Daily Life in Turkmenbashy's Golden Age (38 page)

100. Hannan, “Managing Turkmenistan’s Karakum Canal,” p. 231.

101. Brice,
Environmental History
, p. 348.

102. Finn, Peter. (July 10, 2007). “Aral Sea’s Return Revives Withered Villages.”
Washington Post
.

103. Hannan, “Managing Turkmenistan’s Karakum Canal,” pp. 230-231.

104. Ibid, pp. 230-231.

105. Ibid, p. 232.

106. USSR Academy of Sciences. (1977).
The Remaking of Nature under Socialism: Desert Development in the V.I. Lenin Karakum Canal Zone
. Moscow: USSR Academy of Sciences.

107. Kerimi, Nina. “Opium Use in Turkmenistan: A Historical Perspective.”
Addiction
, 2000. Vol. 95, No. 9, pp. 1319-1333.

108. Allworth,
Central Asia
, p. 274.

109. A half-pencil-sized cellophane tube of nas costs only a few cents and can be found at most bazaars. Recipes vary, but they can include tobacco leaves, lime (purportedly from chicken shit), vegetable oil, pomegranate rind, and saksaul ashes. When I tried it, it wasn’t much fun – it made me dizzy and a little queasy. Niyazov banned it in 2004, claiming it caused cancer and tuberculosis. Still, the sidewalks in most Turkmen cities were stained with green splotches, where men had spit their nas goop.

110. Associated Press. (August 23, 2005). “Turkmen President Bans Lip Synching Performances.”

Table of Contents

Daily Life in Turkmenbashy’s Golden Age:

Part I: From Palm Beach to Central Asia

Chapter 1: The Pit of Fire

Chapter 2: From Palm Beach to Central Asia

Chapter 3: Welcome to the Gulag

Chapter 4: Life in the Gulag

Chapter 5: Marching for One Man

Chapter 6: A Massacre, a Plague of Locusts, and an Earthquake

Chapter 7: Permission Required

Chapter 8: Without Permission