The Most Insane Dictatorship on Earth
Vložit
- čas přidán 30. 05. 2024
- Play War Thunder now with my link, and get a massive, free bonus pack including vehicles, boosters and more: playwt.link/casualscholar2024
War Thunder is a highly detailed vehicle combat game containing over 2000 playable tanks, aircrafts and ships spanning over 100 years of development. Immerse yourself completely in dynamic battles with an unparalleled combination of realism and approachability.
How Turkmenistan Became the Most Evil Country on Earth
- Contents of this video ----------------------------
00:00 - The World’s Strangest Dictatorship
07:07 - The Cotton Colossus
17:01 - Great Leader of the Turkmen
25:00 - A Dictators Marble Paradise
32:31 - Echoes of the Throne
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
THIS CHANNEL IS MADE POSSIBLE WITH THE HELP OF PATREON!
Support the channel by becoming a Patron today! / casualscholar
Thank you to the channel's generous Patrons!
Hayden Haun, Emmanuel Fredenrich, Wyatt Gosling, A Fan
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
- Sources used ---------------------------------------
- Inside Central Asia by Dilip Hiro
- www.researchgate.net/profile/...
- www.economist.com/asia/2018/0...
- www.economist.com/asia/2022/0...
- www.economist.com/news/2003/1...
- www.economist.com/special-rep...
- www.economist.com/asia/2008/0...
- www.economist.com/asia/2006/0...
- www.economist.com/asia/2016/1...
- web.archive.org/web/202101240...
- www.hoover.org/research/centr...
- documents1.worldbank.org/cura...
- www.rferl.org/a/turkmenistan-...
- Pirani, Simon. “Turkmenistan.” Central Asian Gas: Prospects for the 2020s, Oxford Institute for Energy Studies, 2019, pp. 2-14. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/resrep309....
- Lídl, Václav. “Turkmenistan’s Energy Policy in Central Asia.” The Natural Gas Conundrum: Transformation of the Central Asian Energy Security Complex after 1991, Karolinum Press, 2022, pp. 96-159. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/jj.949055.8.
- • The Happy Dictator: In...
#Economics #History #Turkmenistan #NorthKorea #CasualScholar #EconomicHistory #TurkmenistanHistory
Play War Thunder now with my link, and get a massive, free bonus pack including vehicles, boosters and more: playwt.link/casualscholar2024
Just found your channel, starting to love it. Good job
I just realised this channel must be exclusively for the US? mentioning Fahrenheit and just leaving it there? Breh.
The 37km staircase is the best thing I've heard of in a while do a separate video on that
No surprise that they're a authoritarian country. Considering they were part of the Soviet Union.
How much did the feds pay you to make this video?
"unpaid cotton harvesting"
Y'know, in some parts of the world, we used to call that _slavery._
In the USA it's called working for minimum wage.
“Used to..”? We still do.
@@breft3416 ... You just watched an entire video about a ludicrous _actual_ dictatorship... where the government owns all means of production and thus can arbitrarily force the populace to harvest cotton for nothing while they starve... and you want to compare _that_ to the U.S. minimum wage??
Unlike most people in human history, you were born with the right to do so, so I say check your American privilege and throw it away if you hate it so much. If you don't like it, then go away.
@@breft3416 You just watched an entire video about an actually horrible place to live. Check your privilege and either make the most of your life or go somewhere else to build your utopia.
People in America have no idea how good they've got it compared to most of the world today, and 99.999999999% of humans throughout history.
@@breft3416 You're obsessed
This sounds like what a 10 year old would do if they became president of a nation
Anti-social personalities emotionally often are like 10 year olds, especially when it comes to lack of empathy and oversimplification.
Nah. It is teenages not 10 years old@@hanswoast7
Reading about the guy's ventures is like reading through some of Calvin's fantasies in Calvin & Hobbes.
😂 factz
Or the modern democrat party.
I met a woman from Turkmenistan, and she told me a story that confirms all of this.
She was a school teacher, who did some faring in the land that she had access to, to get enough food. She was used to riding horses, camels, and sometimes motorcycles.
But then, the leader changed everything. He cut the school days in half, with the rest of the day being used to working the farms. This turned a twelve-year education into, effectively, a six year education.
Everybody there was bilingual, with all the textbooks being in Russian. But then, the leader banned all Russian textbooks, which meant, in effect, all text books.
So she wrote the leader a letter in opposition to all of this.
Soon, she found herself in jail.
Somehow, and underground got her out, and onto a plane. Only after she was on the plane did she get her passport.
And that is how she ended up in the USA.
Now, she lives in a city, with no horses and no camels, and she can't afford a motorcycle. But she is alive and free.
Didn't u mean that a six year education became twelve?
@@David-tt1rbthe school day was cut in half. 12 years becomes six
BS
more time working and less time studying and hurrying a diploma is better. crazy how in the west some graduates still cant hold down a job
@@chrisporter9397 dude, people share stories about there life online, when will you realise that not everyone creates random elaborate lies all the time.
Blaming your dead predecessor for the country's failure might just be the greatest dictatorial invention ever.
Exactly like usa demorats.
Same tactic the left uses in the US, except Trump isn't dead.
It happens on democracies too, the only difference is the predecessor is still alive.
Yuck Foutube for constantly deleting my comments.
