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"unpaid cotton harvesting" Y'know, in some parts of the world, we used to call that _slavery._

I worked in Turkmenistan back in 2005. Flew in from Baku in Azerbaijan to Ashgabat. Then flew to Turkmenbashi. (English spellings). I had to show my passport 5 times before I got out the airport. Maximum Visa stay was 10 days. The streets were immaculate and empty in Ashgabat. The flight to Turkmenbashi was an eye opener. Chickens, open gas cookers, phone calls and all as we were taking off. Turkmenbashi was a very run down town. We had a few days before we flew to an offshore drilling rig so explored. People didn’t smile at all. The hotel and shops had very little goods. No hospital we were told. There was an American humanity agency whose name I can’t remember and they had internet and basic nursing services. On our return to Ashgabat we were almost arrested at the airport in Turkmenbashi for hanging around outside the airport waiting on our agent/taxi. The police only spoke Russian. We didn’t. Anyhoo crisis averted when taxi arrived. On leaving Turkmenbashi we went to a pub and asked the bar owner to turn down the music. He said it was on so KGB couldn’t listen to my friend and I’s conversation. Fair enough. It was a free for all getting on the aircraft and my colleague panicked when the luggage handlers took his passport and hadn’t given it back. (He got it eventually). Incidentally my colleague was an Aussie flying on a British passport. That caused no end of trouble getting a visa in Ashgabat. The police came on the aircraft before we took off and tossed a whole family in the 4 seats in the front row off the aircraft so a bloke in a makeshift stretcher of a blanket was put there. We found out from a stewardess who spoke a little English he was going to the hospital in Ashgabat as he had broken his back. Yikes. I’m sure the blanket helped. Not!! The flight attendants served tea and sweets whilst stepping over him. The family in front of us brewed their own tea. Arriving in Ashgabat it was a taxi to the hotel where I had a bowl of the best mushroom soup I have ever had anywhere. The waitresses were beautiful and beautifully dressed and never smiled. Not once. However even in a place like Ashgabat there were ‘ladies of the night’in the hotel. There was a curfew after 11pm so we were whisked to the airport 4 hours before our flight back to Baku. At one point they weren’t letting me exit the country as they wrongly thought I needed a visa. I didn’t as an EU citizen. My friend got through no problem so I took my passport and flight ticket to the guy who stamped him out where he promptly stamped me out. It was an interesting 14 days. (Our visas were extended whilst on the rig). 20 years ago and I still remember it well. So much happened in those 2 weeks that this little diatribe only captures a little.

I have a Turkmen friend. We were in university together (not in Turkmenistan). He graduated, decided not to go back, obtained citizenship, opened his own business, was (and still is) relatively successful at that. He met a girl, couple of years later decided to marry her. Before that he said it was necessary for her to meet his parents. He went there in advance to prepare his parents (his girlfriend wasn’t Turkmen and he was very concerned about that). As soon as he landed, he was conscripted in the army and sent to a remote mountain outpost near the Iranian border. He came back two years later and swore he will never again go back to Turkmenistan

As soon as I heard "he banned black cars because they're bad luck" I knew we were dealing with a psychotic megalomaniac.

This sounds like what a 10 year old would do if they became president of a nation

It's like he's playing a real life game of Tropico

I was in Turkmenistan a few weeks ago. The white vehicle rule is indeed a thing, however it only applies in the capital city, Ashgabad. Even then, there are some other light colours allowed, such as very light blue and green buses, and some beige cars. Outside Ashgabad, however, anything goes, and you can expect to see a normal range of colours and conditions of vehicles as you would anywhere else. Indeed I rode in a dark beige 4x4 in the desert.

Imagine him just saying: “You are so slow, i outrun you even with my helicopter ha ha.”

Blaming your dead predecessor for the country's failure might just be the greatest dictatorial invention ever.

We just missed the opportunity to host an exchange student from Turkmenistan last year. Had I seen this documentary first, I'd have fought harder to have her placed in our school and tried to be a lifeline for her to seek asylum after!

