with the Kazakh S.S.R. and its description in National Geographic as "the most remote place on earth," Ted Rall proposed a reckless headlong plunge into the belly of post-Soviet Central Asia. "I’ll drive the Silk Road from Beijing to Istanbul," Rall said, "via Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Iran and Turkey. I won’t do research. I’ll just show up and see what happens."
Five years after having been cut loose by the imploding Soviet Union the Central Asian republics—colloquially known as the Stans—were reeling from an identity crisis precipitated by economic collapse. Citizens of a great superpower woke up to find themselves in Third World anarchy. Closed societies were opening up for the first time. Guards at the Chinese-Kazakh border detained Rall for hours at one checkpoint after another; they still faxed Moscow for advice on how to handle him. They had never seen an American passport.
What began as a lark yielded a stunning series of revelations. Elderly people were starving to death in nations sitting atop the world’s largest untapped reserves of oil and natural gas. Looters were cavalierly ambling around in flatbed trucks loaded with disinterred nuclear missiles. Statues of and slogans by crazy dictators were springing up as quickly as their corrupt military policemen could rob a passing motorist. And on the main drag in the capital city of each of these profoundly dysfunctional societies, a gleaming American embassy whose staff was quietly calling the shots in a new campaign to de-Russify access to those staggering energy resources.
CIA agents, oilmen and prostitutes mixed uneasily and awkwardly in ad hoc British-style pubs where beers cost a dollar—a day’s pay and more than enough to keep out the locals. In an extreme case of the "oil curse," wealth was being pillaged by U.S.-backed autocrats while their subjects plunged into poverty. Meanwhile Taliban-trained Islamic radicals were waiting to fill the vacuum.
It was a volatile mix. But did anybody care?
Rall’s magazine account of his 1997 misadventures through Central Asia, "Silk Road to Ruin," was soon followed by a feature he launched on his Los Angeles radio talk show. "Stan Watch: Breaking News from Central Asia," was intended as a send-up of Americans’ disinterest in foreign affairs. Again, the joke turned serious. "Stan Watch"’s obscure news stories about the world’s most remote countries, which many Americans couldn’t even pronounce, became wildly popular. NPR and the BBC simulcast it. A 1999 assassination attempt on Uzbek president Islam Karimov became a subject of intense speculation. Americans, it turned out, were interested in the outside world. They just couldn’t read about it in their local newspaper.
Soon, no one knew more about Central Asia than Rall.
Transformed by what he saw being done in America's name and eager to sound the alarm, he became an expert. He returned to visit the region's most rural mountain villages. He brought two dozen ordinary Americans on the bus tour from hell. He went as a rogue independent and as a guest of the State Department. He returned to cover the American invasion of Afghanistan after 9/11, then went back again. Capitals moved, street names changed and the economic fortunes of entire nations turned on a dime from year to the next, but those changes merely reinforced Rall’s firm belief that Central Asia is the new Middle East: thrilling, terrifying, simultaneously hopeful and bleak, a battleground for proxy war and endless chaos. It is the ultimate tectonic, cultural and political collision zone. Far away from television cameras and Western reporters, Central Asia is poised to spawn some of the new century’s worst nightmares.
Silk Road to Ruin: Is Central Asia the New Middle East?
Tags: Istanbul, Stan Watch, editor, U.S., Asia, Central Asian
{ 5 comments… read them below or add one }
This book is a winner for both armchair travelers and those with a serious interest in international geopolitics. Intrepid journalist Ted Rall has become an expert on the obscure lands of Central Asia. This vast but little-covered area covers the five former Soviet republics known collectively as the “Stans,” plus parts of Afghanistan and non-Chinese far-western China, all of which are strongly integrated in culture and history. Here Rall reports, with both journalistic insight and a brutally engaging writing style, about his extensive trips through the region. In an often rip-roaring read, we learn about the various horrors of traveling in Central Asia (the corruption and diarrhea there are both among the worst on Earth), while also gaining knowledge on the region’s complex politics and infighting. Rall also provides enjoyable coverage of some of the region’s offbeat personalities, locations, and culture – such as Turkmenistan’s incompetent dictator Turkmenbashi, or a bizarre sport called buzkashi in which many meatheads die painfully for fun and glory.
