From time to time, Central Asia watchers are greeted with the ignorant and dangerous doodling of an unknown western apologist.
The pattern is familiar: Having enjoyed the vodka-soaked banquets a little too much to focus on the depravities in this or that post-Soviet capital, the VIP returns home thinking he’d just visited Eden. Reflecting on his stately visit, he fires off a commentary praising the country’s wise leadership, utterly oblivious to the real country his carefully managed visit avoided. State media laps it up. A recent series of apologies by Struan Stevenson, a Scottish member of the European Parliament (MEP), who travelled to the country in September to research the region’s dicey water politics, is raising hackles among concerned observers. Celebrated in the local press, however, six months after his three-day visit the state-controlled media continues to roll out his musings as proof that a wise and beneficent leader rules Tajikistan.
On March 1, and secreted into local media at irregular intervals throughout the month, Tajikistan’s government-controlled website Khovar.tj published the second Stevenson screed: “President Emomali Rakhmon Should Be Widely Supported by the West.”
Lauding Rakhmon’s achievements as president and ignoring Tajikistan’s shrinking space for human rights and civil society, Stevenson eulogized the regime for its role in maintaining security in a dangerous region:
In my own visit to the country I was impressed by the level of internal security and I believe President Rakhmon must be congratulated on his efforts to maintain stability and security and should be widely supported by the West for his efforts to maintain Tajikistan as a strategic buffer state, preventing the incursion of drug smugglers and terrorists from Afghanistan and Pakistan.
In late November, Stevenson penned “Tajikistan Leads the Way,” also published by Khovar, calling the Tajikistan he saw a “functioning democracy” that should be a “model for the region.”
Describing the challenges to the region, including drug smuggling, Iranian influence, and Islamic terrorism, Stevenson says Tajikistan “has a good record on human rights.”
Tajikistan, under the firm leadership of President Emomalii Rahmon [sic], stands guard. It is at the forefront of the fight against drugs and terrorists and as such, is a key strategic ally for the West.
The commentaries are PR coups for Dushanbe. Stevenson paints a picture of Tajikistan as a buffer to the instability pouring out of Afghanistan, and Rakhmon an ideal partner. Authoritarianism in Tajikistan benefits western governments planning to withdraw from Afghanistan, he might have said.
But how long can the so-called stability last? The lack of political reform, the government’s crackdown on religious freedom, and entrenched criminalization in government agencies are the price Tajiks pay for Stevenson’s security.
All good things come to an end. While Tajikistan shows no immediate sign of succumbing to the democratic movements shaking the Arab world, Stevenson should look at all the embarrassing photos of western leaders embracing Hosni Mubarak and ask himself, “Just how much of Tajikistan did I really see?”
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