October 23, 2002

The political situation continues to deteriorate in the region, with corruption and abuse of power continuing and popular unrest becoming more public and violent. The US is urging the dictators of the region to shape up, but these guys do not appear to know how. American Special Forces have been visiting most of the Central Asian nations for the last few years and report a complex tangle of grievances and poor government that is generating the unrest. At the moment it's not a matter of if more rebel organizations appear, but when. There are non-religious reform groups now competing with the more feared Islamic ones.