Its crazy how very few people get to control the many. Greed and power are the curse of humanity.

I met a guy from Turkmenistan a couple months ago in Japan. We were both very surprised that he was there. He told me some very sad stories about his life there.

I met a woman from Turkmenistan, and she told me a story that confirms all of this. She was a school teacher, who did some faring in the land that she had access to, to get enough food. She was used to riding horses, camels, and sometimes motorcycles. But then, the leader changed everything. He cut the school days in half, with the rest of the day being used to working the farms. This turned a twelve-year education into, effectively, a six year education. Everybody there was bilingual, with all the textbooks being in Russian. But then, the leader banned all Russian textbooks, which meant, in effect, all text books. So she wrote the leader a letter in opposition to all of this. Soon, she found herself in jail. Somehow, and underground got her out, and onto a plane. Only after she was on the plane did she get her passport. And that is how she ended up in the USA. Now, she lives in a city, with no horses and no camels, and she can't afford a motorcycle. But she is alive and free.

Between 2001 and 2012 I have been several times in Tükmenistan. In that time I worked as a flight attendant for Lufthansa. We always had a few days off and I did some very interesting trips to places out of Ashkabad. It was interesting, but I was also happy to leave that country.

Forcing orphans to pay for school renovations! Dr. Evil is jealous that he didn't think of that first.

Just another example of why power should never be concentrated into the hands of one person.

It's crazy how power can make a person loose touch with reality.

Alright that's horrible, insane and batshit crazy, but that whole staircase thing is hilarious. That should 100% be implemented here in America. Once a year every member of the House, the Senate, the Supreme Court, the President and Vice President all have to climb the staircase. If they can't finish it in a set amount of time, they're fired.

Banning beards and naming a Watermelon type after yourself is something Aladeen would do from Dictator (2012)

And here I thought "the dictator" was a comedy movie, turns out it was a documentary.

I do not know what is more impressive. The level of oppression, the lack of resistance or the detailed research for the video.

Im actually now impressed how accurate the TV show Archer actuality was in portraying this place...

*Number 1 food source = Cabbage* *Number 1 export = Natural Gas*

I’m tearing up thinking about the people in a perpetual state of suffering.. this is so horrible

So he built an airport and a whole resort complex for millions of tourists but still hold on to the policy which allows 10k visitors per year. Did he not once thought that these two points might clash?

Amazingly sad for those people who have to live there. Man's cruelty and appetite for power are truly horrifying.

I worked with a teacher that worked there as a teacher for children of diplomats. Without going into detail, it's all the insanity this video cracks it up to be.

My mom is from Turkmenistan and I've been there for nearly a month. Went from Ashgabat to Tejen to other small towns, I agree with what you have said throughout the video.

My friend was in the Peace Corps stationed in Turkmenistan in the mid 2000s. They had some "interesting" experiences while over there. I remember the Turkmenistan government having some weird shipping restrictions. They would open all of my friends outgoing and incoming mail. One particular rule was a ban on professionally printed/published media (think books). They called it propaganda. My friend wanted to teach the local kids how to play soccer as I I sent them a bunch of instructions I printed off the Internet and I think even a few deflated soccer balls with needles for inflating. I might be mistaken on the deflated soccer balls. In the same box I sent a miniature Christmas tree and ornaments. I thought for sure they would confiscate the Christmas tree as a pagan symbol. In the next letter my friend mentioned the tree. I thought in the end they let the whole package through. Asking them a year or two later about how the instructions worked out they informed me they never got them and thought I never sent them! The Turkmenistan government had confiscated the instructions for soccer but let a mini Christmas tree go through.

I was like "Oh at least the second dictator returned some necessities." Then "2.4 billion dollar airport in the shape of a falcon" and had 97 percent of the vote. Hahaha, right. Still a dictator.

Kim Jong-Un will watch this video and say, "Hold my beer."

