Subject: Survey on Media Accuracy in Reports on Ferghana Valley
From: Eurasia Research Center (eurasia2@sprynet.com)
Date: Fri Dec 10 1999 - 21:00:44 EST
Dear Colleagues and Friends
I would like to hear your opinions about the accuracy of the Russian and
Central Asian media particularly in reference to the activities of
Islamist groups. I am collecting articles and reports from the Russian,
Kazakh, Kyrgyz, and Uzbek media on the activities of these groups and
especially on their links to Taleb controlled Afghanistan and
Pakistan.
I am never sure how many of the details included in some of these reports
are accurate and how much of the material is really political propaganda.
With respect to recent activities of Uzbek guerillas in the Ferghana
Valley and Kyrgyz - Tajik - Uzbek border areas, I have seen some
contradictory and conflicting testimony. Writers for the Kyrgyz media,
for example, seem to be skeptical about some of the Uzbek reporting on
Islamist terrorist activity which often shows up in the Russian media.
The Russian media seems to vary considerably in the view points expressed
about such subjects as "Wahhabism" and the threat of terrorism
from a variety of Islamist groups.
I would like to open a some discussion about the media of the FSU
specifically with respect to problems of Central Asia.
I hope to see some contributions from participants in this list.
Alan Fogelquist
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