Posted on 12/20/2006 10:21:02 PM PST by Biscuit85
ASHGABAT: Turkmenistan's authoritarian President Saparmurat Niyazov, who has ruled the gas-rich Central Asian country for 20 years, died early Thursday, two government officials told foreign news agency on condition of anonymity. He was 66.
"This sad event occurred early this morning. We are all in shock," a senior government official said. Another official, who also asked not to be identified, said: "Today the Turkmen president died unexpectedly."
President for 20 years?
he was a crazy cult leader
Probably be a war....
Long live Turkmenbashi
Well, sort of. The guy is certainly a five-star wacko-egomaniacal-dictator. BUT he fairly recently issued a decree outlawing non-iodized salt, and forcing store-keepers to give a big free supply to every family. Heavy-handed, yes, but iodine-deficiency being a major cause of retardation in that neck of woods, it would have been nice to keep him on a while longer, so that a less-retarded population would have been available to supervise the choice of his replacement.
His wikipedia page:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saparmurat_Niyazov
A crazy megalomaniacal dictator, who hopefully will be replaced by someone (1) not half as evil and (2) not an Islamist.
again, good riddance
One dictator down, afew more to go
This guy was pretty much like Kim Jong Il from north korea, except he didn't starve 2 million people to death. But the country is still very oppressive. Could be chaos now that he died.
Know little about him. Prayers for his soul, regardless.
Well, that should be an exceedingly brief prayer, if ever there was one..
From what I understand he made Mini-Me look sane. I just hope his people haven't been so psychologicaly damaged from his rule that they can begin to make it on their own.
I believe he also REnamed the months
Although it is for sure good for the people of Turkmenistan that he is perished, we all will miss his wonderful ideology "ruknama":
http://www.rukhnama.com/
Stands second to North Koreas "juche".
P.S. Try the quiz on this homepage
The likes of him do not have souls, only overgrown egos. There's nothing you could pray for.
Pray that they repented their sins at the end, that's all you can do. It's in the Lord's hands now.
Maybe Borat can be leader there?
"It's in the Lord's hands now." - Nope. The devil's. I came from the thucking USSR and know the ego-crazed nomenklaturist type pretty well. They might have everything else in the universe, but the souls.
"Analysts say Mr Niyazov's legacy is grim. Education, healthcare and social programmes have all crumbled under his leadership."
"Analysts say Turkmenistan, a mostly Muslim nation with large oil and gas resources, faces an uncertain future after Mr Niyazov's death, as there are no clear successors."
I have a gut feeling that there are many secret service agents there from many nations.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.