Uzbekistan’s Karimova Hypes Link to Bill Clinton

Time again for a Gulnara Karimova reality check.

The jet-setting, hyper-fashionable daughter of Uzbekistan’s strongman president is doing everything she can to pretend she organized a recent charity event with American stars and European royalty. From her own web statements, snapshot album, and the dutiful state-run press back home, one would think she hosted the event – which was held to raise money for foundations run by former American President Bill Clinton and Prince Albert II of Monaco.

Articles on both Karimova’s personal website and the website of her charity group, Fund Forum, state that her jewelry company, Guli, co-sponsored the fundraiser – “Nights in Monaco” – where tickets started at $5,000 per person. But on the official webpage of the May 23 gala, Guli is buried in the sponsor list. It seems the jewelry was offered at auction, though there is no word yet if anyone bought the stuff. And among all those photographs of the glamorous and rich, there is none of Karimova.

Poor Gulnara: It seems she was relegated to the sidelines at the black-tie affair. She was at least allowed to set up her own exhibition, boasts Fund Forum:

A major exposition titled “Generations Pass, Traditions Remain” mounted by Guli label in collaboration with Fund Forum, a leading NGO in Central Asia headed by Gulnara Karimova, was an opportunity for those gathered to get a taste of Uzbek culture, offering a blend of modern technologies and national traditions. The guests were drawn by Guli collections that represent traditional jewelry in a contemporary interpretation like a thread connecting the present and the past.

“Generations Pass,” eh? That sounds like a bit of a gag since her father’s generation has never handed over power.

Anyways, Karimova didn’t secure a photo with Bill Clinton. And neither his website nor the website of Prince Albert’s foundation makes any mention of her, her foundation, or her jewelry brand. So it seems all she got was some PR back home in daddy’s kingdom.

Some might want to ask Clinton and Albert why they have linked themselves to Uzbekistan’s brutal ruling family. But the more appropriate question might be: Are they linked in anybody’s mind but Karimova’s?