Scumbags
Well it's happening in India, everyday our good for nothing PM blames the predecessors
I worked in Turkmenistan back in 2005. Flew in from Baku in Azerbaijan to Ashgabat. Then flew to Turkmenbashi. (English spellings). I had to show my passport 5 times before I got out the airport. Maximum Visa stay was 10 days. The streets were immaculate and empty in Ashgabat. The flight to Turkmenbashi was an eye opener. Chickens, open gas cookers, phone calls and all as we were taking off. Turkmenbashi was a very run down town. We had a few days before we flew to an offshore drilling rig so explored. People didn’t smile at all. The hotel and shops had very little goods. No hospital we were told. There was an American humanity agency whose name I can’t remember and they had internet and basic nursing services. On our return to Ashgabat we were almost arrested at the airport in Turkmenbashi for hanging around outside the airport waiting on our agent/taxi. The police only spoke Russian. We didn’t. Anyhoo crisis averted when taxi arrived. On leaving Turkmenbashi we went to a pub and asked the bar owner to turn down the music. He said it was on so KGB couldn’t listen to my friend and I’s conversation. Fair enough. It was a free for all getting on the aircraft and my colleague panicked when the luggage handlers took his passport and hadn’t given it back. (He got it eventually). Incidentally my colleague was an Aussie flying on a British passport. That caused no end of trouble getting a visa in Ashgabat. The police came on the aircraft before we took off and tossed a whole family in the 4 seats in the front row off the aircraft so a bloke in a makeshift stretcher of a blanket was put there. We found out from a stewardess who spoke a little English he was going to the hospital in Ashgabat as he had broken his back. Yikes. I’m sure the blanket helped. Not!! The flight attendants served tea and sweets whilst stepping over him. The family in front of us brewed their own tea. Arriving in Ashgabat it was a taxi to the hotel where I had a bowl of the best mushroom soup I have ever had anywhere. The waitresses were beautiful and beautifully dressed and never smiled. Not once. However even in a place like Ashgabat there were ‘ladies of the night’in the hotel. There was a curfew after 11pm so we were whisked to the airport 4 hours before our flight back to Baku. At one point they weren’t letting me exit the country as they wrongly thought I needed a visa. I didn’t as an EU citizen. My friend got through no problem so I took my passport and flight ticket to the guy who stamped him out where he promptly stamped me out. It was an interesting 14 days. (Our visas were extended whilst on the rig). 20 years ago and I still remember it well. So much happened in those 2 weeks that this little diatribe only captures a little.
Thanks for sharing…very interesting!
20 years ago, still the same, maybe worse.
I love reading excerpts of personal stories like this, they're so lively to read I always picture it in front of me while reading. Thanks for sharing
Incredible story thank you
my grandpa was CEO of company that was building gas pipeline in Turkmenistan, about 25 years ago. He also has many stories from that time.
To be fair if the US president made Congress walk 23 miles of stairs every year, that'd be really funny. I *would* support it.
Biden can't even walk up a set of stairs, let alone 23 miles worth lol
@@spencercorby4571 Did you watch the video? The Turmen president doesn't walk up that stairs himself, he just makes everyone else do it. While he watches from a helicopter and humiliates them how slow they are while he's sitting on his arse.
@@spencercorby4571neither can trump who fell on an escalator
@@juicyfruit4378once not 24 times
@@juicyfruit4378let’s just face the fact that we need an age cap on who can be president. Same with congress and most certainly for senate, both parties are terrible at having not dead people.
Alright that's horrible, insane and batshit crazy, but that whole staircase thing is hilarious. That should 100% be implemented here in America. Once a year every member of the House, the Senate, the Supreme Court, the President and Vice President all have to climb the staircase. If they can't finish it in a set amount of time, they're fired.
😂
Nice one! 🤣🤣🤣
The Olympics don't interest me much, but I would PAY for cable to watch Biden and Trump in a one-on-one trying to get up that staircase.
Yes absolutely need this for Indian Supreme leader and his blind uneducated followers
We would lose 80% of the government because we have a jerentocracy, most of our politicians are so old they can't do much with out assistance and don't understand the modern world from their fortresses of wealth and privilege they have built with our tax money. There is no incentive to change anything.
No way govt would approve that.
We just missed the opportunity to host an exchange student from Turkmenistan last year. Had I seen this documentary first, I'd have fought harder to have her placed in our school and tried to be a lifeline for her to seek asylum after!
Chances are, if a Turkmen even had the money to study abroad, she was more than likely the daughter of one of the elites that strangle the country instead of its wider population, and only studied abroad in order to take up the mantle as part of the next generation of apparatchiks
What about her parents?
@@IndigoAwareness what about the kid who got sent to Turkmenistan....talk about losing xD
rest in peace.
Just out of curiosity, what country are you from? Because in my part of the world this is quite well known 😅 I’m pretty surprised
As soon as I heard "he banned black cars because they're bad luck" I knew we were dealing with a psychotic megalomaniac.
You also have to be an idiot to have a black car in Turkmenistan desert!
If someone even has the power to do that, he's probably already a psychotic megalomaniac
No. Its true.
Black color is just absorb more sunlight and creating more greenhouse effect.
Sounds like trump
It's like he's playing a real life game of Tropico
El presidente!
OMG REAL
"The official language of Turmenistan is now... Swedish"
U can’t be this ridiculous on tropico 😂
@@SublimeSoundwaves yeah the game really needs more insanity options.
Being both successful and sane is just too appealing and easy.
So he built an airport and a whole resort complex for millions of tourists but still hold on to the policy which allows 10k visitors per year. Did he not once thought that these two points might clash?
He doesn’t care because he controls all the money. He is an illogical person who commits illogical crimes on his people. Fixing the country up is as illogical as maintaining his totalitarian state. It’s not about Capitalism or another ideology, or even making money. He has all he could ever want or need, and the lowers that are the whip of his commands on the populace get him what he wants when he wants it, or they die.
In other words, it’s about whether he is having a good time.
Good thing you don't live there. Pointing that out would get you prison time!
No thought, I think (ha ha) thats the problem.
note the 70% unemployment. he's inventing stuff for them to do.
@@tsm688 Ya, you have to be a special kind of evil to keep your population permanently out of work, destitute in mud huts, and uneducated while you make everything about you, covered in gold and white, and hyper-fastidiously clean for the outsiders. Traveling to Turkmenistan for tourism seems like essentially feeding money into HIS extremely self-congratulatory self-promo campaign.
And here I thought "the dictator" was a comedy movie, turns out it was a documentary.
as someone from Turkmenistan: how in the world would that be a comedy in the first place
@@maryelmslie889 My guess is people expect this from the imagination of a 10-year old. It also doesn’t help that some cartoons depict this comedically sometimes (The FairlyOdd Parent, The Amazing World of Gumball, etc). Regardless, this being a actual reality is no laughing matter.
@@maryelmslie889 because ppl in modern world cant believe it
Just another example of why power should never be concentrated into the hands of one person.
