By day Ted Rall is a scathing and often very controversial political cartoonist but for the past few years hes been concentrating on releasing non-fiction accounts of his journeys overseas. Before his latest work, Rall had released To Afghanistan and Back which chronicled records his experiences during a trip to Afghanistan during the U.S. bombing. This past summer Rall released Silk Road to Ruin which perfectly encapsulates everything everyone in the world should know about the Stan region of the world.
Buy Silk Road to Ruin
Daniel Robert Epstein: As an intelligent person, what were your expectations going into Central Asia?
Ted Rall: Well I dont know if Im an intelligent person or not, I think Ill leave that to others to judge. But the first time I went to central Asia, I didnt have expectations other than I knew that it would probably be interesting, that I would learn a lot about other people and myself. My original plan was to go and do no research but I realized that was impractical so I read the Lonely Planet Guide and some histories so I had some idea that corruption was going to be a problem.
DRE: Did you know this was going to turn into a ten year long project?
TR: Absolutely not. I had been very curious about the region ever since I was a kid because of its remoteness and the exoticism. But I really just wanted to go and the first trip was such a miserable experience both physically and practically that I was like, Well I got that out of my system. It was interesting, but it sucked and Im never going back. But there are Vietnam veterans who came back from the war and probably thought theyd never go back to Vietnam, then they dream about it and cant get it out of their minds, well, Central Asia was like that for me. I just couldnt stop thinking about it and I needed to get back. It made me feel so alive and it was so fascinating and I just felt I was missing where the action is. Its messed up in a lot of ways but things are in transition there that are affecting the whole world.
DRE: People have said that it is basically the next Middle East.
TR: Yeah, that was the shocking conclusion that I drew from my first trip. Obviously we know about the instabilities in the Middle East. But with Central Asia you have all of these former Soviet dictatorships run by the same guys who ran them under the Soviet period, with the exception of one, that are propped up by the US CIA and are reviled and despised by their populations. They are sitting atop tens of millions of barrels of untapped oil with widening disparity of wealth between a corrupt elite supported by us and millions of people who hate them and view us as their enemy because were propping up the people who are oppressing them. I think as bad as the Middle East is, Central Asia is worse because more is at stake and there are so many colliding factors. Theres rising Islamism, theres lingering totalitarianism. Theres United States supported dictatorships. It has a widening disparity of wealth, huge resources of oil and natural gas so its a really evil combination.
DRE: Of course the way youre talking basically sounds like what the Middle East was in the 70s.
TR: Yeah, Central Asia has potentially more oil than the Middle East.
DRE: Why isnt information like that as widely known?
TR: Certainly the US government has no interest in publicizing what theyre up to but really it is the medias fault and its also the fault of geography. Central Asia is hard to get to and hard to travel in. Mostly because of the nature of the closed borders, the visas being so hard to come by and also because the transportation is dodgy. So press outlets in the United States have been so reluctant to invest in overseas bureaus, therefore at any given time its unlikely that theres even as many as one foreign correspondent agent in all of Central Asia for the major American press outlets. So if something happens there you cant really get someone there to cover it until its over. You would have to have people stationed in these countries, not just in the capitals but also in provincial capitals.
DRE: Im not someone who thinks American news organizations are stupid, but do they think too much in the short term?
TR: It is pack journalism. Saudi Arabia became interesting after there were a lot of things that brought it to the attention of the west. I remember there was the death of a princess on video that somehow captured the public imagination about Saudi Arabia in a way that no analyses ever did. Central Asia just never had a moment like that. Thats going to change at some point when the next major terrorist attack occurs, which will probably originate from Central Asia. One story I like to tell is about Ahmed Rashid who wrote the introduction to my book. His book Taliban came out in 2004 and its really more about Central Asia oil pipeline politics than it is about the Taliban. The book had only sold a couple thousand copies before 9/11 and then after 9/11 everyone went and Googled Taliban and found his text and he sold between five and six million copies. I always like to say 9/11 might not have happened if Americans had bought five or six million copies of Taliban before 9/11. In a way I wrote this book thinking the same way. I thought the sales will not do too well until the next major terrorist attack, which will probably come out of Central Asia and when it does a lot of people are going to die but Ill sell a lot of books.
DRE: Oh my God. [laughs] Youre so funny to say that on the record.
TR: [laughs] Hey its not like Im killing them. People dont want to pay attention. They dont care. Its not my fault; its just the way it is.
DRE: How did you convince your wife to come with you?
TR: Well shes a brilliant person, incredibly curious and shes more fearless than I am. When I wanted to go to Afghanistan theres no way I could have prevented her from going with me. She intimidated guys who were brandishing AK-47s.
DRE: Are you planning to have different safety precautions when you go back?
