President Islam Karimov made a keynote address two weeks before the presidential election scheduled for December 23. One of the four candidates running for president, Karimov has been the head of state for nearly two decades now, since the Soviet days. That's probably what entitles him to address all young citizens of Uzbekistan as "his sons and daughters" he "loves and has faith in". Karimov who will celebrate his 70th birthday next January does, however, recognize existence of "their own parents and families".

The address was made in connection with the 15th anniversary of the Uzbek Constitution. Karimov made an emphasis on "the aspects of the forthcoming election that deserve attention" and pointed out that "their thoroughly considered model based on international standards and experience of advanced democracies reflects the values and mentality of our people." Karimov also spoke of the necessity to "ensure supremacy of the law and freedom of the expression of will" all through the election and promoted "abandonment of the approaches and stereotypes of the Soviet past."

What stereotypes of the Soviet past aggravating the Uzbek present Karimov was talking about is anybody's guess. Was he talking about the unbelievably boring Uzbek newspapers with the obligatory slogan "Uzbekistan is a state with a great future!" in the upper left (or right) corner? It goes without saying that Uzbek readers pay as much attention to these words as Soviet readers paid to "Proletarians of all countries, unite" in Soviet newspapers. A whole generation grew up in Uzbekistan conditioned to rely on this "great future". A few years more, and the next generation will certainly wonder reading these words exactly when this "future" is going to become the present.

In any event, Karimov's speech was mostly addressed to the West. It became a signal showing Tashkent's readiness to restore relations with the international community that had been ruined by brutal suppression of the riot in Andijan in May 2005. "There are the forces that keep claiming that there exists certain discord between Uzbekistan on the one hand and the United States and European states on the other," Karimov announced. "It does not take a genius to guess that they want and need this discord to benefit from it."

It should be noted here that it is Moscow that mostly benefited from deterioration of the relations between Uzbekistan and the West. It was in Russia's direction that Uzbekistan turned when its relations with the West soured. It even joined the CIS Collective Security Treaty Organization and Eurasian Economic Cooperation Organization. It is clear therefore who the Uzbek president meant.

There was another nuance in Karimov's speech that should be mentioned. He made an emphasis on the importance of "evaluation of the forthcoming election by the international community." This attention to what the West may say is certainly different from the attitude displayed by the Russian leadership that does not really care. Like Astana, Tashkent is apparently trying to persuade the West that it does not want to be associated with the Kremlin's hard policy in this respect.

In the meantime, the thaw in the relations between the West and Tashkent this newspaper predicted two years ago did not prevent the OSCE Bureau for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights from refusing to evaluate the presidential election in Uzbekistan. Its representatives appraised the forthcoming election as lacking "competition" in a situation where most forces of the opposition were "crushed" and critical media outlets were too few to count. The decision of the OSCE Bureau for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights was proclaimed the day Karimov was making his speech.

Arkady Dubnov, Vremya Novostei, December 10, 2007, © Translated by Ferghana.Ru