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courage is contagious

Viewing cable 06DUSHANBE443, TAJIKISTAN: DISTORTED VIEWS FROM THE EDUCATED STREET

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Reference ID Created Released Classification Origin
06DUSHANBE443 2006-03-06 11:23 2011-08-30 01:44 UNCLASSIFIED Embassy Dushanbe
VZCZCXRO8900
PP RUEHLN RUEHVK RUEHYG
DE RUEHDBU #0443/01 0651123
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 061123Z MAR 06
FM AMEMBASSY DUSHANBE
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 6893
INFO RHEHNSC/NSC WASHDC
RUCNCIS/CIS COLLECTIVE
RUEHAK/AMEMBASSY ANKARA PRIORITY 1426
RUEHBJ/AMEMBASSY BEIJING PRIORITY 1467
RUEHRL/AMEMBASSY BERLIN PRIORITY 1456
RUEHIL/AMEMBASSY ISLAMABAD 1407
RUEHBUL/AMEMBASSY KABUL PRIORITY 1356
RUEHLO/AMEMBASSY LONDON PRIORITY 1422
RUEHNE/AMEMBASSY NEW DELHI PRIORITY 1381
RUEHFR/AMEMBASSY PARIS PRIORITY 1315
RUEHKO/AMEMBASSY TOKYO PRIORITY 1226
RUEAIIA/CIA WASHDC
RHEFDIA/DIA WASHINGTON DC
RUEKJCS/SECDEF WASHINGTON DC
RUEKJCS/JOINT STAFF WASHDC
RHMFISS/HQ USCENTCOM MACDILL AFB FL
RHMFISS/HQ USEUCOM VAIHINGEN GE
RHMFISS/HQ USSOCOM MACDILL AFB FL
RUEHNO/USMISSION USNATO PRIORITY 1457
RUEHVEN/USMISSION USOSCE PRIORITY 1505
RUCNDT/USMISSION USUN NEW YORK PRIORITY 1007
RUEHBS/USEU BRUSSELS PRIORITY 0800
RUEHDBU/AMEMBASSY DUSHANBE 8015
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 
 
DUSHANBE 00000443  001.2 OF 002 
 
 
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 
 
DUSHANBE 00000443  002.2 OF 002 
 
 
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