I've been to Turkmenistan! In 2016 we drove through doing the Mongol Rally. One of the most bizarre experiences I've ever had.

I would be truly interested in a documentary of how these men got into power

It's weirder than north Korea but I wouldn't say it's worse

i had a friend in high school who was a refugee from turkmenistan, he barely remembers it bc he was a kid but he became the most american frat boy and it was such an interesting pipeline

"Humans are the only animal to follow an unstable leader" - Cesar Millan, the dog whisperer

The construction of a lavish Vegas like city with zero intentions of allowing anyone to visit blow my mind. So obnoxious. Wonder what the vibe is like in this city?

Imagine the mental gymnastics you have to go through to build such a beautiful capital, with 20+ luxury hotels and an airport designed for 14 million annual travelers, and then you keep an arbitrary visitor cap of 10000 a year. Maybe he just forgot and someone needs to remind him? Because I cant fathom another reason to just squander everything they built.

I'll give you an idea for a video about the king of Thailand, talking about crazy rulers, he's given military honors to his pets, arrested a guy for criticizing him on the internet, has extravagant expenses and doesn't mind showing them off

This depressed me more than I thought it would.

I love how dictatorships call themselves, "republics." The illusion of choice.

Not gonna lie, the first part sounds like it came straight from "the dictator" move.

They love "The Dictator" movie so much, they turned it into real life.

Endlessly interesting how all the 'stans are so related yet so different.

Very informative, thanks for your work in producing this.

I've had dreams of being in Ashgabat and I am just a random dude living in Denver who has only been to Canada and Mexico.

*_"...The worst dictators are those whose incentives are aligned with the fewest citizens, those who have the fewest keys to power. This explains why the worst dictatorships have something in common: Gold, or oil, or diamonds, or similar._* *_If the wealth of a nation is mostly dug out of the ground, it’s a terrible place to live because a gold mine can run with dying slaves, and still produce great treasure. Oil is harder, but luckily foreign companies can extract and refine it without any citizen involvement. With citizens outside this cycle, they can be ignored, while the ruler is rewarded and the keys to power kept loyal._* *_Thus, we live in a world where the best, smartest democracies are stable, the worst, richest dictatorships are stable, and in between is a valley of revolution. The resource-rich dictators build roads only from their ports to their resources, and from their palace to the airport, and the people stay quiet not because "this is fine" or even because they’re scared, but because the cold truth is starving, disconnected, illiterates don't make good revolutionaries..."_* - CGP Grey, *_The Rules For Rulers_*

The way North Korean citizens clap insanely around overlord Kim, like their entire family tree might end up in prison if they slow down. Is wild.

I love how the comments on this video are so willing to equate this with what would do. "This is Biden's dream!", "This is what Trump would do!", "A leftist's dream!", "A republican's perfect world!" No, just, no.

What a horrible place, all former Soviet union countries suffers. Thx for the video.

He is not a president for life but a ruthless ,heartless dictator for life .

In 2019 I was reminded to close my hotel room curtains each afternoon to ensure privacy for the daily presidential commute. We all figured our rooms were also bugged.

Wow! This is bizarre. I’m an old fart who actually pays attention to world affairs and I knew none of this. Very, very interesting.

When I was in highschool in 2018 we had a girl who was from turkministan stay in our town for the year. She would talk about the place like it was paradise. She was also kinda rude but i didnt know if it was a culture difference or something.

This is like if Sacha Baron Cohen’s character from The Dictator was in charge of North Korea.

The sad thing is, because of the silly headlines that makes it out on the world news about Turkmenistan and its dictators, like the clothes he wears, or the emptiest capital, or banning dogs for personal reasons, people mostly think 'wow, what crazy leaders' and not 'wow, what a scumbag.' when they think of Turkmenistan.

Well, that's another country added to my never fucking go there list. Thank you buddy.

Let's be real, nobody would rather live in North Korea than Turkmenistan. Kim dynasty is still on an another level.

