Turkmenistan's tyrant Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov has visited Belarus to meet with his worthy counterpart, the "last dictator in Europe" Alyaksandr Lukashenka.
Naturally, they found each other in the post-Soviet space, and if you dig through all the news articles, you'll find something about a fertilizer plant (Belarus spends money it doesn't have to get into a world market that Turkmenistan might own...or something) and other purchases and pledges of eternal cooperation of our two brotherly peoples.
Telegraf.by has the news about how the two authoritarians are now going to cooperate on human rights.
What, Berdymukhamedov is going to give tips on how to turn off the foreign (Russian) cell phone service for 2.4 million in a day, and Lukashenka is going to have pointers on how to efficiently jail hundreds if they protest and then stage a fake terrorist bombing?
I've always suspected these leaders go to the same weekend seminars, just like their hapless subjects go to various conferences on democracy and Internet freedom -- only in reverse. "How to use Chinese technology to filter and block the Internet". Or "Bluffing the ICRC in 10 Easy Steps."
But what they're saying publicly is that they will help each other at international meetings:
April 27, Presidents of Turkmenistan and Belarus Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedow and Alexander Lukashenko agreed to continue the practice of mutual support of the two countries’ initiatives in international organizations. In addition, as it is stated in the official report on the results of the talks, Belarus and Turkmenistan will also interact with each other at international forums on human rights.
Since Turkmenistan doesn't even bother to show up at the Human Dimension Implementation Meeting at OSCE every year in Warsaw, does that mean we can expect now Belarus won't come at all? They're often missing from their seat anyway.
But watch out -- now Minsk has Ashgabat's back -- and visa versa.
