The Central Asian "stans", as Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan, Kyr-gyzstan and Tajikistan are known by the Western diplomats and oilmen who frequent them, conjure images of megalomaniac rulers, exotic nomads and mineral riches beyond compare. There is some truth in the caricature, as Dilip Hiro makes clear in this new study (which also includes sections on Turkey and Iran), but it is not the whole truth.
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