Diplomacy a tricky business (9/20/04)

Sometimes the calculus is beyond complicated. It's contradictory, and there are no right — or easy — answers.

Those of us who like to second-guess American foreign policy, regardless of who has control of the White House, routinely lambaste decision-makers for putting the United States in bed with tyrants. We've done it ourselves on this page more than once.

But last week there was a reminder just how complicated those decisions actually are.

The country in question is Uzbekistan, one of the Central Asian spin-offs from the old Soviet Union. It's run by an iron-fisted character by the name of Islam Karimov. His first name shouldn't mislead anyone. He's essentially an old Soviet hack, and his biggest opponents are Islamic militants.

In the past, we've argued that the U.S. has gotten too close to Karimov, in part because he's allowed certain privileges to the American military in the fight against terrorist groups in nearby Afghanistan. Meanwhile, he's used the potential threat of terrorism in his own country as justification for a widespread crackdown on any Islamic-related political party, an approach which pushes more and more young people into the hands of the true militants.

He's also done everything he can to limit the activities of international organizations which are trying to introduce more enlightened ideas into the realm of politics. The Open Society Institute was told earlier this year that its operations in Uzbekistan were being closed, and just a few days ago Internews — an organization working with broadcasters and the press — was faced with a similar shutdown.

So, at first blush, it looks like yet another case of the U.S. cozying up to someone for strategic purposes which will probably backfire on us in the future.

But then something else happened.

According to the Uzbek government — not an unimpeachable source — its security forces recently seized 11 grams of fissionable material, the sort of stuff used to make a nuclear bomb.

Playing the Cold War rivals off one another, Uzbekistan worked jointly with both the U.S. and the Russians on the case.

And that's where the calculus gets complicated.

Human rights abuses in Uzbekistan are real, and they are deplorable.

The press and broadcast outlets are far from free, elections are rigged, and commercial activity is stunted by confiscatory taxes.

It's not the kind of country one wants as an ally. Until it helps get control of 11 grams of a potential nuclear holocaust.

Then the stakes are so high that there are no easy answers to be found. — J.R.[[In-content Ad]]