{"id":1197,"date":"2024-03-28T16:14:22","date_gmt":"2024-03-28T16:14:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ramblingeconomist.in\/?p=1197"},"modified":"2024-03-28T16:14:22","modified_gmt":"2024-03-28T16:14:22","slug":"gogooshas-country","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ramblingeconomist.in\/?p=1197","title":{"rendered":"Gogoosha’s Country"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Gogoosha\u2019s \u00a0Country<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

For the record, I personally do not know any  blond woman named  Gogoosha. And if I did, I will never tell you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Gogoosha  (real  name Gulnara) had it all .  A Bachelor\u2019s degree in international Economics, a degree in Design from New York Fashion Institute of Technology,  a Master\u2019s degree in Regional Science from Harvard University (!),  a  Ph.D.  in political science from a university in Tashkent , and  on the side, a B.A. in Telecommunications.  She was the country\u2019s leading fashion designer and displayed her creations in Europe frequently.  She owned  the biggest  company that sold fashionable clothes in her small and poor country. By the way, she also owned a monopoly of the only cellphone company  in her country and had a controlling interest in the country\u2019s  healthcare and media sectors.  She was of course a Professor in Political Science and  a senior bureaucrat in the country\u2019s government.  If this is not enough, she was an accomplished rock and roll artiste  and held concerts in Europe occasionally when she was not too busy. And did I mention that she had a hot body, and a great smile,  wavy blond hair and ample  natural endowments? She lived in many different mansions that she owned all over the world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Are you saying WTF? Hold on!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The country\u2019s name is Uzbekistan, and she is the daughter of its erstwhile first president Karimov. The degrees of course were obtained surreptitiously, the business ventures were acquired by appropriation  and extortion,  and you can draw your own conclusions about her other talents! She could be found swaying to her own music on Youtube \u2013 check it out!! Karimov was grooming  her and her husband for an eventual succession. BTW her net worth at its peak was about a billion dollars although I am skeptical about the valuation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I never went to Uzbekistan although I taught in a private American style university in neighboring Kazakhstan, in a city named Almaty. My Kazakh students were rich kids, children of  the network that governs and plunders the Kazakh people. However, scholarships were offered to meritorious students  from average families from neighboring countries. So I came in close contact with quite a few Uzbek students. I mentored two of them  through undergrad and grad programs, helped them profusely with  studies, advised them  on personal matters and provided substantial financial assistance. There were many others, all men, that I hung out with different degrees of friendships and assistance  over the years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 I would like to say that the Uzbeks  were nice, warm and honest people. They are , if you mingle with them superficially.  Underneath, for at least some of them,  there is a trait of religious and moral hypocrisy,  dishonesty and generally  opportunistic behavior.  Maybe I had  bad samples! Nevertheless, all my students, hypocrites or not,  were very bright and well-read. I learned a lot from them about Uzbek institutions, customs and their personal frustrations with the Uzbek society.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Uzbek government and the network that controls the country, though, are  not nice and warm. They are certifiably vicious and nasty<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Karimov\u2019s rule,  after he consolidated his power in the late nineties,  was a major Kleptocracy. Every single economic activity was restricted , a license was needed to import bananas  or  computers. The network (Gogoosha and associates) owned the only major wholesale distribution  center for consumer goods.  Everytime in Uzbekistan,  if you ate  a meal or rode a taxi,  some money went to the network.  For a while, Karimov had the balls to order that schools will be declared closed when the cotton harvest is ready , so that ten million or so high school students and teachers will pick cotton that  will be exported abroad  –  the proceeds  will go the network, of course! <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Uzbeks are proud of Timur (Temir Lane). Timur\u2019s  mausoleum stands proudly in Samarkand ,as one of the most famous sites in Central  Asia.  I always wanted to visit!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This  greatest tourist attraction, Samarkand, was also a moneymaker for the kleptocracy . A foreigner can only come to Uzbekistan  if he  was invited by an  approved travel agency who will make all the travel arrangements.  Technically, you could go  the  Uzbek embassy in Almaty and apply for a tourist visa.  That\u2019s what I tried.  But you will never get your visa. I was told to come back three times before I got the message.  So every tourist  that visits Samarkand paid  money to an  approved travel agency which was owned by (surprise!) the network.  Now you know why I did not visit Uzbekistan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Every major business sector  was also controlled by the network.  Human rights was a joke. Religious freedoms were  non-existent.   After the Boston Marathon bombing  where the killer brothers were revealed to be from Uzbekistan, the government practically destroyed  all kind of religious activity,  afraid that the society would turn into a breeding ground for Islamic terrorists. Of course, political freedom remains only  a dream for the Uzbeks. Their  salaries were low even by Central Asian standards. Not only plundering, the government itself was also slowly choking its citizenry.  During the last fifteen years,  millions of men  have migrated to Russia, Turkey and other countries to eke out a living.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Karimov, the despot ,  thankfully passed away in 2016. The group that replaced his ilk  paid lip service to reform and  freedom, but ultimately turned out to be the same kind of anal retentives  as the previous regime. So the plight of the Uzbek people continues to this day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So,  what happened to Gogooosha?  She divorced her husband   in 2005, her father was not very pleased with it . Ultimately she fell out with her father who put her under house arrest. The successor government accused her of corruption, extortion and many other things. The governments of USA, UK and France and Switzerland followed suit, since a lot of the ill- gotten gains were subsequently used for business or personal projects in these countries.  To cut a long story short, she remains in jail  till today, serving a ten year prison sentence, all her millions frozen in foreign banks. From time to time she sends messages to the  world media about  her plight.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

My heart breaks at her misery! Maybe a young security guard at her house will take pity on her and her considerable endowments  and sneak her out  of confinement!  One can always hope!!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Gogoosha\u2019s \u00a0Country For the record, I personally do not know any  blond woman named  Gogoosha. And if I did, I will never tell you. Gogoosha  (real  name Gulnara) had it all .  A Bachelor\u2019s degree in international Economics, a degree in Design from New York Fashion Institute of Technology,  a Master\u2019s degree in Regional Science … <\/p>\n

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