Uzbek government bans motorbikes from big cities

[Bob]

Uzbekistan has banned motorbikes from the capital Tashkent and other big cities. “This has been done for the safety of road traffic and for citizens’ peace and quiet. So there’s less noise,” said a spokesman for the traffic police in the capital Tashkent.

The new law has caused confusion among residents, who earn around US$1 per day and so struggle to buy motorcycles anyway. An opposition Web site has speculated the reason was to prevent possible attacks by suicide bombers, following a wave of violence last year when dozens lost their lives after similar action by pedestrian bombers.

The police spokesman said no announcement had been made about the motorbike ban until the signs went up “Because it was a secret order”.

[Sutage]

where the hell is Uzbekistan

[Biff]

where the hell is Uzbekistan

Almost every country that ends with 'stan', apart from Pakistan (any other?), is a relatively new country spawned form the former USSR.

http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos/uz.html

Scared of suicide bombers?! Eh?!
Sure as shit you could stash far more explosives in the back of truck that under a seat on a bike.

[Bob]

Almost every country that ends with 'stan', apart from Pakistan (any other?), is a relatively new country spawned form the former USSR.

http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos/uz.html

Scared of suicide bombers?! Eh?!
Sure as shit you could stash far more explosives in the back of truck that under a seat on a bike.

Good site that CIA one, I refer to it quite a bit.

As regards explosives and bikes - it was a trick used in Northern Ireland I understand, mainly to catch out newly shipped in troops/officers. IRA type would zoom past on a motorbike, heading out in a direction that the troops could track not long after. When they got there, there was a bike, complete with the helmet on top of the tank. So... inexperienced soldier or officer walks up, lifts up the helmet... pulling on the chord that connects it to the explosives under the saddle... you can imagine the rest.

Before anyone starts accusing me of telling people how to do this, I found all this out from one of Gerald Seymour's books (he was the author of the superb 'Harry's Game' - don't think it was in there, but one of his other books on the subject. Seymour was one of BBC's top journalists for many years before quitting and moving into writing.)

[Ixion]

Almost every country that ends with 'stan', apart from Pakistan (any other?), is a relatively new country spawned form the former USSR.



Afganistan. Waziristan

[Biff]

Afganistan. Waziristan

Afghanistan was a renegade state of the USSR (so the Ruskies thought anyway, but you have to go back about 100 years to get to the bottom of this one), hence the invasion by the Ruskies in an attempt to regain authority over the country in '79 when the nation decided to back Islam. so the Ruskie shot the then president of Afghanistan and put their own man into power - I think.

As for Waziristan, where the hell is that!!!??? (Wasn't it/is it part of Pakistan?)

[Skyryder]

Seems there's a lot of imports from Wankerstan, or is cages emigrating to said country.

Skyryder

[Ixion]

Afghanistan was a renegade state of the USSR (so the Ruskies thought anyway, but you have to go back about 100 years to get to the bottom of this one), hence the invasion by the Ruskies in an attempt to regain authority over the country in '79 when the nation decided to back Islam. so the Ruskie shot the then president of Afghanistan and put their own man into power - I think.

As for Waziristan, where the hell is that!!!??? (Wasn't it/is it part of Pakistan?)

Depnds on what period of history you look at. Afghanistan was an indepndant country for centuries, the power base of the Moghuls under Babur , before he moved on to conquer India, and later of Sher Khan.

It resisted incorporation in British India and remained semi independant through the Raj, largely because everytime a Viceroy sent an expedition it was slaughtered. Large armies starved, small armies were destroyed.

Waziristan lies between Afghanistan and modern Pakistan. A mountainous and inhospitable place , populated by fierce and truculent Pathans. The Durand line (wisely) left it as an independant territory outside British rule, controlled by occasional punitive expeditions when the British would go in and kill everyone they could find, and burn anything burnable. When Pakistan was invented, Waziristan was nominally included within its borders, but the Pathans , of course, took no notice of such nonsense, and carried on as before. The Pakistani government, being more squeamish than the Raj attempted to buy off the pathans by regular subsidies. Which had the same effect as all danegeld. The Pathans took the danegeld and carried on as before.

Waziristan has now become reputedly the main centre for Taliban refugees and operations (as well as the centre of the thriving drug growing processing and smuggling industries), and Pakistan is showing signs of reverting to the pacification methods of the Raj, establishing military bases within the area. Assignment to such bases is unlikely to be popular with the troops.

[bugjuice]

hang on, sorry to stick me nose in here - they strugle to buy a bike in the first place, earning $1 a day, but there's a website for them to oppose this on?

anyway, banning bikes incase they are used as bombs is only one of a dozen. The only way to stop people from blowing up stuff is stop people going there. Or give them a lollipop. Everyone loves a lollipop. Then they won't pop.

[Bob]

hang on, sorry to stick me nose in here - they strugle to buy a bike in the first place, earning $1 a day, but there's a website for them to oppose this on?

It is an OPPOSITION website, ie an opposition party to the government, as opposed (no pun intended) to a website specifically to oppose the law. I feel it fair to say they have more than $1 a day to spend...

Also, it is a lot cheaper to set up a website than buy a motorcycle... unless you're building something really ambitious - or getting it seriously wrong!

[Pixie]

And there was the Filthystan Trio on Spike Milligan's Q8.