Turkmenistan: The World’s Wackiest Dictatorship?

It never fails to amaze, just how much of the World's population is at the mercy of a mere handful of brutal despots.

I used to work with Turkmenistan Airlines, their reps used to come over with books just full of pictures of horses we were supposed to swoon over, very weird meetings

I like the walk of health. We should force our politicians to do it while we all watch on TV

A video on Eritrea would be fascinating

One day I will find every Simon's channel

On the plus side, no lip-syncing…

I read about Turkmenistan in a book written by a journalist that visited Turkmenistan, Tadjikistan, Uzbekistan, Kirgizistan and Kazahstan, and all I can say is that it's just amazing how much bullsh*t people can take in order to live another day.

I personally don't like so much use of AI generated images, but I appreciate that this channel labels them. Thank you :)

If Turkmenistan wasn't such a horrific dictatorship, the over the top antics of their post independence leaders would be pretty funny, there are Bond villains who are less over the top.

“Look in my eyes, what do you see?…a cult of personality” 🎼🎼

I travelled there a few years ago, and it was pretty crazy. Ashgabat is incredibly beautiful, but all the streets are totally empty and these vast plazas have nobody there. It's like you are touring the world's biggest outdoor museum in some ways. And there are crazy laws - it is illegal to have a dirty car, all cars should be white, no smoking outdoors (you can only smoke inside!), and other nonsense. That said, it was an experience to remember...kinda like traveling to the past 40 years ago where there were no cell phones or internet.

I lived in Kyrgyzstan for five years, and I had a Scottish friend who had lived in Turkmenistan for over a decade after the fall of the USSR until the government kicked him out and he moved to Bishkek. He had such interesting stories to tell.

Those cotton fields are in the process of triggering a massive water crisis in the Aral Sea Drainage Basin.

This video went from Brain Blaze to Into the Shadows

Turkmenistan was always one of those counties I saw in an atlas but knew nothing about until about a decade ago when I read a story about their ruler declaring that their new national sport would be ice hockey despite the fact most of the country is desert and they had 1 ice rink in the entire country, that sent me down a worm hole and just when you thought their rulers couldn't be more crazy you find out something new.

Let me remind you that Turkmenistan is one of the former republics of the USSR. I served in the Soviet army in 1988 and saw Turkmen, Tajiks and other representatives of the region who did not know how to write their names. This is how it was - the great, powerful, educated USSR.

I need to give this feedback: the "AI Depictions" really cheapen and "enshittify" the video overall. I would rather not have any depiction at all. Especially on the cases where there ARE photos on the internet avaible yet you decided to use an AI image. Why? I had to google some of the photos that actually exist just because I was curious and now I'm just wondering why the AI crap was unsed instead. Just keep Simon narrating head if you want to save time. The AI Crap is making the video unwatcheable.

One leader of that country was so crazy he authored a book and used a state fund to launch it into space.

Not gonna lie, I don't enjoy the AI art in this video. Authenticity suffers drastically.

I went to Turkmenistan in 2012 because I worked for a company that makes equipment for broadcast TV. They spent so much money on the new state TV station - pity you didn't mention that building and show a picture. All it broadcast (at the time) was about 6 hours a day of shows about horses and carpets plus a couple of news updates. Definitely different to any other country I've been to.