Viva Turk-Vegas

Turkmenistan thinks it has hit on the winning formula for developing their Central Asian nation - legalized gambling, and they’ve spent $5 billion building a gaming/resort complex along the Caspian Sea (maybe they should have checked with Atlantic City first to see how well that idea turned out for them...). So in this nation of nearly five million, with perhaps a 60% unemployment rate, officials have created Avaza: a Vegas-style resort with luxury seaside villas, an artificial island, ski complex, and of course, casinos.

Critics say that it's another example of development gone wrong in Turkmenistan and shows that President Gurbanguli Berdymukhamedov has the same penchant for gigantic, but ultimately useless, projects as his predecessor, Saparmurat Niyazov. You might remember the ever-modest Niyazov was the one who crowned himself "Turkmenbashi" - or "Father of all Turkmen", named a month after himself (and another after his mom), and made Rukhnama, a collection of his 'wisdom' a required text in all the nation's schools. Niyazov's pet project was a gold leaf covered statue of himself on a 200-foot pedestal that rotates to always catch the rays of the sun.

Niyazov passed away in 2006, and many hoped that Berdymukhamedov would be a more normal president, but few of his promised reforms have materialized in the past three years and they fear that Avaza may be his pet vanity project. No one has explained why travelers would want to hop a plane (really several planes) to fly to Avaza instead of just going to Vegas or Monte Carlo, though maybe Berdymukhamedov hopes to cash in on gambling Russians now that the Kremlin has largely outlawed casinos in Russia. Berdymukhamedov hopes that Avaza will become the world's window on Turkmenistan, showing the country in a modern, progressive light.

Despite the high rate of unemployment, Turkmenistan is actually experiencing an economic boom. It's thought they have the world's third-largest reserves of natural gas, enough to fuel Europe for the next 66 years, and competition for that gas is fierce, with Russia's Gazprom last year signing a $7 billion deal with Turkmenistan and China offering them a $4 billion loan.

Perhaps using that money to deal with Turkmenistan's chronic unemployment might be a better idea than building casinos for tourists who may or may not show. Just a thought...