US embassy cable - 05DUSHANBE2005

UNCLAS DUSHANBE 002005 
 
SIPDIS 
 
 
STATE FOR EUR/CACEN, DRL 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV, PHUM, PREL, RS, TI, Human Rights 
SUBJECT: THE GRINCH CHANGES HIS MIND:  U.S. EMBASSY'S HUMAN RIGHTS 
DAY BACK ON IN TAJIKSITAN 
 
1.  (SBU) After the close of business on December 9, Ismat 
Nasredinov, Post's MFA contact and Chief of the North America 
Desk, contacted PAS to inform that the previously canceled Human 
Rights roundtable discussion at Tajik Technical University, 
planned for December 12, was back on track (septel).  Although 
Tajik Technical University's rector was originally keen on the 
Human Rights day discussion, and the MFA itself canceled the 
event the morning of December 9, Ismat's exact words sounded 
odd:  "We finally convinced the rector to allow your lecture." 
(COMMENT:  Whatever.  So long as it works.  END COMMENT.) 
 
2.  (SBU) Post sent a strongly worded diplomatic note (text in 
septel) to the MFA in response to their diplomatic note 
postponing (i.e., canceling) Monday's roundtable.  PolOff met 
with Nasredinov late on December 9 to tell him informally that 
she was writing this year's Human Rights report.  She suggested 
this current development would not reflect at all well in 
Tajikistan's evaluation. 
 
3.  (SBU) COMMENT.  In Tajikistan, we are increasingly convinced 
that the grade-school lesson of how to react to playground 
bullies is pertinent:  give them an inch and they'll continue to 
take ten miles.  We further note that this decision to cancel 
the Embassy's Human Right's Day event was very likely made 
before/before the President returned from the OIC Extraordinary 
Summit in Mecca.  We hand-delivered our diplomatic-note protest 
to the President's foreign policy adviser, rather than trust it 
to wend its way through normal channels, where it likely would 
have been deep-sixed, and believe that likely caused the 
reversal.  END COMMENT. 
HOAGLAND 
 
 
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