The Economist labelled Uzbekistan as the country that made the most improvement in 2019.
First, protecting people; next, stabilizing the seabed: seeding it with various plants; and third, to regenerate the water supply into the Aral Sea. New efficiencies in water mgt, esp irrigation.
Karakalpak is a Turkic language similar to Uzbek but quite distinct, linguistically and culturally. The Soviets destroyed the entire ecoregion, a crime against humanity and the planet, in front of the eyes of the entre world, as the five-year plans demanded that the local agriculture be only cotton. Deliberate abuse for the pockets of the Sovietskii bureaucrats.
I went to the Farghona* Valley, where long there’s been narcotics smuggling, but that’s now reduced to very little. A rise in food production throughout the country, with a diverse economy, A big O&G producer now. Ninety per cent of the cars on the road are GM vehicles—bldg them in Uzbekistan.
The Soviets were monsters. It's incredible what they were doing to their slave states.