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The lovely young Uzbek women I spoke with didn’t give a rip about Islam and dressed accordingly for the 100 plus degree weather; midriff-baring tops were not uncommon. They regarded Afghans as primitive woman-hating savages.

Given that Free Republic is regarded by many, including myself, as an educational site, I felt that your captivating description of an incredibly important element of the local Uzbek population might be enhanced and therefore made even more academically valid, by providing some additional photographic information pertaining to your essential post. Although some may have different approaches, I have never been a "stay on topic!" fascist, demanding, for example that 'all' posts in a given thread be closely related to the original post. I believe very strongly that Free Republic has among its membership some of the most brilliant folks on the planet, and so to arbirarily force them into some artificial set of intellectual parameters deprives everyone of the wisdom that they may be able to provide. Therefore, I took it upon myself to seek out examples of the specific Uzbek population that you refer to in an effort to expand upon what is obviously a vital topic, and by providing a particularly verbose and grindingly tedious introduction to my post I'm hoping that any lurking "stay on topic!" fascists might be fooled into forgetting entirely what this thread was originally about. That being accomplished, may I present Sofiko Kanto, Miss Uzbekistan Asia Pacific 2011

http://shinymeteor.blogspot.com/2011/02/miss-asia-pacific-2011-contestant-miss_3232.html

Ani ochen prekrasnaye! Spasibo bolshoya!

Uzbeks of course are Turkic, not Asiatic. Those large uptilted round eyes are their trademark.

What I found in Uzbekistan was that nationality trumps ethnicity. There would have been profound ethnic mixing in a land that lies along the Silk Road, let alone a pathway for many conquerors in centuries past. One young Uzbechka insisted that blond hair and fair features among Uzbeks were a legacy of the time of “Aleksandr Makedonskii”. Naturally I felt such features are of much more recent vintage. When I asked the young woman giving me a haircut if she were Russian (blond hair & blue eyes), she quickly responded that she was Uzbek born and raised, never mind where her parents came from.

Anyway, thanks for the photos and for the reminder that on this website we FReepers find ourselves in intelligent company.