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--Robert Farley
...or at least move it somewhere.
A 246-foot tall, rocket ship-like monument to the late ruler of Turkmenistan, topped with a golden statue of himself that rotates to always face the sun, will be removed from the center of the Turkmen capital, state news media there have reported.The article points out that the hilarious eccentricity of Turkmenistan is rather less hilarious to the inhabitants of the country, who suffer from abject poverty and drastic restrictions on personal and political freedom. On the upside, Turkmen have more freedom of travel than citizens of North Korea; last year the Patterson School graduated a Turkmen student who shortly thereafter returned to his home country.A decision by President Gurbanguly Berdymukhammedov to move the monument was his latest step in dismantling the personality cult of Saparmurat Niyazov, whose often bizarre decrees turned the isolated, energy-rich country into the punch line of a bad international joke. The president had already reversed Mr. Niyazov’s order renaming the days of the week and months of the year in honor of himself and his family.
--Robert Farley