TR: There are no safety precautions. You have to be alert and to strictly observe all the cultural morays as much as possible. You dont give people an excuse to hurt you but the truth is, its a dangerous place for foreigners as well as locals. Life is cheap, you could die and if you dont expect that, you shouldnt go. Thats just reality.
DRE: What are the regular citizens in Central Asia like?
TR: Well its like asking what a typical American is like. There is no typical American and theres really no typical Central Asian. There are these big, sweeping, ethnic stereotypes. For instance, the Tajiks are reputed to be a little bit dimwitted as are the Turkmen. Uzbeks are like the Americans of Central Asia because they are aggressive, brash and annoying. But these are just clichs and they really dont mean much. I think theyre silly. The thing is people are people everywhere and there is no archetype. Youre talking about people who are just trying to do the same thing we want to.
DRE: The new PR guy at NBM keeps sending me emails about Borat vs. Rall. Do you know about that?
TR: [laughs] Yeah, I think it is an easy tie in. The Borat movie is awesome, very funny and the only thing Im trying to do is just piggyback a little on the interest in Central Asia that obviously drives it. When I first started doing Stan-Watch for the radio we sent things out as jokes that were literally the same joke that Borat is based on. The joke is not about Central Asia, the joke is about westerners and particularly Americans. Like the scene where the southern manners woman coaches him and says The cultural gap is just so vast that you really feel like you could overwhelm it. The joke is, of course, that she would think that anyone just by virtue of not being American could be like Borat. Thats whats funny. So, the truth is that underlying all that theres a huge amount of interest in this part of the world because Americans hear about a country like Tajikistan but they dont know where it is. Well some people feel like they want to fill in that gap in their knowledge so they do seek it out and that is why theres an interest in my book. Theres a lot more interest among readers with my book than among reviewers. Id say this is my least reviewed book in my career even though it is without a doubt my most ambitious and best realized book. I actually had a couple of critics at major newspapers tell me that they didnt want to review the book because they thought it would be too hard to read. At first I was like, Give it a chance. Then I stopped myself because I was like, These are book critics. I review books for the San Diego Union Tribune and some of them are very hard. Its unbelievable the laziness thats out there in the media, but at the same time the book is selling well which proves that people are walking into the bookstores and saying, Central Asia, New Middle East. Ive always wanted to know about that.
DRE: Do you have any graphic novels coming out soon?
TR: Im working on a graphic novel right now. Its called, The Year of Loving Dangerously and its about the year I was expelled from college and I had to rely on my wits to survive being homeless in New York. Im writing it and someone else is drawing it.
DRE: What made you decide to not draw this one?
TR: Frankly it has a lot of sex scenes. I dont really draw all the sex scenes very well and I felt that nobody would want to look at hot girls in my drawing style
DRE: So The Year of Loving Dangerously is a little bit more like My War with Brian.
TR: Yeah it will be more like 2424 or My War with Brian but like twice the length. Also this is going to be full color and hes got a nice painterly style. It probably wont be the last project that I write and have someone else draw. Theres another thing that Im f working on that I cant talk about, thats going to be like that.
DRE: I heard a rumor that My War with Brian was optioned to be a movie.
TR: Theres been lots of talk about it but theres been nothing formally arranged unless they know something that I dont. Its actually shocking that it never has been made into a movie. Its my one property that I always assumed would be picked up.
DRE: Is there any update on the Danny Hellman situation?
TR: Well, my attorney died of brain cancer so that held things up. The most likely to win team wants to go to trial right away and the most likely losing team side wants to push the paperwork to stall as long as possible. Danny obviously knows he has a losing case because thats why hes been stalling trial for six years. We were ready years ago for trial. It has really gotten to the point where enough is enough, I want my day in court. Now my new lawyer is working on it. I think Danny has been spreading the rumor that its done. But I hope for his own defense that he doesnt believe that because its not true. Hes made it very clear that if I were to drop the case he would continue his activities so I cant drop the case.
by Daniel Robert Epstein
SG Username: AndersWolleck
Buy Silk Road to Ruin
Daniel Robert Epstein: As an intelligent person, what were your expectations going into Central Asia?
Ted Rall: Well I dont know if Im an intelligent person or not, I think Ill leave that to others to judge. But the first time I went to central Asia, I didnt have expectations other than I knew that it would probably be interesting, that I would learn a lot about other people and myself. My original plan was to go and do no research but I realized that was impractical so I read the Lonely Planet Guide and some histories so I had some idea that corruption was going to be a problem.
DRE: Did you know this was going to turn into a ten year long project?
TR: Absolutely not. I had been very curious about the region ever since I was a kid because of its remoteness and the exoticism. But I really just wanted to go and the first trip was such a miserable experience both physically and practically that I was like, Well I got that out of my system. It was interesting, but it sucked and Im never going back. But there are Vietnam veterans who came back from the war and probably thought theyd never go back to Vietnam, then they dream about it and cant get it out of their minds, well, Central Asia was like that for me. I just couldnt stop thinking about it and I needed to get back. It made me feel so alive and it was so fascinating and I just felt I was missing where the action is. Its messed up in a lot of ways but things are in transition there that are affecting the whole world.
