Craig Murray (1)Críticas

With all due respect you can't call one master of the craft, when he died prematurely while on mission. Such august titles are reserved for those been there, done this and survived to regale his grandchildren and students with stories. True Master ends his games on his own conditions and more often than not victoriously. IMHO.

Dear Craig

Before embarking on your new book, I took your earlier one down from my shelves where it had somehow escaped my attention. Well, what can a former ambassador tell me about a far-away country of which I know nothing? Rather a lot, it turns out: I found it engrossing, gripping in the best tradition of Fitzroy Maclean, read it through almost at one sitting (more accurately, lying down; I’m in the grip of la grippe and scarcely capable of anything else). I was moved by the suffering you saw there and your own trials and tribulations.
Only one correction i can suggest for when the book is reprinted in your Collected Works: AL KHOREZM is the father of the algorithm (as the sound suggests), not of algebra (which is simply the Arabic for “broken parts” or something similar).
And talking of Maclean, and to show that I read right through to your footnotes, what has the Bonnie Prince to do with guerrilla warfare? An irregular army perhaps, but they fought conventional set-piece battles. The Man of the Mountains has to be Montrose, so effective in the Stuart cause, only to be let down by them at the end.

Be interested to talk to you about the ambassador’s role when we next meet. I mean, isn’t an ambassador meant to be a stuffed shirt who agrees with everybody?

All the best and look forward to getting stuck into Sikunder

Vincent½

A remarkable book. The dry wit and wry humour remind me of Lawrence Durrell's Esprit de Court, a generation earlier. The pleasure this book is to read contrasts sharply with the tale of amn trying to do his bit fighting against the War on Terror scenario from the inside out and his career crashing and burning as a result. It's a sad and enlightening indictment on our government.½

Uzbekistan features in “Murder in Samarkand” (2006), written by maverick, and therefor former, British ambassador Craig Murray. Mr. Murray’s message, about continuing Uzbek human right abuse, condoned by Western allies in the War on Terror because of Uzbekistan’s strategic position next to Afghanistan, is something we can all sympathize with. His exposure of a dictatorial regime that wrecks any economic progress for personal gain is also a subject worthy of attention, and if Mr. Murray would have focused on these two themes, and the way Western governments ignored their own principles in the case of Uzbekistan, his would have been a very powerful narrative. Unfortunately, Mr. Murray uses the book to show one side only – his side - of the battle he fought with his employer, the British foreign office, a battle he lost, because his job as an ambassador is to promote British government views and British policy, not his own – however genuine and well-meant his own views may be. On top of that, Mr Murray is quite full of himself, which at times is quite irritating, and he also needs to comment on most women by describing them physically – pretty girl, great bum, beautiful body -, which is even more irritating, and totally unnecessary. In fact, he paints himself as a bit of a sleazy guy, heavy drinking sessions and nightclubs, which he just calls ‘unconventional’. Hmm. Nevertheless, if you can read through this, there is enough in the book to make you look over your shoulder a few more times, whilst traveling through Uzbekistan.

Enjoyed the read. Not at all surprised at the way our (UK) government behaved. Reading it in 2014 many of us now accept that we behave horrendously abroad. Now we have a conservative prime minister building up the same stories of direct threat to UK to justify another war on X.

Murray's philandering and treatment of his wife is depressing but does add an air of honesty to the piece.

Craig Murray's account of his time as British ambassador in Uzbekistan, combined with a critique of British and Western policy regarding the regime of Islom Karimov. This is an amazing and honest tale of how a hard-drinking, womanising diplomat turned into a human-rights activist as a result of observing a very nasty dictatorship in action.

Unlike another reviewer, I think I would quite like Mr. Murray, if I ever met him in person. Most of all because of his willingness to document unpalatable truths, whether they are about himself, his employers, or the horrendous state of African politics. Oh, and I like his sense of humour. It's probably a valuable shield in the face of the inhumanity that he has witnessed in the societies he has lived in.

An interesting look behind the scenes of UK foreign policy at work in West Africa. The author is quite unlikeable, in my opinion, and his assessments and naming of some of the people he met or worked with sometimes seem unnecessary and cruel. But it's a memoir, after all, so should be read with the expectation of bias, and some of the other people he met were responsible for the murder of thousands and looting of nations, so... It's interesting.

I lived in Uzbekistan while Mr. Murray was serving there as Brit. ambassador. His account is a fascinating insider's look at what was/is going on in a very corrupt police state. Why the Uzbek government was making so many disastrous decisions in its policy making is explained here. Uzbekistan is a fascinating train wreck of a nation, and Mr. Murray reveals all of its unpleasantness, when no other serving diplomat had the courage to.

A book of curious juxtapositions - important political points vs. amusing travelogue and bravery vs. being a bit of a pillock. You can't help feeling that he didn't help his cause.

Should be compulsory reading for anyone who needs more background into the Blair "poodle" argument.
Britain's treatment of this public servant is an unmitigated disgrace. Amerika will not tolerate people singing from a different hymnsheet. Craig Murray is to be congratulated on A/. His exposure of the utterly corrupt Uzbekistan government.
B/. His investigations and publicizing of Human rights abuses.
C/. His balls in saying what he believes and sticking to his convictions.½