Central Asia will soon be a world quagmire that will make the Middle East look like a hissy fit. Age-old ethnic tensions, corrupt dictators, irredentist meddling, and the hangover from Russian and Soviet brutalization will all soon combine with the worst of energy politics, as Central Asia’s immense fossil fuel resources attract money and influence from power players. Ted Rall usefully clarifies what’s really happening in Central Asia from the ground, and points out the geopolitical disaster that will occur if we merely view the region through the lenses of terrorism (i.e. everyone who disagrees with America is in league with Al Qaeda) or petropolitics (i.e. nations are given benefits or sanctions based merely on how much fossil fuel they can offer). Overall, this book is held back a bit by Rall’s occasional tendencies toward hyperbole. His political points become repetitive as the book rumbles along, and the later chapters on energy and military matters get bogged down in simplistic conspiracy theories. Meanwhile, Rall’s graphic novellas about his journeys add a great amount of fun to this book, but his regular four-panel political cartoons just aren’t really that enlightening. Finally, the book is very richly illustrated, especially with candid photos of Central Asia’s regular folks – but the maps are cramped and incomprehensible, which is a real problem if you like to see the precise locations of all the interesting places Rall talks about. [~doomsdayer520~] ]
Rating: 4 / 5
This is a jolly good read. The mixture of travelogue and political analysis is quite a surprising combination.
In this book, you will learn:
(1) Why Crocodile Dundee would not last five minutes in Central Asia (p.179);
(2) How to talk your way out of being shot by the Taliban (pp.130-137);
(3) How to stage a revolution without really trying (p.156);
(4) When a toilet stop in a minefield is a good idea (pp.180-181);
(5) What international sport considers the use of AK-47 bad form but not illegal (p.274);
(6) How not to photograph a rampaging horde of wild Mongol horsemen (p.276);
(7) How to survive eating in the world’s worst restaurant (pp.109-113);
(8) Why “problema” is the most common word in Central Asia;
(9) Why drink driving sometimes is a good idea (p.199);
(10) How to pick up women or die trying (p.218).
Ted Rall has a writing style that blends serious political analysis with comedic understatement. Mr. Rall is keen to see that the USA does not spoil its chances for positive influence in Central Asia and thereby get access to the vast oil and gas reserves there. However, the Russians, Chinese, and Indians appear to have different ideas.
After reading this book, I am of the opinion that there is no way I am going to visit Central Asia. Apparrently, Mr. Rall is going back again soon.
Rating: 5 / 5
Ted Rall’s book is worth reading, for a damning self-portrait of an “ugly American” version 2006–huckster, radio host, cartoonist, coldly cynical, thrill-seeking, slumming Ivy Leaguer, brimming with smug condescension and contempt for those he encounters on various tours through Central Asia over the past decade.
Rall waltzes through some of the most violent and tragic regions on earth apparently in search of laffs, thrills, and chills. He gets them. A form of 21st century slumming, adventure tourism is the theme, including a brief kidnapping by the Taliban. Yet lives of ordinary Central Asians apparently matter little–he boasts of paying thousands of dollars in bribes to bump Central Asians from reserved seats on an airplane in order to escape with his tour group from a potentially violent attack. Despite claiming that the Central Asians were in no danger (if so, why were they leaving, and why had they bought tickets?), his message is clear: “I’m number one.”
Although Rall clearly has talent as a writer and cartoonist, as well as determination and guts, he apparently lacks human compassion for the people in the region he exploits in his business ventures.
Rating: 5 / 5
I make sure I read all of Ted Rall’s columns, and I’m always amazed. A lot of writers write about subjects you already know about, they just word it differently from the others and throw in a few extra tidbits. Not Ted! When you read him you always learn massive amounts of facts and information that you didn’t even realize you should know about. After reading him you wonder why you’ve never heard about these important topics. You will not regret buying this book if you’re already familiar with Mr. Rall’s work. If you’re not, you’re in for an eye-opening experience.
Rating: 5 / 5
Ted Rall is one of our leading political thinkers. He has made a number of investigative trips to the countries in Central Asia. Why should we care?
Well, these countries are sitting on a sea of oil and natural gas. These former Soviet republics are getting the royal treatment from Russia and China. Superpowers are jockeying for position to lock up access to all these energy resources.
Since 9/11 the US Government has been sucking up to the various monstrous dictators of the area. Remember Saddam Hussein? We used to like him because he was taking on Iran. Rall thinks we are making some big mistakes in our approach to Central Asia.
For example; we are allowing these dictators to hand over their “terrorists” so that we can lock them up in our CIA prisons. These “terrorists” are often human right advocates and gutsy individuals who are trying to speak out against their murderous rulers.
Rall suggests that we should be making friends with the people of Central Asia by helping them out rather than pouring money into the pockets of their corrupt dictators.
What’s at stake? Our future access to all that energy.
Rating: 5 / 5
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