Aohell

Central Asia: Graveyard of Empires

In the study of World History, Central Asia is an anomaly. There isn't a lot of civilization originating out of there, but a whole lot of civilizations get involved with it. It's not really entirely part of any other region because of all the influences on it. It's also one of the last things empires touch before they fizzle out into the shades of history.

The people of Afghanistan have a saying, "Nobody wins in Afghanistan, not even the Afghans." Consider:

* Medes: take it and then get overthrown by the Achaemenids

* Achaemenids: they start out with Central Asia, but it's only a matter of time for them before Al the Great cleans their clock.

* Alexander the Great: conquers Bactria, dies soon thereafter, empire collapses.

* Selucids: they can't hold the area and hand it over to the Mauryans, then get owned by the Romans.

* Mauryans: They lose Bactria to a Greek rebellion, then fall apart

* Bactria: Does not end well for them. Overrun by nomads. Not a good way to go, at all.

* Indo-Greek Empire: Conquers Bactria, then implodes due to civil war.

* Han China: gets out that way, then collapses.

* Parthia: Takes the region from the Scythians, then loses it in rebellion, then collapses as an empire

* Persia: rises in glory, conquers Central Asia, fights with the Byzantines and then is utterly destroyed by the rise of Islam

* Islamic Caliphate... gets out that way, then the Umayyads fall and their empire collapses.

* Tang Dynasty: undone after a disastrous Central Asian battle.

* Khwarezmids: They proudly conquer Central Asia in 1205. Mongols arrive in 1219, which is bad news for the Khwarezmids...

* Mongols: Like Alexander, they take Central Asia early on, then their empire fractures and fades.

* Timurids: They start off as a Central Asian empire. It does not end well for them, although one of their rulers has a great re-invention as the founder of the Moghul Empire in India... never gets Central Asia back, though...

* Safavids: They take Afghanistan, and then stir up a massive uprising there that results in the Afghans invading Persia and ruining the place... then the Persians rise up and destroy the empire of their Afghan rulers, conquer Afghanistan, then collapse as an empire utterly.

* Durranis: Local dynasty that manages to rule for about 70 years, then collapses due to infighting.

* British: They lose an entire army in Afghanistan in the 1840s and don't take over the place until the 1880s... and then their empire starts to unravel in a series of increasingly successful independence movements.

* Russia: Takes over Central Asia after running out of Siberia and Europe... completely destroyed in revolution soon afterward.

* Soviet Union: Yeah, like *they* had staying power. They didn't even last as long as the Durranis before things started to unravel for them in 1989... a collapse accelerated by their attempt to take Afghanistan.

* Taliban: Nope. They did not win in Afghanistan, and they're still ruining everyone's day over there.

* USA: oooh, this is the raw nerve... but the sad fact remains that when a nation's soldiers are being shot at by weapons soldiers traded to the resistance for drugs, it's not going to win that war.

I admit a bit of a cavalier approach in some of my assessments... stretching points here and there... but it's a nice survey of Central Asia, all the same.

Come Visit Beautiful Central Asia: Graveyard of Empires!

AZERBAIJAN

LITVINENKO

NUCLEAR WEAPONS

The Fight Against Open-Source Weapons

"Today I didn't even have to use my A.K.

I got to say it was a good day" - Ice Cube, "It Was a Good Day"

Ah, the Avtomat Kalashnikov! Famous the world over for its winning combination of reliability and lethality, this prized firearm can stick it to The Man in more ways than shooting at his entourage or overthrowing his nation. It can also deprive The Man of his intellectual property rights.

Back in the Cold War, the USSR decided it would be really cool to turn over the plans for the AK-47 to any government who wanted to make them, totally free. Whitey was on the run once Ivan's assault rifles got into the hands of dusky people around the globe. The AK-47 put the "running" in running-dog capitalist lackey, back in the day.

Now the USSR is all broken up and the government of Russia is concerned about its own dusky peoples (or dusky-equivalents) getting their hot little hands on AK-47 knockoffs and using them to stick it to The Russian Man. Russia would like to see those assualt rifles go away and never come back. That would make its job of holding together millions of people who want to break away from a failed state that much easier.

But it can't. Those AK-47 rifles are made all over the world, and anyone with $300 or so can get one, thanks to their abundant supply. Even famously poor folks down in South Central Afghanistan can get an AK-47 and launch their careers as mujahadin, sticking it to The Man Du Jour in Kabul. So the Russian government hopes to make it so those AK-47s aren't as cheap as they are now.

Russia is trying to enforce its patent on the AK-47 and successor guns. The more modern AK-74, which shoots a 5.45mm bullet that leaves horrendous wounds - Afghans called it "the poison bullet" - is also copied in factories all over the cheaply-armed world, and the Russians want that weapon protected as well.

One problem with this development in Russia's new-found respect for capitalism is that many nations have modified the design for the AK-47 and patented that new design for themselves. Those guys would tie things up in court for years, and you know what it's like when you take on city hall, even when you're another city hall yourself. Even a former world superpower city hall just can't wave a magic wand and make the Kalashnikov knock-offs go away.

Another problem is that of any open-source movement. Once summoned, the genie of open-source is impossible to shove back into the bottle. Information wants to be free, as every hacker knows, and the world is one Google search away from scoring kits, plans, modifications, and all sorts of neato things related to the Avtomat Kalashnikov. The same way people will always be able to download the latest Hollywood blockbusters one week before opening day, Kalashnikovs will always be out there for assembly and purchase.

The inventor of the Kalashnikov, meanwhile, has decided to cash in on his famous name by launching a Kalashnikov brand of vodka.

The moral of this story for future statesmen from this story has to be if you make cheap and reliable firearms available to the entire world, expect it to come back and bite you in the butt later on. Sort of like using heroin dealers to assist in counter-insurgency operations, but that's another article...