Sogdiana: From Bukhara to Boston

Iraq, Politics, Tajiks, and the Gym

Since I am trying my very best to procrastinate as long as possible before actually going to the gym, what better time to add to the blog than now? I've been using part of my Saturday afternoon to catch up with what's actually going on in the world (aside from the fact that the Red Sox and Yankees are playing each other), and as usual, it's a bit of a downer.

Iraq is a total disaster, but when has that not been the case? Ever since we "liberated" the country, we've turned it into a slaughterhouse, and I don't see how that can change. The Sunni Arabs that are perpetrating and enabling much of the violence won't be satisfied until they regain their former position of feudal mastery over all the other groups of the country, particularly the Shias and the Kurds, and the Shias and Kurds, not surprisingly, are ready to do anything to prevent that from happening. How the two positions can be reconciled, I am not really sure. Speaking of Kurds, if we really were coming in to give the people of Iraq freedom, how about allowing the Kurds to have their own country, Kurdistan, which is what the majority of people in the Kurdish north of Iraq desire? Since the Kurds are among the most pro-American people in the region (despite the United States having shafted them on multiple occasions) and very moderate Muslims, why wouldn't we want a pro-American, oil-rich, non-fundamentalist nation in the heart of the Middle East? I forgot, freedom and liberation had nothing to do with why we went in there. Most Americans, government officials included, have no idea what the difference between a Sunni Arab, a Shia Arab, a Kurd, an Assyrian, a Turkmen, or any of the other ethnolinguistic groups of Iraq is, let alone why the animosities between them exist. We are so hell-bent on preserving Iraq's territorial integrity that we forget that Iraq has never been a historical entity. It was cobbled together by Western colonialists with no regard to the feelings of the people within its borders, nor with any regard to its long-term stability or success as a nation.

In the meantime, bombs in Indonesia have killed at least 24 people. The violence sickens me, and more so because it's being done in the name of God. These murderers are actually deluded or deranged enough to think that killing innocent civilians is an act of heroism, bound to get them into heaven. Indonesia and other Muslim countries have foolishly turned a blind eye for decades as fundamentalists gradually built up their strength and bided their time. Now, ridding themselves of this cancer will require years of vigilance, not to mention harsh punishments towards the people that aid and abet these criminals.

Speaking of fundamentalists and people that use the name of God to justify hatred and injustice, I can't wait to see Tom DeLay go down in flames. That arrogant, manipulative, dishonest man has spewed venom for long enough, and now I hope he drowns in his own poison. What a surprise - the man that rambles on about God and morality is actually nothing more than a crook! I don't care if you're Muslim or Christian or whatever else, if you feel the need to trumpet your so-called faith and parade it around, I seriously doubt that your faith is anything more than a facade. True believers keep their faith in their hearts, rather than wearing it on their sleeves.

Before I find something else to rant about and put off the gym further, I decided to post a few pictures of Central Asia, since a lot of people have no idea what it looks like. I focus on things to do with Tajik ethnic heritage, because that is what I have the most personal connection to. There are many different groups in Central Asia, and people from that part of the world are not Russians, or Arabs, or Chinese, or Indians, or any of the other things that I have heard people calling us. Tajiks are the oldest people of the region, descendants of the earliest migrants who came down from the vast steppes north of the Black Sea. Their ancestors moved into Central Asia, Iran, Kurdistan, and the Caucasus, and became the Iranian peoples, of whom the Tajiks are the easternmost group. The Tajik language is a dialect of Persian that has remained largely the same since the Middle Ages. Although someone from Iran would understand a Tajik for the most part, it would be like an American hearing someone speak in Shakespearian English.

With that said...and I said A LOT...I need to finally exercise something more than my fingers today.

posted by TojikYor @ 12:02 PM