Which dictator was this?

[progdonkey]

After watching the Borat segment on Olbermann, I mentioned to my sister that Kazakhstan is where the dictator had a massive monument of a book of poetry of his (or something like that) placed in the town square in the capital, and every day a new passage is read on loudspeakers. She told me she'd never heard of that and asked me to show her where I'd read that. I then went to Wikipedia, where I remembered reading it, but there's nothing about that on the Kazahkstan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgystan, or Turkmenistan pages (I checked just in case I was confusing the "Icky-stans").

Does anyone have a clue what I'm talking about? I have a clear picture in my head of this monument, but can't seem to find any trace of it where I thought I'd seen it. :dunce:

[StellaBlue]

1. Yeah I remember reading that, too

try the bbc news website - you can search it

[pinto]

2. Not sure. Was it Belarus?

ed for spell.

[Taxloss]

3. You're thinking of Turkmenistan,

the ruler of which has written a dismal book of musings, renamed a month after his mother, is building an ice palace in the desert and styles himself "Father of the Turkmens".

Kazakhstan's government is far from nice, but it's a common-or-garden police state, not a loony personality cult.

[progdonkey]

4. YES! Thanks. :-)

I think I just gave up the search too easily, since the Wiki entry on Turkmenistan doesn't mention it, but the entry for Niyazov and the book itself does.

Thanks again. :toast: