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55 Across - What you might do next?: buyamap

As Good As News needed to buy a map to find Turkmenistan, but not to spot the NY Time's snide treatment of this proud Asian republic, which sits north of Iran along the Caspian Sea's eastern shore.

As Good As News could not overlook the Time's complete inability to use the name Turkmenistan without the adjective "reclusive" (murky and isolation were often thrown in for good measure) and the Time's persistent failure to distinguish between the old regime of President for life Niyazov, a paranoid psychotic, and Turkmenistan's new President, Doc Gurby, a dentist, dental professor, health minister and now President of an administration that has shown some bent toward incremental improvements in both personal freedom and the economy. After a trial period involving frequent, but brief, comments in defense of the Turkmen, As Good As News became the self appointed offical blog of reclusive Turkmenistan, and responded in-kind to a sneering column by C.J. Chivers, the Times man in Ashgabat. Read the Times piece first, it's funny in its own snarky way, then enjoy the rebuttal in To The Ramparts Turkmen.