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R.I.P. Saparmurat Niyazov
BillieTheBot
Posts: 8,721 Bot
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/6198983.stm
Perhaps the world's coolest leader has snuffed it. Shame really. The stuff he did makes every other world leader's accomplishments seem pathetically small.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saparmurat_Niyazov
Perhaps the world's coolest leader has snuffed it. Shame really. The stuff he did makes every other world leader's accomplishments seem pathetically small.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saparmurat_Niyazov
Beep boop. I'm a bot.
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Comments
Here are some of his more awesome acheivements.
Renaming the months of the calendar after himself and his family
Banning beards
Banning gold teeth
Banning opera, Ballet and non-turkmen culture
Banning listening to car radios
Forcing education to be based around his mystical work, the Rukhnama. Questions on this book, which is about his life, are asked in driving tests. Needless to say you must answer correctly to pass.
What a guy.
Or is Thunderstruck 13 years old?
I do have a soft spot for the guy but it was only meant semi-seriously.
I'm sure Blair would like Blairworld and Bush would want something similar but could any world leader pull it off?
Niyazov, better known as Turkmenabashi also has a statue of himself, made of gold in the capital city that rotates just ahead of the sun, so it looks like he is directing the sun where to go. What a guy.
Where does all this love (and it sure looks like love to me) for authority come from ?
Does someone know if there is a gene for sadomasochism that I am not aware of ?
Not that I'm planning to visit Turkmenistan any time soon, but i wouldn't want to be found flouting the law should I end up there for some reason.:chin:
"Intent on taming the intelligentsia, from where he perceived the greatest threat to his rule could emerge, he systematically created a culture of fawning ignorance.
To achieve this, he forced everyone to become familiar with the Rukhmana, or "book of the soul", a ponderous 400- page volume that established his cult.
School pupils were made to devote a third of their time to learning the book by heart, while state officials and all professionals were required to sit regular examinations on the Rukhmana. If they failed, they were sacked. The book was placed in mosques across the mainly Sunni Muslim country and worshippers were told that if they kissed it they would be blessed. If they read it out loud, Mr Niyazov promised, they would go straight to Heaven when they died.
When Turkmenistan's chief Mufti complained, he was jailed.
Even those wanting to pass their driving test had to do a 16-hour course in the Rukhnama. Although the book claims that Turkmens invented the wheel, it provided few clues to learners about driving."
Less funny ... :-
"His disdain for doctors and treatment of the health sector will be his most poisonous legacy.
Medical students were allowed only to study the Rukhnama and the writings of the medieval Persian philosopher and physician Avicenna.
The president closed all hospitals outside the capital and ordered the top doctors to work as cotton pickers.
As a result disease flourished. Inexperienced medics misdiagnosed or mistreated their patients who died in droves.
In response to an outbreak of bubonic plague in 2004, Mr Niyazov banned the word "plague" and outlawed all infectious diseases. Hundreds died."
Source : http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2006/12/22/wturkmen22.xml
http://tinyurl.com/yndhht
Woo!
Don't you just love 'democracy' in one party states.