Awww, I kinda liked crazy ol Turkmenbashi. The man responsible for decrees such as:
Speaking out against gold caps on teeth
Banning video games
Replacing the Hippocratic oath with an oath to him
Forbidding jokes about Turkmenbashi
Crazy as a loon, he was, but in a weird, sort of affable way. Well, as an outsider free from the impact of his derangedness, that is. He was certainly a repressive dictator, and I imagine his people might be better off without him, but he was fun to point and laugh at
I always liked the golden statue in Ashgbad of good 'ol Suparmurat T’bash (Bashi to his mates) facing the sun. It rotated as the sun went around, but rumour has it, just as an added bonus it was leading the sun ever ever sooo slightly, the implication being the ex father of the Turkmen was the one who was responsible for it rising and setting each day.
Thankfully he has shuffled off, although I did like his way of doing all his ministers annual performance reviews live on TV.
I wonder if his recent demise has anything to do with the plans for a gas pipeline direct to China so they do not have to sell gas to Russia at a serious discount to market rates?
As zany, power-mad, narcissistic, micromanaging dictators went, he was one of the best. His likely successor’s name is quite a mouthful, though. Can we just call him “Bruce”? It might avoid confusion.
Are you kidding? He’s a dead ringer for James Garner!
But he wasn’t such an affable dictator. For example, he purposely destroyed the medical system in Turkmenistan, causing avoidable mortality to skyrocket. He was a creep. Good riddance to bad rubbish.