They say monarchies are the best and worst forms of government for a nation, depending on its ruler.
Sure, a great monarch might usher in decades of prosperity by bypassing bureaucratic hurdles entirely but a bad one could bring a nation to its knees.
A dictatorship is no different. Sure, the dictator may initially improve a nation's standing, maybe the regime of one or more dictators may be considered wholly good.
But eventually someone bad will step into power and, when the nation morphs into a despotic dystopia, just hope you have a way out. It happened to North Korea, it happened to Rome and it will most definitively happen again.
@regularname1825
Exactly, a dictatorship is just a monarchy without royalty.
And a benevolent dictator who has a level head and actually cares about the country and its people's quality of life might be a good thing.
But the problems with both - A wise monarch or dictator who wants whats actually best for the people and country keeps a bunch of intelligent people around with different ideas and perceptions, including people they disagree with or dont like just to bounce ideas off of them - and those people are allowed to disagree, criticize or point out flaws in the monarch/dictators plan. Basically to keep them from going off the deep end.
But most humans arent wise. When you have unlimited power, its really easy to surround yourself with yes men who agree with any idea you have no matter how bizarre and "get rid" of people who criticize you, no matter how politely and benignly. So, it doesnt work.
Is everyone like those immoral & crazy dictators?
There were kings of countries who governed great.
@@childofcascadiaabsolute power corrupts absolutely or sum like that lol
@regularname1825 "There is at least a chance to get a decent king. The majority will always be foolish" - Frederick the Great.
I do not know what is more impressive.
The level of oppression, the lack of resistance or the detailed research for the video.
Was the population armed?
@@nengyang1895see also: January 6th 2021, Trump. sometimes the people who are armed are the ones pushing for totalitarianism.
@thatJackBidenTalksAbout you mean the federal government right, because people waving flags and breaking a few windows is hardly an armed insurrection. Weird how the most heavily armed citizens in the world still didn't use them even though they have a 2nd amendment right to do so.
@@Watchdog_McCoy_5.7x28 if they had, of course, we would have seen the actual totalitarianism behind the thin veneer of democracy. their contention isn't that totalitarianism is bad (as Trump is a tyrant) - only that *their* tyrant was illegitimately denied the throne they believe he deserves.
@@Watchdog_McCoy_5.7x28they shut down your bank and know all your locations and communications as u can see what happened during January 6
Justin Trudeau did same thing to those in trucker protest
And that’s without even using
Those ammendments imagine if we did
I was in Turkmenistan a few weeks ago. The white vehicle rule is indeed a thing, however it only applies in the capital city, Ashgabad. Even then, there are some other light colours allowed, such as very light blue and green buses, and some beige cars. Outside Ashgabad, however, anything goes, and you can expect to see a normal range of colours and conditions of vehicles as you would anywhere else. Indeed I rode in a dark beige 4x4 in the desert.
I wonder how many more lies have been accumulated in this smear( I wonder if most of the comments were written with the same pen 😮)... Every bow will break if you over stretch...
Turkmenistan is an example of the truth behind Lord Acton's famous saying that "Power tends to corrupt. absolute power corrupts absolutely".
It's crazy how power can make a person loose touch with reality.
Yep. So many billionaires do that, with or without a political seat.
Trump comes to mind, he is definitely not in his right mind.
@abacab87 So true.
Looks up to leaders, like we've seen in this video and wants to have the same power.🤢
Yeah, it's also crazy how sooo many ppl use the word "loose" for "lose" & vice-versa. I rarely see ppl using them correctly anymore. Correct examples would be...
-"My daughter's first tooth is loose!"
-"Be careful not to lose your passport while traveling!"
*Sorry, it's just that I've seen it so much for so long now, it's bugging the crap out of me.
@ashleyw6160
Back in school my teacher taught us a good sentence about choose and lose:
Choose, chooses an 'O'
Lose, loses an 'O'
I met a guy from Turkmenistan a couple months ago in Japan. We were both very surprised that he was there. He told me some very sad stories about his life there.
Do you remember any of his stories in particular? I'm very curious about what the average citizen's perspective is like.
Tell us!!! 😮were listening 🫡🙃
tell us more !!!!!!!!!!
Do tell!!
Why won’t you tell us, man?!?
I started this video knowing less than zero about Turkmenistan because whatever I thought I knew was wrong.
Amazingly sad for those people who have to live there.
Man's cruelty and appetite for power are truly horrifying.
Most countries are not like this. You see the worst and apply it to all of mankind.
@@RoyalNivasthink again…
Yeah people suck
That's why it checks and balances in power are necessary. And a moral code in form of religion.
I’m tearing up thinking about the people in a perpetual state of suffering.. this is so horrible
Cry harder
@@zed9095 why
@@zed9095 What's wrong with you?
Why cry? Those people did it to themselves.
You’re not the only one. I couldn’t do it. But I’m not a heartless apathetic person. 😢
My mom is from Turkmenistan and I've been there for nearly a month. Went from Ashgabat to Tejen to other small towns, I agree with what you have said throughout the video.
Your mom was allowed to leave?
@@bredemeijer9648 I do not know how she went out of Turkmenistan, however I do have Turkmen citizenship with my mom however if we go there it will be taken away since it is banned to have more than 1 citizenships
@@eurotec_ Make your life somewhere else. Why should you live on the same level as a dog?
Maybe ask her?
Your mom went through very interesting experiences.. she must have a lot of stories to tell... Ask her before its too late..
Between 2001 and 2012 I have been several times in Tükmenistan. In that time I worked as a flight attendant for Lufthansa. We always had a few days off and I did some very interesting trips to places out of Ashkabad. It was interesting, but I was also happy to leave that country.
Forcing orphans to pay for school renovations! Dr. Evil is jealous that he didn't think of that first.
Even dr evil won't stood that low
Almost as if these dictators are starting to get more sadistic than intelligent.
Even ignoring morality, forcing orphans to pay for school renovations seems absurd. Orphans are not the type of people you’d expect to have lots of money.
@@d1kgaws12has any dictator ever been intelligent? Persuasive sure… but intelligent? I think not.
