Comments on: The Year in Review http://www.neweurasia.net/politics-and-society/the-year-in-review/ Mon, 06 Feb 2012 08:32:46 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.2.1 By: karakum http://www.neweurasia.net/politics-and-society/the-year-in-review/comment-page-1/#comment-5370 karakum Sat, 14 Jan 2006 09:41:36 +0000 http://turkmenistan.neweurasia.net/?p=68#comment-5370 Calm down, will you? 1 - I did not not criticize but stated the facts, which are: (a) that the list is not staggering by any reckoning; (b) that most of the reports are copying and pasting. 2 - I will admit that in addition to stating facts, I have also expressed an opinion that the reports are pathetic - because of No.1b above and because of the little difference thet will ever make. 3 - I have laid out a hypothesis that any Russian student society will do a better job (in summarizing the year) than any of those "institutions". That's a hypothesis only, I'd leave it to anyone to agree or disagree. For the sake of argument, I would end by remarking that your admitting that you don't know "what that means" and in the same breath expressing an opinion about "what that could care of" sounds Kafkaesque. Calm down, will you?

1 – I did not not criticize but stated the facts, which are: (a) that the list is not staggering by any reckoning; (b) that most of the reports are copying and pasting.

2 – I will admit that in addition to stating facts, I have also expressed an opinion that the reports are pathetic – because of No.1b above and because of the little difference thet will ever make.

3 – I have laid out a hypothesis that any Russian student society will do a better job (in summarizing the year) than any of those “institutions”. That’s a hypothesis only, I’d leave it to anyone to agree or disagree.

For the sake of argument, I would end by remarking that your admitting that you don’t know “what that means” and in the same breath expressing an opinion about “what that could care of” sounds Kafkaesque.

]]> By: Peter http://www.neweurasia.net/politics-and-society/the-year-in-review/comment-page-1/#comment-5369 Peter Sat, 14 Jan 2006 09:24:14 +0000 http://turkmenistan.neweurasia.net/?p=68#comment-5369 It's not terribly clear who you are criticising here. The report on which the post itself is based was not one of the best, but it is a useful resource on the scope of material issued by the various NGOs over the past year. Admittedly, the opening line is not Thomas Hardy, but it does have the commendable merit of being accurate, if trite. The thorny question remains, however, one of gaining and collating information about a country that is intensely secretive and hard to travel in and write about. That what is written is pathetic, or however else you wish to describe it, is merely a reflection of that, and the fact that most of the world is either uninterested or hasn't even heard of Turkmenistan is of little help. As it happens, I don't think that "any Russian student society would have done a better job," whatever that means, because I don't think it would even care in the first place. Meanwhile, we work with the little that we have. It’s not terribly clear who you are criticising here. The report on which the post itself is based was not one of the best, but it is a useful resource on the scope of material issued by the various NGOs over the past year. Admittedly, the opening line is not Thomas Hardy, but it does have the commendable merit of being accurate, if trite.
The thorny question remains, however, one of gaining and collating information about a country that is intensely secretive and hard to travel in and write about. That what is written is pathetic, or however else you wish to describe it, is merely a reflection of that, and the fact that most of the world is either uninterested or hasn’t even heard of Turkmenistan is of little help. As it happens, I don’t think that “any Russian student society would have done a better job,” whatever that means, because I don’t think it would even care in the first place. Meanwhile, we work with the little that we have.

]]> By: karakum http://www.neweurasia.net/politics-and-society/the-year-in-review/comment-page-1/#comment-5368 karakum Sat, 14 Jan 2006 08:50:36 +0000 http://turkmenistan.neweurasia.net/?p=68#comment-5368 It's all copying and pasting. Most "annual reports" of the institutions from this "staggering by any reckoning" and their opening lines are pathetic, just as the list itself. Any Russian student society would have done a better job. It’s all copying and pasting. Most “annual reports” of the institutions from this “staggering by any reckoning” and their opening lines are pathetic, just as the list itself. Any Russian student society would have done a better job.

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