Turkmenbashi. Dead?!

I can't believe it. The famed "President for Life" of Turkmenistan just died. I'm strangely crushed, and I can't help wondering who the western media will be able to turn to in order to find crazy dictators. Oh wait, that shouldn't be hard (actually, I was just noting an article about crazy old Ahmadinejad in the IHT today as well).

But really, Turkmenbashi (Saparmurat Miyazov) was in a league of his own, and shall be missed (with the exception of the oppressive dictatory parts). In honor of his passing, I direct you to his Wikipedia biography, and share some important Turkmenbashi facts:

-"He banned video games, gold teeth, opera and ballet, and once encouraged his people to chew on bones — good, he said, for their dental health." (IHT)

-"He forbade independent news media and opposition parties, jailed rivals or drove them to exile, and imposed his name, words and image on all manner of public discourse and life." (IHT)

-"Global Witness, a private organization in London that campaigns against corruption, expressed concern about money held in Deutsche Bank that had been under Niyazov's control. It said that $2 billion to $3 billion were in an account used to accept payments from Turkmenistan's gas customers, but that Niyazov routinely used the account for personal expenses and vanity projects." (IHT)

-"Claiming Turkmenistan to be a nation devoid of a national identity, he attempted to rebuild the country to his own vision. He renamed the town of Krasnovodsk, on the Caspian Sea, Türkmenbaşy after himself, in addition to renaming several schools, airports and even a meteorite after himself and his immediate family. He even named the months, and days of the week after himself and his family; January becoming Turkmenbashi.[4] Niyazov's face appears on Manat banknotes and large portraits of the president hang all over the country, especially on major public buildings and avenues. Statues of himself and his mother are scattered all over Turkmenistan, including one in the middle of the Karakum Desert as well as a gold-plated statue atop Aşgabat's largest building, the Neutrality Arch, that rotates so it will always face into the sun and shine light onto the capital city." (Wikipedia)