Well i remember a funny incident that happened like few years back my school wanted to celebrate Women's Day & so they asked all the girls to participate in a dance event where we all get to sit & watch. For which they were charged a fees to participate. It was the idea of someone in top management no one participated tho...it just became a funny incident for me to remember😅😅
My friend was in the Peace Corps stationed in Turkmenistan in the mid 2000s. They had some "interesting" experiences while over there. I remember the Turkmenistan government having some weird shipping restrictions. They would open all of my friends outgoing and incoming mail. One particular rule was a ban on professionally printed/published media (think books). They called it propaganda. My friend wanted to teach the local kids how to play soccer as I I sent them a bunch of instructions I printed off the Internet and I think even a few deflated soccer balls with needles for inflating. I might be mistaken on the deflated soccer balls. In the same box I sent a miniature Christmas tree and ornaments. I thought for sure they would confiscate the Christmas tree as a pagan symbol. In the next letter my friend mentioned the tree. I thought in the end they let the whole package through. Asking them a year or two later about how the instructions worked out they informed me they never got them and thought I never sent them! The Turkmenistan government had confiscated the instructions for soccer but let a mini Christmas tree go through.
Teamwork (sports) are not liked by totalitarian governments. Also a reason why most asian countries suck at football and other sports like that.
Probably had too confiscate something on the daily. Other than that, his supervisor would think he wasn't doing his job.
@@johngill2232 Hmm, I agree with you in broad strokes, though I'll say that, if a country has become authoritarian or autocratic to the extreme, then it is ultimately not a Marxist state at all - indeed I believe many of these states merely invoke the name of Marxism without ultimately utilizing it at all. Collective control is the name of the game for Marx, not centralized control.
However, there is a fair argument here that the concentration of central power that is necessary to make such sweeping changes to an economy is inherently at odds with the concept of a worker-controlled state. In other words Marxism only has even a slight chance to work from a democratic approach, not a fascistic one.
As always with any philosopher's view of an ideal government, the powerful take the concept and distort it to meet their own ends. Mind you, I do NOT wholesale agree with Marx, and I'm not accusing you of this, but I see many people who cannot tell the difference between a state claiming to be Marxist, and an actual Marxist state - and I must remind people, that a state's claimed position often poorly reflects its true position. A good example is "The Democratic People's Republic of Korea," which is not democratic, nor ruled by the people, nor a republic, nor does it even constitute all of Korea. Food for thought. Cheers!
@@pingu6028 That's actually not true.
@@pingu6028 this is just simply not true, you realise India is like a leader in world cricket, and they also enjoy playing soccer.
Im actually now impressed how accurate the TV show Archer actuality was in portraying this place...
i had a friend in high school who was a refugee from turkmenistan, he barely remembers it bc he was a kid but he became the most american frat boy and it was such an interesting pipeline
I've been to Turkmenistan! In 2016 we drove through doing the Mongol Rally. One of the most bizarre experiences I've ever had.
Yet this dude is trying to tout it as worse than North Korea, and I doubt you would do that in North Korea?
When?
No, no, when did anyone ask?
@@kaydog890That was unnecessary.
@kaydog890 I think i ask.
I think the fact that you were able to do that proves that North Korea is still worse. 🤔
This planet is fucked up.
Same as it has always been
Blame the dumb humans.
@@bestoftiktok8950 Yeah. At least it's got the best night life in the quadrant though. 😃
No it's awesome
democracy and freedom is an anomaly. the natural course for humanity is oppression and obedience
Imagine him just saying: “You are so slow, i outrun you even with my helicopter ha ha.”
I lost brain cells reading this
Kim Jong-Un will watch this video and say, "Hold my beer."
“Hold the beer that I am the only one in my whole country allowed to drink.”
I'll give you an idea for a video about the king of Thailand, talking about crazy rulers, he's given military honors to his pets, arrested a guy for criticizing him on the internet, has extravagant expenses and doesn't mind showing them off
A far cry from his father, who was the longest reigning and, perhaps, the most beloved king of Thailand.
@@mayuri4184 Also on his 4th or 5th wife by now and at least a dozen extramarital kids (probably many dozens since many of them are married and not willing to divorce and be single and likely end up no child support), showing up in tank tops, having a literal p* wife (well one of em at least) and a lot more.
His father was much much better.
@@mayuri4184Agreed... the current king of Thailand is an embarrassment
@@monumentaltravel3745There's also Kim Jong Un too.
@@mayuri4184 and a legitimately high level jazz musician 😂
They love "The Dictator" movie so much, they turned it into real life.
You do realize this is the inspiration for that movie, yes?
@@lifes2short4aname You do realize that I was joking, yes?
@@lifes2short4anameisn’t it Ghadaffy that Libyan dictator arab dude I don’t rly know his name
"Absolute power corrupts absolutely". A famous quote by Baron Acton.
Absolute powerlessness does the same
I worked with a teacher that worked there as a teacher for children of diplomats. Without going into detail, it's all the insanity this video cracks it up to be.
I actually had the pleasure of hosting someone from turkmenistan for 6 months. She was so sweet. Super quiet, like seriously quiet, the longest conversation we had the entire time was 10 minutes long. She was still pretty outgoing though, she loved scary movies and any manner of daredevil activity. She rarely spoke about her home and never spoke politics except in historical contexts (communism). She spoke turkmen, russian, german, and english. In school, she also was taking spanish. She practically spoke english better than native english speakers, she got good grades and wrote all her reports in a very rigourous high school without any assistance. We were told she was likely muslim, but she did not seem very religious.
The 2 things she mentioned to me that struck her as culturally odd about the US were the dog being inside the house (I guess most people had outdoor only dogs). And that everyone was constantly going to the bathroom during class. She asked if Americans have bladder issues, we had to explain that many kids just use the bathroom to take a break during the day since time between classes was 4 minutes to get to the next class.
oh a turkmen in us? in which uni? (i am turkmen too just it is very rare to find turkmen studying in us)
@@berdigylychrejepbayev7503 high school actually. I cannot remember the name of the program as it was 10 years ago. One of the english teachers was a little crazy and visited all manner of “banned places” like turkmenistan, north korea, and some areas of china that are normally no-go to foreigners. They got 1 student every year, and we hosted her second semester. Her name was Kumushay. As far as I know she went to college in Russia. But it was hard to stay in contact with her after she left.
