Long-serving dictators accused of corruption and nepotism; j pervasive, cruel security forces; dissenting voices silenced in the name of the war against Islamist terrorism; worries about rising prices and jobless, rebellious youth; embarrassed Western friends ready to overlook a spot of repressive dictatorship and focus on the massive resources and strategic location. Even the stolidly pragmatic rulers of the Central Asian republics spawned by the disintegration of the Soviet Union must see familiar themes behind the jasmine revolutions. None, however, is yet quaking in his boots. Central Asian autocrats, they seem to think, do it better.
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