A very rare occassion, The Argus notes, that President Karimov of Uzbekistan will give an interview. Apparently, however, the leader holds a firm grasp of the potential for democracy and what it will do to his government if the people are unsatisfied. This is a good thing for the people of a nation to realize, but…

The Argus notes correctly:

At the same time, his firm grasp on the situation is problematic. He has appraised the situation, come to the conclusion that people force governments out of office when extremely dissatisfied, and looked for ways to stave off such a revolt in his country. While he says that Western involvement is not decisive, he has apparently identified it as something he can do something about. The way that he talks about this makes fairly clear that in his eyes the road to democracy doesn????????t involve the involvement ofthe people.