@@Kiwiberries31 ohh it might be flex program but it is really interesting to know that some high schooler was better at english (and knew other languages)
Lie again how long have you been in us and how even did you escape the regime?
I've never heard of this country @@berdigylychrejepbayev7503
@@berdigylychrejepbayev7503 I have noticed that those who speak English as a foreign language to native levels often speak it FAR better than native English speakers. It's almost embarrassing how bad some native speakers speak the language.
*_"...The worst dictators are those whose incentives are aligned with the fewest citizens, those who have the fewest keys to power. This explains why the worst dictatorships have something in common: Gold, or oil, or diamonds, or similar._*
*_If the wealth of a nation is mostly dug out of the ground, it’s a terrible place to live because a gold mine can run with dying slaves, and still produce great treasure. Oil is harder, but luckily foreign companies can extract and refine it without any citizen involvement. With citizens outside this cycle, they can be ignored, while the ruler is rewarded and the keys to power kept loyal._*
*_Thus, we live in a world where the best, smartest democracies are stable, the worst, richest dictatorships are stable, and in between is a valley of revolution. The resource-rich dictators build roads only from their ports to their resources, and from their palace to the airport, and the people stay quiet not because "this is fine" or even because they’re scared, but because the cold truth is starving, disconnected, illiterates don't make good revolutionaries..."_*
- CGP Grey, *_The Rules For Rulers_*
a man of culture i see
and one of correctness
These remarks about extraction economies and "involvement of citizens" make my very scared for the future of Canada.
@@RichardHandler-vq6vl The problem with extraction economies is that they will eventually run out of the things that they are extracting. Economies that manufacture, are better, but not great, because they too, will eventually run out of things to manufacture unless they find new things to manufacture. Not the worst situation, but still not great. The best economies are the producer and innovator economies: the economies that create new products, tech, ideas, concepts, because these generate great wealth and the nations that have these economies, attract the best and brightest to them for prosperity.
@@marcusaurelius4777 I totally agree with what you said. But sadly, I would also add, that those very same manufacturing economies are also the ones that created planned obsolescence, and utilize it to ensure that they never run out of products to manufacture.
@@marcusaurelius4777 by attracting, or rather by headhunting, the best and brightest - these innovative economies also very conveniently create a situation where no "economy of extraction" can evolve into an economy of innovation - because all talent that could instrument such transformation is gone to the greener pastures of an already transformed economy.
They really aren't worse than North Korea. My sister is an ethnic Turkmen, she moved to Turkey to escape (real) racism. While the dictators have been unhinged, and freedom is incredibly scarce, nobody is being imprisoned for multiple generations, and they aren't starving on such an incredible scale.
The racism is pretty bad, though. Multitudes of Russian transplants from the USSR era have decided the native Turkmen are lesser because they aren't white. When Ismira came to America, she went wild for Mexican boys 😂 "Gasolina" was the big song at the time and I will never hear that without grinning. She played it all the time and stumbled through her own version of Spanish.
She moved back in 2014 to connect with her birth mother and sister and never was able to get back here.
I would be truly interested in a documentary of how these men got into power
They claimed socialism was good and took away people's guns.
@@918Mitchell were you paying attention? Russia literally conquered the place. Why would you give guns to anyone you conquered, that's almost Russia-stupid....oh.
Secret Societies. Wall Street Jacob Schiff funded the Bolshevic Revolution. Chick Publications.
This is like if Sacha Baron Cohen’s character from The Dictator was in charge of North Korea.
Well basically he is.
Endlessly interesting how all the 'stans are so related yet so different.
Related in being shitholes
Post soviet countries
@@drhazimanm.hamdan3709 Afghanistan and Pakistan are post soviet counties as well?
That's why Pakistan doesn't have dictator problems...most post soviet has this problems.
@@rubymeaddle Afghanistan is not post soviet country, wtf🤣🤣
If Cartman was president
"You will respect my authoritah!!!" 😂😂😂
@@TheDriller-Killer😂😂
Its crazy how very few people get to control the many. Greed and power are the curse of humanity.
The sad thing is, because of the silly headlines that makes it out on the world news about Turkmenistan and its dictators, like the clothes he wears, or the emptiest capital, or banning dogs for personal reasons, people mostly think 'wow, what crazy leaders' and not 'wow, what a scumbag.' when they think of Turkmenistan.
Why can’t we think both?
careful, your keyboard might explode
@@BuddyIsGarbage That would be best, but those aren't most of the notable headlines that come out of Turkmenistan. It's the crazy ones that trend more.
This true. Though this video talks about it being a totalitarian dictatorship. It's important the message on other channels isn't just "oh such silly man!" Rather that is the hook , then to educate about they are dystopian oppression.
Their leaders are just crazy scumbags.
This depressed me more than I thought it would.
Fun fact there are no sanctions on Turkemenistan, the country is part of many multilateral treaties with the EU and USA and receives grant money from USAID and US intiatives. So much for freedom
I just looked it up, there are tons of trade restrictions on turkemenistian.
Not that it matters much for a one-export country with 100% unfriendly neighbors.
I've watched YTs where people play sim / strategy games in utterly insane ways - either to exploit loopholes or simply because they can. What I see here of Turkmenistan gives me the exact same vibe.
He is not a president for life but a ruthless ,heartless dictator for life .
#Trump
Imagine if all the endless conversations about slavery in US history is channeled into highlighting child slaves picking cotton, there could be some change in the world today
@@Dude-pb5ftTrump Derangement Syndrome much? If Trump was even close to a dictator he would have made the call to arms on Jan 6 and taken control of the United States completely, but those indoctrinated to the narrative can't see the truth.
Epic
In 2019 I was reminded to close my hotel room curtains each afternoon to ensure privacy for the daily presidential commute. We all figured our rooms were also bugged.
