Uzbekistan

America's former coddling the the Uzbek dictator provides yet another clear example of the true nature of American hegemony. Don't get me wrong. Unlike many on the left, I don't see American diplomatic decisions as being primary immoral but rather as amoral. In other words, as guided by concerns (corporate interests, etc.) that don't have the slightest connection with oft-cited ideals such as democracy or human rights.

Lenin's Tomb weighs in on the latest crisis:

The uprising in Uzbekistan is one revolution that won't be branded. The State Department has no word for the protesters, about 500 of whom were murdered by the government led by Islam Karimov. This is the very same regime ex-diplomat Craig Murray accused of boiling dissidents to death and torturing thousands of people each year - the regime is much more cruel and vicious than the former Soviet one.

P.S. And then there's this from The Observer (link via Loaded Mouth):

America gives $10 million a year in aid to the Uzbek security services and police, agencies which it says indulge in torture as a 'routine investigation technique'. Murray said: 'The US will claim that they are teaching the Uzbeks less repressive interrogation techniques, but that is basically not true.

'They help fund the Uzbek security services and give tens of millions of dollars in military support as well.' He said the money was a 'sweetener' in return for the Uzbeks allowing the US to have an airbase in the southern town of Khanabad, vital for operations in neighbouring Afghanistan.