The capital looks so beautiful. It’s so sad the average citizen in Turkmenistan can never enjoy it.

Sounds like it's run by Admiral General Aladeen

So...Cartmann from South Park finally got to run a country!?

Crazy how 1 person in power can change the lives of so many people in such a horrible manner.

I knew Turkmenistan was pretty bad, but this video truly highlights just how repressive it is. I hope the people rise up one day like in Romania in 1989.

I started this video knowing less than zero about Turkmenistan because whatever I thought I knew was wrong.

Can't lie though that's some impressive architecture they got in there capital 💀

imagine getting 73% in a test you cheated on.

Inhuman, depressing and horrifying. I had no idea hellscapes like this, existed in the real world.

They really aren't worse than North Korea. My sister is an ethnic Turkmen, she moved to Turkey to escape (real) racism. While the dictators have been unhinged, and freedom is incredibly scarce, nobody is being imprisoned for multiple generations, and they aren't starving on such an incredible scale. The racism is pretty bad, though. Multitudes of Russian transplants from the USSR era have decided the native Turkmen are lesser because they aren't white. When Ismira came to America, she went wild for Mexican boys 😂 "Gasolina" was the big song at the time and I will never hear that without grinning. She played it all the time and stumbled through her own version of Spanish. She moved back in 2014 to connect with her birth mother and sister and never was able to get back here.

what is so "surprising" ? Romania was like this until '89. We were being literally dragged from schools ( 1st grade ) to pick vegetables or fruit. We weren't allowed to eat it btw

Great documentary. Thank you.

I've watched YTs where people play sim / strategy games in utterly insane ways - either to exploit loopholes or simply because they can. What I see here of Turkmenistan gives me the exact same vibe.

Certified Turkmenbashi moment

This planet is fucked up.

I remember seeing Ben from Bald and Bankrupt show this country, but you make it sound so awesome! ;)

Basically Bright North Korea

If Cartman was president

I love how absolut power allways leads to completly insane ruling with the most crazy ideas you ever heard of.

Very well made video, thank you!

It's everything L Ron Hubbard wished Scientology could've been. But at least he had a navy.

This whole video feels like a fever dream.

If you wonder: Syria is the least free country on the list.

Shows up in the helicopter "Nah. NAH. Do it again. You slow. No... You slow" Caleb City voice

Wow!. Thoroughness and incredibly well researched .

"Hey, you don't see dogs in the dentist's office!" "We don't see dogs at all"

In the absence of greatness, pettiness prevails.

The absence of dogs in dental offices 😂

I can see where Sasha Baron Cohen got most of his material for "The Dictator".

This whole story is just insane, hard to believe it's real

renaming bread is just on another level

It is interesting learning about some of the Capitalist Titans in the US around 1910 or so. In an age of Modernism and Progressivism, they were Utopian thinkers, many who had the ability to build their own cities. This type of thing translated into World's Fair and "City of Tomorrow" type thinking. The Soviets took some of those types of Utopian ideas to another level and tried to do things like create a six day week instead of seven.....because it was more efficient. You can see that type of thinking in Turkmenistan, but brought to an entirely different level.

Fun fact there are no sanctions on Turkemenistan, the country is part of many multilateral treaties with the EU and USA and receives grant money from USAID and US intiatives. So much for freedom

This video is so good!!!! Also, congrats on the topic. I bet most people, myself included, have very little knowledge of Turkmenistán 🇹🇲

A nation run by the mind of a 12 year old.

It's amazing how many dictators think that tourists from free, wealthy countries want to visit their dystopia.

3:49 manor lords when I need to harvest my crops but don’t have enough villagers

Reminds me of the Twilight Zone episode “It's a Good Life”

Absolute Power yields Absolute Corruption and Control.

God damn i love a good Turkmenistan mini doc on youtube

Good follow-up from Just Interesting Podcast’s episode on 3 Brutal Dictators Still in Power…