I'm gonna say this, and I'm not trying to be mean but I would never go to such a place, I don't care what they are offering. It's like y'all do no research on these places, go anyway and are surprised by the treatment you get.
i was there in 2016 and 2017 for 9 days each and many of my colleagues too. I have to admit its a weird place but not dangerous, people are nice food is great and yeah they watch every step but it was a nice experience and i have no bad memories. This video depicts a lot of historic ifacts but nowaday it has changed. There are strict rules and limited travel fredom but all the basic necessities are free or cheap. No opressive military regime like in North Korea
@@luxchris4629 I don't think you can say that it doesn't have an oppressive military regime when they have a secret police. Kind of classic military regime move there.
@@luxchris4629Ya…but the common people are the grease for his machine, so…
What a horrible place, all former Soviet union countries suffers. Thx for the video.
you know a country's gone bad when you can say the soviet union was better to them.
what is so "surprising" ?
Romania was like this until '89.
We were being literally dragged from schools ( 1st grade ) to pick vegetables or fruit. We weren't allowed to eat it btw
Damn. That's fucked up. I didn't know this was happening in Romania.
@@noco7243 oh ya.
6 hours of electricity per day.
2h TV per day from the only TV station at the time. All 2 hours were the "Dear Leader" telling us we are "sticking it to the rotten west".
There was no heating in winter. We would turn on the cooking stove, boil water and fill these rubber pouches. Hide under thicks blankets and keep warm.
"Fun" times.
Sorry about that
I did notice quite alot of Romanians in Australia, even knew a family, cooked food with lavender flowers and all kinds of weird spices, good people
@@33mavboy our cuisine is crazy complex and spices add flavor :P
Very informative, thanks for your work in producing this.
The way North Korean citizens clap insanely around overlord Kim, like their entire family tree might end up in prison if they slow down. Is wild.
I knew Turkmenistan was pretty bad, but this video truly highlights just how repressive it is. I hope the people rise up one day like in Romania in 1989.
Unfortunately it's extremely hard to topple a dictatorship like this. Turkmenistan government sits on practically endless pile of cash which it uses to buy loyalty of elites and enforcement agencies. That's why low population petrocracies are so stable.
The global community might be able to do something about it but they'd rather close their eyes on that issue because unlike North Korea Turkmenistan sells oil & gas and is explicitly neutral so they don't really pissed off any major regional power yet.
You're falling for propaganda
@@kristoffer3000 okay, what is turkmenistan actually like then?
@@redcrown5154He's just full of shit. Pretend he doesn't exist and move on.
I think the reason so many (Western) people don't know how bad it is is because the leaders of Turkmenistan don't make loud, foolish threats to the West. Turkmenistan dictators may be as insane with power as Kim Jong Un, but because they don't fire rockets toward their neighbors, try to develop nuclear weapons and technology, and don't threaten war or world domination, they fly under the radar, unnoticed, and untouched.
It is interesting learning about some of the Capitalist Titans in the US around 1910 or so. In an age of Modernism and Progressivism, they were Utopian thinkers, many who had the ability to build their own cities. This type of thing translated into World's Fair and "City of Tomorrow" type thinking. The Soviets took some of those types of Utopian ideas to another level and tried to do things like create a six day week instead of seven.....because it was more efficient. You can see that type of thinking in Turkmenistan, but brought to an entirely different level.
Basically Bright North Korea
Certified Turkmenbashi moment
Sounds like it's run by Admiral General Aladeen
Yeah this is Wadiya irl
More or less, yeah.
Your statement is Aladeen.
I aladeen this message
He definitely took inspiration from Turkmenistans dictators for the film, as well as Gaddafi and probably a few others
And **I'M** the extreme one for not trusting my government? Give me a break.
Exactly
Very well made video, thank you!
The capital looks so beautiful.
It’s so sad the average citizen in Turkmenistan can never enjoy it.
That is an ironic statement since the capital wouldn't exist if the average citizen could enjoy it because it was built at their expense.
That capital is the ugliest I’ve ever seen
They have all those white marble facades on all the government buildings there. It’s ridiculous. Rumor has it though that the Italian marble brokers sold them low quality marble. I guess it looks nice but will deteriorate quickly.
Beautiful ??? I thought the word was kitsch (spelling?).
@@andyhurrell Your spelling was correct.
Absolute Power yields Absolute Corruption and Control.
And don’t forget the most important one: absolute incompetence.
Absolute power corrupts absolutely
Not true I give you a laundry list of great leaders that loved the people and did great things for the people. It's not the form of government that is the problem it is the person or persons in control of a government that is the problem. You can have a great dictatorship that cares for its people as well as have a corrupt democracy that only cares about themselves.
I was like "Oh at least the second dictator returned some necessities." Then "2.4 billion dollar airport in the shape of a falcon" and had 97 percent of the vote. Hahaha, right. Still a dictator.
In the absence of greatness, pettiness prevails.
The very goal of pettiness is to prevent greatness, at any cost..
A nation run by the mind of a 12 year old.
Soon USA will join the club..again💀
@@Dude-pb5ftexcept it'll be run by the mind of a five-year old.
@@gaiaiuliaHate to think what Senile Joe's mental age would be 😂😂😂
Mentally disabled 12 year old
Not gonna lie, the first part sounds like it came straight from "the dictator" move.
Banning beards and naming a Watermelon type after yourself is something Aladeen would do from Dictator (2012)
Thank you so much for this video! Finally someone made a great video about Turkmenistan!
My mother is from Turkmenistan and she told me exact the same things as in your video! There are a lot more stuff but you did it so great.
I want to visit the country, but I'm afraid that I can't leave Turkmenistan because of my dual citizenship, which I can't give up.
Stranger's advice, I personally wouldn't go. I don't think the risk is worth it at all. Wait until it gets better, if it wver does.
good god, even the states is a risky visit these days, you do not want to go there. especially with the tales of other people visiting their family in turkmenistan and never leaving.
I love how absolut power allways leads to completly insane ruling with the most crazy ideas you ever heard of.
Then followed by overwhelming plutocracy or crony capitalism and then turns to chaos in the streets and then Revolution.
@@Toneloke-3000 Not necessarily. Revolution will only happen if the people grow out of their sheep mentality that is ingrained to them by their tradition/culture/environment/etc.. Just look at China; Mao and CCP slaughtered dozens of millions of their own people, commit war crimes daily and have nearly Orwellian level of monitoring and Chinese people are still praising them and thinking that's the best for them.
