Ria-novosti / AP
Putin raising a toast to Uzbek Prime Minister Shavkat Mirziyaev in Tashkent.
UZBEKS!
Don’t give them money or matches...and don’t encourage them to gamble or drink.
UZBEKS!
They are the weak link in the great chain of socialism.
Remember all the hysteria about the vaunted Afghan pipeline?
If Central Asia had a way to market that didn’t depend on Russia, somehow thats bad. Its the stuff of paranoid nightmares.
Yep. It's also a predictable side effect of us not supporting our allies. Why would any of the 'stans side with us now?
Putin has accurately assessed the EU, NATO and the US. The Russian energy weapon will only get stronger against Europe and the West’s willingness to confront Russian action against countries that used to be part of the USSR, have Russian minorities or constitute what the Russians call the “Near Abroad” will continue to weaken until their is some sort of cataclysm.