One of the best expat blogs, Uzbekistan Diary, has been silenced, or at least password protected, due to complaints from the powers that be. I don't want to go into too many details because this person's job is at stake, but it's truly an outrage. The irony is that this person went to Uzbekistan to teach teach local journalists about freedom of the press. I hope this blows up in somebody's face. (The "powers that be" in this case were American, not Uzbekistani.)

This was a real blog (still is, but you can't read it). Like blogs should be in my opinion -- slice-of-life local details mixed with informed opinion rather than straight, cookie-cutter political rants. While I was shopping around for that new blogroll on the left, I found way too much of this: "Ha! Look at them Iraqis celebrating! I bet those granola eating commie bastards are hating it!" Yuck yuck.

Here's a sampling from Uzbekistan Diary:

There is a group of American women here [in Tashkent] who are known for being sexual predators. (In the opinion of some expats.) I can't say which organization they work for, but it is highly respected in the states. These women are all attractive, smart, and in their 30s. They have standing bootie call nights along with a rotating schedule. Very funny. It's as if they have decided that any sexual barriers they had in America were going to come down while on the opposite side of the planet. They don't care. It will be fun to watch them in action over the course of the coming year. Me? While I love Samantha on "Sex in the City" and admire her chutzpah, I couldn't walk her walk. (Actually, I think Samantha is a gay man, but I digress.)