Capitalism is self determinism...When this ideology is corrupted by monopoly and Crony rule of oligarchs, it becomes what you young Commies think of as Fascism...
Communism is the absolute worst type of rule, because it allows No One but the specially anointed or the politically aligned to benefit while the 99.99% live lives of emptiness and futility...
Not always.
@@salahudinfarah221lol example?
When I was in highschool in 2018 we had a girl who was from turkministan stay in our town for the year. She would talk about the place like it was paradise. She was also kinda rude but i didnt know if it was a culture difference or something.
I'm going to guess that only the super rich and well-connected are sending their kids to high school exchange programs outside the country so wealth and privilege might explain both why she loved Turkmenistan so much and why she was not very nice.
I love how the comments on this video are so willing to equate this with what would do. "This is Biden's dream!", "This is what Trump would do!", "A leftist's dream!", "A republican's perfect world!"
No, just, no.
Inhuman, depressing and horrifying. I had no idea hellscapes like this, existed in the real world.
More common than you think unfortunately too
This is the default for society. Freedom is an expirament
@@ecowanderer6099how is it more common if we don’t know they exist?? Westerners should’ve be thankful
@@MasteIsIllmatic Shame then we get the hordes invading the west ruining it. Should be fixed soon though.
Good reminder to be grateful for my freedom.
This whole video feels like a fever dream.
sad but true
sad but true
sad but true
sad but true
sad but true
"Humans are the only animal to follow an unstable leader" - Cesar Millan, the dog whisperer
Imagine the mental gymnastics you have to go through to build such a beautiful capital, with 20+ luxury hotels and an airport designed for 14 million annual travelers, and then you keep an arbitrary visitor cap of 10000 a year. Maybe he just forgot and someone needs to remind him? Because I cant fathom another reason to just squander everything they built.
I think it was make-work to fight unemployment.
This whole story is just insane, hard to believe it's real
Well I mean, one of the sources is the literal CIA propaganda outlet Radio Free Europe, if it sounds too ridiculous to be true and the sources are that bad then it's very likely not true.
I don't believe it's real either buddy
Despots are indeed insane. They are tragically also very real. The disbelief and/or denial of that fact from otherwise reasonable people helps to keep them in power, btw..
The tooth fairy and Santa Claus don't exist, yet people claim they do.
Same for the reptilians or that God doesn't exist.
The mexican drug lords don't exist either.
When I read the title I just knew it was Turkmenistan
Imagine you were the Monarch of such a country, imagine you basically had creative mode on, you got so many great options, but all dictators waste their money on absurd projects instead of things the people and the world actually want...
Meglomaniacs
north america is not without its share of this. in the great depression many governments undertook strange projects just to ease unemployment a little bit. My home city possesses the guiness record for longest bridge over the shortest length of water. It's all art decoed up, but they didn't put anyone's damned face on it.
For this guy its probably win-win - they're "grateful" to have any work at all, and he gets more trophies.
The construction of a lavish Vegas like city with zero intentions of allowing anyone to visit blow my mind. So obnoxious. Wonder what the vibe is like in this city?
Could be make-work, to offset unemployment. Dude probably gets a fuzzy feeling thinking of the work he gives to his poor people.
@@tsm688 China has actually done the same with these massive city’s that stay uninhabited. They did this heavily through Covid to make their economy appear to be doing well.
I really like your videos. They're very informative and well-researched, I'm glad to see another video on a topic I knew nothing about. Thank you for making them!
Thank you for watching them!!
This video is so good!!!! Also, congrats on the topic. I bet most people, myself included, have very little knowledge of Turkmenistán 🇹🇲
Çok üzülüyorum halimize
@@Qwerka eso mismo me pregunto yo 🤔
Don't worry, you didn't learn anything about Turkmenistan here, this is unashamed propaganda from beginning to end.
Please please explain@@kristoffer3000
@@kristoffer3000 🙄👎🏻
*Number 1 food source = Cabbage*
*Number 1 export = Natural Gas*
When Russia looks like paradise.
Russia nowadays really isnt THAT bad to live in, if it was you wouldn't have any russian youtubers, anyone to enjoy their life there AT ALL and probably zero users on video games from there. Hell there's literally furries in Russia, and they don't even get arrested. There's americans who I know personally that live there too, its a different culture and set of rules but overall if you can follow it, it's fine, like any other country on earth. I can't do the same things in Sweden or Canada that I can do in the US, same logic.
Reminds me of the Twilight Zone episode “It's a Good Life”
If you wonder: Syria is the least free country on the list.
To think it used to be called the Paris of the Middle East or whatever. Before others got in to the place.
@@PwerRanger01That was Beirut. It's also been allowed to fall apart.
that’s weird. aren’t Syrians at least allowed to flee their country? what makes Syria worse than Turkmenistan?
@@Nickel_Eye There is one thing you have to remember when looking at this, and that's that the country's position on the list does NOT take into account the (unmeasurable and unquantifiable) real power of the government. Sure, Turkmenistan and Syria might be able to legislate/decree all this crazy shit, but their ability to enforce it is a lot weaker than you'd imagine. It's easy enough policing the streets of a populated capital city, but how do you enforce the law of the land upon a nomad?
How do you prosecute a nomadic herder for breaking the law? Does a nomad give a fuck whether or not you need to ask permission to assemble? Whose going to stop him and his buddies?
And of course with regards to Syria, as with a lot of these places it is RIDDLED with organised crime which undermines the power of the state, the most prevalent of these by far is the Albanian mafia who are responsible for a lot of the refugee flood into Europe.
It's one of the reasons that calling Taliban controlled Afghanistan a super authoritarian country is fucking dumb as hell. Most of Afghanistan is in total anarchy with no functional government at all. Tribal elders govern according to religious law and tribal customs with no one above them. The Taliban basically just control the major cities and a couple of the places they hid in while the US held those cities. Not that they're nice, of course they're not, and it's also true that the tribal customs that are sporadically enforced by elders in different valleys tend to be far more draconian than Western civil customs for example, but y'know, that's basically just the country's culture manifesting as a substitute for a government.
