[annalex]

Yes: at least in the 70's and early 80's many -- hard to say how many, but that was the impression, -- many of the Muslims in Uzbekistan, possible in other Muslim republics would tell me that they appreciated it that the Soviet system gave them modernity: secular education, women's rights etc. All the came through to them from Russia and they really viewed Russia as a successful empire should be viewed: as a senior partner of whom the minor partner learns the wider culture.

But it is hard to say how much of this opinion was in itself a product of atheist indoctrination. The fact is that once the "king" was shown to have no clothes, religious consciousness poured in and in the case of Asia and North Caucuses it happened to be a radical Islamic militant religion. My impression is that the Uzbek in general are milder in temperament than some others: merchants not warriors.

The uncontrolled immigration to Russian big cities is not so much a terrorist problem but simply an irritating cultural presence; that creates tension on the every-day life level. for example, the Russians are not exactly appreciative of the custom to drop down in the middle of the street, block traffic and pray to Mecca, while sheep are being slaughtered in the side alleys. Certainly it slows down the schools where a Russian kid is now next to a kid who barely understands the language. The legal environment often sides with the immigrant because the immigrant is ethnic minority and so can do no wrong. Stuff like what we can easily imagine in America as well, where also there is no legal protection for natural-born citizens.

[elcid1970]

“My impression is that the Uzbek in general are milder in temperament than some others: merchants not warriors.”

That is exactly the impression I got during my deployment to Uzbekistan in 2003-04. We Yanks were agreed that the Uzbeks were our kind of Muslim; more interested in bettering their own lot than in jihad, deeply suspicious of the nearby Afghans, ready to accept a hospitality gift of Russian vodka, and regarded our interest in Uzbek history as a genuine liking of their culture.

I ran a welding & machine shop. Uzbek employees were Russian-like in their admiration for technology that could fabricate anything from sheet steel or bar stock.

Terrorist acts by the IMU happened in faraway Tashkent & were the work of dissatisfied extremists, so we were told.

Not a bad place for deployment, at all. Too bad we were kicked out of there in 2005 thanks to the idiots in our State Department concernng the Andijon incident earlier that year.