Turkmenistan takes steps tward democracy?

[The Million Dollar Prons]

New Constitution in 2008

In September 2008, the People's Council unanimously passed a resolution adopting a new Constitution. The latter will result in the abolition of the Council and a significant increase in the size of Parliament in December 2008. The Constitution also enables the formation of multiple political parties. President Gurbanguly Berdimuhammedow has stated that "The new constitution corresponds to all international and democratic norms".[1][2]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7638102.stm BBC link


I'd say good news, Turkmenistan is ranked among the worst places on earth to be, maybe they'll start to improve now.

[blackknight]

Doubt it. Democracy is vastly over-rated. The ideal form of government is Communism. Unfortunately, humans are a flawed species, and human error causes all forms of government to fail in the execution. If we become a purely logical species, we shall see the truth, and we shall make all other species bow down to us! THEY WILL OBEY OR THEY WILL BE EX-TER-MIN-A-TED!

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/3/33/Daleks_appearence.jpg/250px-Daleks_appearence.jpg

[Trefellin]

Hoorah for the Turkmen.

[superplough]

THEY WILL OBEY OR THEY WILL BE EX-TER-MIN-A-TED!

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/3/33/Daleks_appearence.jpg/250px-Daleks_appearence.jpg

Heh, some lady drove into work the other day and had three model daleks on her back of her car inside the back window. I dunno what that place is called. Rear dash? :blink:

[The Million Dollar Prons]

Rear dash? :blink:

That's what I always though

[Sauron]

Doubt it. Democracy is vastly over-rated. The ideal form of government is Communism. Unfortunately, humans are a flawed species, and human error causes all forms of government to fail in the execution...

If humans weren't flawed, the ideal form of government would be none at all.

[Ken-Ohki]

Turkmenistan? This is the place where the New York Times sent a reporter about a year ago who was only allowed to print what they let him print. He agreed just so he could get into the country and wrote a very creepy article that felt like something out of 1984. I would be surprised if this were anything other than an international public relations stunt.

[Suiko Eiji]

Turkmenistan? This is the place where the New York Times sent a reporter about a year ago who was only allowed to print what they let him print. He agreed just so he could get into the country and wrote a very creepy article that felt like something out of 1984. I would be surprised if this were anything other than an international public relations stunt.

Actually, one of my good friends is one of those "arsehole Uzbeks" and from what she's told me about her home country of Uzbekistan and many of the neighboring, former Soviet Republics in central Asia, if it sounds like 1984, it's probably true. She said that even though there was a popular push for independence from the Soviet Union in 1991, much of the actual situation on the ground in the past couple of decades is still very much like the USSR, full of "presidents for life" and personality cults.

Regarding the Wiki - I remember her being completely extatic when she found out the former President for Life of Turkmenistan died a year or two ago (because she was hoping the same would happen in Uzbekistan) and any move towards a more representative government, whether it is a full democracy or what the West considers a democracy is early to argue, I think, is a good one.