We know North Korea as the worst because they don't have this.
Organised crime, although still present is nowhere near as debilitating in North Korea as it is in Turkmenistan. Likewise, North Koreas population is not nomadic, and the North Korean state is MUCH more easily able to project power and enforce it's will upon the territory it controls in a way that Syria, Turkmenistan and ESPECIALLY Afghanistan just cannot do.
There are lots of places to hide from the state in Turkmenistan, in fact you probably wouldn't even realise you're in such a wacky country with such an absurd leader in most places that you go since it's so rural. In North Korea though, everywhere you go, you'd know EXACTLY what country you are in.
@@Nickel_Eye Constant civil war?
So well done.
Not as crazy as arresting healthy people surfing alone because they might magically transmit a cold over 300 metres without even sneezing.
strawman.
@@tsm688 relevant comparison, not a strawman. I'm not arguing against a point he didn't make, just introducing neglected information.
People are finding this funny, but it's really not. What you are seeing is what any human is capable of doing if given power but has no consequences.
Completely agree. I feel nothing but sad (ok, angry too) for the people. It is only by miracle of birth that we aren't citizens of a place like this, and we have a duty to protect our freedoms and help in any way we can these people. Anyone finding this funny is SO ignorant. These people are no different from us except how much they're suffering and what they've been taught to believe. 😢
Yes …I find it scary as hell…..the fact that many of the people in this country are functioning as useful ideas …..reminds how bad it could get …..this goes downhill slowly …until it goes really fast….we may just now be entering the fast phase….and things will happen so fast it will be difficult stop or even slow this hulking Marxist machine ….the long slow march through the institutions has happened …..we are moving to stage 2…..you don’t want to know stage 3….hope we don’t find out…..stay strong
@@mylastduchess9998this is what will happen if trump becomes prez 🇨🇦
@@marigauthier3475 its what the left AND rightwing are trying to do. Not just Trump. You would have to be a dumb boomer to think either side isnt trying. You can see plainly with whistle blower assasinations and all other proof… like companies being allowed to profit off peoples health… how dupont got away with exposing pregnant women to chemicals that caused birth defects. The list or corporations allowed to do these things with little to no consequences is held up by both sides. Current leading american political parties are both malevolent corporatists.
@@mylastduchess9998You cant help the world anymore. Nobody wants your help, "world police"
"Hey, you don't see dogs in the dentist's office!"
"We don't see dogs at all"
What a crazy place that almost no one in the West has ever heard of.
Wow! This is bizarre. I’m an old fart who actually pays attention to world affairs and I knew none of this. Very, very interesting.
these places don't relish any sort of outside attention unless you've got 9 digit cheques. if we ever hear about them it's by accident
What makes me the saddest is that the people of Turkmenistan have no way to change the course of their country because of the relentless opression done by their own leaders. They are locked into a totalitarian hell-hole. I hope that this will change one day in the future and we will hear voices that we couldn't hear before.
and yet their incarceration rate is not any higher than that of the "land of the free."
@@user-xf4es7eh9y"B-b-but USA IS WORSE"
@@user-xf4es7eh9y rusky bot
@@user-xf4es7eh9y yeah, they have effective graveyards to reduce overloading of penitentiary system
based on what? Your imagination? Americans are so desensitized to violence that they have not even the slightest clue that the US is a vastly more violent society than any of the random places they can't find on a map yet don't hesitate to imagine the worst things about. It's all rather hilarious.
Lets come back to reality for a moment and look at world bank data. you know, actual empirical evidence, that thing most Americans seem to be allergic to.
Burglaries. US has 476 times more than Tajikistan.
Drug use. US has 4 times more.
Incarceration rate. About the same, tie for #1, congrats you're #1!! woo.
Capital punishment. Tie. Congrats you are #1!
Rape. The US has 55 times more.
Violent crime. The US has 89 times more.
Murder rate. The has 91 times more.
prisoners per capita, The US has 4x more.
renaming bread is just on another level
Replace bread with pronouns and cotton with EV's and this sounds a lot like the senile ole joe Bribem and demcorat administration.
it would be interesting to track this man's mental progress from election to cult leader. how long it takes for ultra narcissm to take irreversible root when literally nobody can say no to you.
A new barber I met not too long ago freshly arrived in Canada from Turkmeneistan. I knew very little about the country and the region, I knew there was repression there but not to this level. He told me about all the white paint, his time in the military (conscription) and how he didnt miss home.
Why do we allow these leaders to exist? I'd rather die than give him a minute of control over me.
It looks like you wouldn't even get the choice 😂
Due to evolutionary reasons, most people are conformist cowards. This makes them easy prey for psychopaths.
You seem to think you control the world and that tyrants would bow to you? It's strange that you don't seem to understand any history. This form of totalitarianism is more the norm throughout history, a cruel and powerful cadre, headed by one even crueler leader always takes over. Big gangs developing out of smaller gangs, fighting for dominance, coming and going across the landscape during battles. Take a look at the middle east, human behviour stays the same, read some of the oldest writings and the bible and you will see how to predict what most humans will always do - always the same behaviour, men and women. Democracy is the exception, not the rule in most countries in the world. Some pretend to have voting.
America and Western countries are an amazing exception to totalitarian rule, These Western countries are where an experiment is happening, hoping to let people have a say in what happens to them, a form of self-rule. Very unusual and America has been working quite well but communism started infiltrating the universities and the government - the result has not been good. Perhaps they can take it all back from the would-be totalitarians. The islamics are the most well know totalitarian invaders and they are still at it - extremely dangerous, they seem to now have established Gazas in many countries, FOBs, can they be removed....?. We live in interesting and strange times, as usual. Regards.
They threaten your family.
Government is an organized force. Oppozition is not. Thats why
Megalomania - never goes out of style.
Coronation of Caligula
So sad to see so many former Soviet countries still suffering from Soviet policies. Some of them broke away, only to continue Soviet-era policies tactics within their own countries. So many millions are still suffering.
It is just beyond insane!
It's always easier to go back to what you know than to boldly march toward an open and free future.