TAJIKISTAN: DISTORTED VIEWS FROM THE EDUCATED STREET

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 DUSHANBE 000443

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

STATE FOR SCA/CEN, SCA/PPD, EUR/PPD, R, P, S/P, EUR
NSC FOR MLLARD, MERKEL

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PREL PROP EINV SNAR SOCI KPAO RS TI
SUBJECT: TAJIKISTAN: DISTORTED VIEWS FROM THE EDUCATED STREET

REF: DUSHANBE 0239

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1. SUMMARY: Distorted views of U.S. policy and goals
originate, in large part, in the Russian mass media, which
dominate Tajikistan's information space. Reputable and
independent international broadcasts in Russian, perhaps from a
CNN Russian Service, would help to alleviate this problem. END
SUMMARY.


2. In December, Dushanbe newspapers published an attack on
ABA/CEELI's law and rights program for high school students,
alleging that it was part of a "color revolution" plot to
undermine authority and turn students against their parents.
The Ambassador responded with a letter to the editor setting the
record straight. That letter prompted an op-ed from a local
lawyer and occasional journalist, Dmitriy Juravlev, attacking
U.S. foreign policy on democracy and on other issues. It was
clear Juravlev was not recycling government talking points, but
was making a reasonably good-faith effort to understand U.S.
policy in a badly distorted information environment. In his
reply to Juravlev, the Ambassador invited him to meet and
discuss his ideas.


3. Juravlev and the Ambassador met March 2 for 90 minutes. In
his early 30s, Juravlev was graduated from the Tajik Pedagogical
University and the Russian Legal Academy in Moscow. He worked
for two and a half years in the Tajik presidential apparat
covering human rights, disarmament, and foreign policy issues.
He left when a new boss came in and is currently the assistant
manager of the Tajik Nitrogen Plant in Yovon, Khatlon Oblast.


4. Juravlev is no dummy. We report his views as an example of
what U.S. public diplomacy is up against on the reasonably
well-educated street. His questions and views included the
following:

-- Why is the United States really involved in a remote country
like Tajikistan? What is your real motive?

-- Other countries like Russia and Iran are investing in
Tajikistan. Why does the United States refuse to invest?

-- Didn't you invade Iraq and aren't you preparing to invade
Iran so that you can control their oil and deny access to it by
China and India so that their economies won't grow and threaten
U.S. global dominance?

-- Your military has occupied Afghanistan for four years, but
heroin production continues to burgeon. Aren't you really
colluding with the Afghan government to poison Russia with
heroin to weaken Moscow?

-- Why are you building the [Pyanzh River] bridge and promoting
road-building and other infrastructure projects? Don't you
really have military goals in mind?


5. The Ambassador responded candidly and at length to each
question, explaining U.S. views and goals. At the end, Juravlev
replied, "I know all that. I've read all your speeches and
interviews," implying that a U.S. official's views are
unreliable simply because they are official.


6. COMMENT: By Tajik standards, Juravlev is well-educated,
well-spoken, and not ill-informed, considering the information
to which he has access. In post-Soviet Tajikistan, people like
him gain their understanding of the world largely from Russian
broadcast and print media. Each of Juravlev's allegations has
appeared in Russian media here. While we will add Juravlev to

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our distribution list and invite him to appropriate programs,
there are thousands and thousands more Juravlevs that we can't
reach in person. This would seem to argue for the kind of
independent Russian-language broadcasting proposed reftel, "The
CIS Needs a CNN Russian Language Service." END COMMENT.
HOAGLAND