Turkmenistan Bans Black Cars, Because its President Likes White Ones

Famine
There's at least three alternate, accepted ways of spelling it too :D
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I saw that when I Googled him (them?) to test my retention of the spelling [used here]. :lol:

Edit: Incidentally--and undoubtedly temporarily--I've still got it:

Berdimukhamedow
 
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its-alright-cause-its-all-white.jpg
 
Don't care how its spelled, not saying it or pronouncing it. THAT guy is all I'm calling him :lol:
 
The gif may be ancient but it still gets used a lot.

Famine was probably riffing on the other user that he quotes.
 
Hehe, I heard that. Reportedly, the law banning black cars was signed about 2 years ago (and the import of black cars was halted), but recently, it started acting. The traffic police evacuates all black cars and returns them after the owner pays a fine, and tell him* to repaint the car. They don't tell why, they only say "white color brings luck!". The repaint price has grown twice.

* - Why him? Because recently, in December 2017, women have been banned from driving cars. Although Saudi Arabia allowed its women to drive, there's now another country like this.

However, Turkmenistan (or Turkmenia, as we call it here in Russia) isn't completely like North Korea. They have access to Internet (but some sites like YouTube, Facebook and Twitter are blocked). They have presidental elections (after Niyazov's death). And it looks like they can leave their country. In my university, there was a guy from Ashkhabad studying with me. A funny guy, didn't look like he was oppressed or anything.
 
Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan are actually one of the worst of the post soviet countries. Uzbekistan even has gulag camps.
 
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If I were president, I'd say: Ban those ugly Kia Soul, I don't like 'em, throw 'em to the pit, and then explode the pit.


Or I just say: Ban black cars, because I like white ones.
 
Maddens Raiders
No worries. Carry on your way..
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I don't think Famine had ever even considered not carrying on his way...

Famine
You don't know the half of it with Niyazov.

He renamed days of the week, months and even random things after himself and his family. He literally abolished the Turkmen word for bread, and replaced it with his mother's name. That may have been awkward, as he also renamed April for her...
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That sounds very, very Aladeen. It makes me a bit Aladeen.
 
Moglet
That sounds very, very Aladeen. It makes me a bit Aladeen.
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♫ "You ain't never had a friend, never had a friend,
You ain't never had a friend, never had a friend,
You ain't never had a friend like me." ♫
 
The only reason I could think of when banning any sort of car colour makes any remote bit of sense would be if Canada banned white cars due to visibility in a snowstorm.
 
SestoScudo
www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/fred-hiatt-an-oppressive-central-asian-regime-hides-in-plain-sight/2014/11/30/eab84368-74d8-11e4-9d9b-86d397daad27_story.html?utm_term=.f9619f34e4ad

May not be north korean like levels. But thousands are kept in gulag like prisons. Not to mention many are forced to pick cotton.
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Does that journalist even know what "GULag" is? There are such things as "prisons" in every country, and thousands are kept in them, too.

About picking cotton, they had a practice of sending students and state workers to pick cotton, but since 2017 it's no longer mandatory. (That wasn't slavery though, it was like a part of their job.)

What I know of Uzbekistan is that it's a poor country, but I never had an idea that it's North Korea-like. If it was, there wouldn't be so many Uzbek migrants in Russia cruising here and there. They also produce cars (unlike Turkmenistan, which bans them) - license-built Daewoo and Chevies.
 

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