DRE: People have said that it is basically the next Middle East.
TR: Yeah, that was the shocking conclusion that I drew from my first trip. Obviously we know about the instabilities in the Middle East. But with Central Asia you have all of these former Soviet dictatorships run by the same guys who ran them under the Soviet period, with the exception of one, that are propped up by the US CIA and are reviled and despised by their populations. They are sitting atop tens of millions of barrels of untapped oil with widening disparity of wealth between a corrupt elite supported by us and millions of people who hate them and view us as their enemy because were propping up the people who are oppressing them. I think as bad as the Middle East is, Central Asia is worse because more is at stake and there are so many colliding factors. Theres rising Islamism, theres lingering totalitarianism. Theres United States supported dictatorships. It has a widening disparity of wealth, huge resources of oil and natural gas so its a really evil combination.
DRE: Of course the way youre talking basically sounds like what the Middle East was in the 70s.
TR: Yeah, Central Asia has potentially more oil than the Middle East.
DRE: Why isnt information like that as widely known?
TR: Certainly the US government has no interest in publicizing what theyre up to but really it is the medias fault and its also the fault of geography. Central Asia is hard to get to and hard to travel in. Mostly because of the nature of the closed borders, the visas being so hard to come by and also because the transportation is dodgy. So press outlets in the United States have been so reluctant to invest in overseas bureaus, therefore at any given time its unlikely that theres even as many as one foreign correspondent agent in all of Central Asia for the major American press outlets. So if something happens there you cant really get someone there to cover it until its over. You would have to have people stationed in these countries, not just in the capitals but also in provincial capitals.
DRE: Im not someone who thinks American news organizations are stupid, but do they think too much in the short term?
TR: It is pack journalism. Saudi Arabia became interesting after there were a lot of things that brought it to the attention of the west. I remember there was the death of a princess on video that somehow captured the public imagination about Saudi Arabia in a way that no analyses ever did. Central Asia just never had a moment like that. Thats going to change at some point when the next major terrorist attack occurs, which will probably originate from Central Asia. One story I like to tell is about Ahmed Rashid who wrote the introduction to my book. His book Taliban came out in 2004 and its really more about Central Asia oil pipeline politics than it is about the Taliban. The book had only sold a couple thousand copies before 9/11 and then after 9/11 everyone went and Googled Taliban and found his text and he sold between five and six million copies. I always like to say 9/11 might not have happened if Americans had bought five or six million copies of Taliban before 9/11. In a way I wrote this book thinking the same way. I thought the sales will not do too well until the next major terrorist attack, which will probably come out of Central Asia and when it does a lot of people are going to die but Ill sell a lot of books.
DRE: Oh my God. [laughs] Youre so funny to say that on the record.
TR: [laughs] Hey its not like Im killing them. People dont want to pay attention. They dont care. Its not my fault; its just the way it is.
DRE: How did you convince your wife to come with you?
TR: Well shes a brilliant person, incredibly curious and shes more fearless than I am. When I wanted to go to Afghanistan theres no way I could have prevented her from going with me. She intimidated guys who were brandishing AK-47s.
DRE: Are you planning to have different safety precautions when you go back?
TR: There are no safety precautions. You have to be alert and to strictly observe all the cultural morays as much as possible. You dont give people an excuse to hurt you but the truth is, its a dangerous place for foreigners as well as locals. Life is cheap, you could die and if you dont expect that, you shouldnt go. Thats just reality.
DRE: What are the regular citizens in Central Asia like?
TR: Well its like asking what a typical American is like. There is no typical American and theres really no typical Central Asian. There are these big, sweeping, ethnic stereotypes. For instance, the Tajiks are reputed to be a little bit dimwitted as are the Turkmen. Uzbeks are like the Americans of Central Asia because they are aggressive, brash and annoying. But these are just clichs and they really dont mean much. I think theyre silly. The thing is people are people everywhere and there is no archetype. Youre talking about people who are just trying to do the same thing we want to.
DRE: The new PR guy at NBM keeps sending me emails about Borat vs. Rall. Do you know about that?
TR: [laughs] Yeah, I think it is an easy tie in. The Borat movie is awesome, very funny and the only thing Im trying to do is just piggyback a little on the interest in Central Asia that obviously drives it. When I first started doing Stan-Watch for the radio we sent things out as jokes that were literally the same joke that Borat is based on. The joke is not about Central Asia, the joke is about westerners and particularly Americans. Like the scene where the southern manners woman coaches him and says The cultural gap is just so vast that you really feel like you could overwhelm it. The joke is, of course, that she would think that anyone just by virtue of not being American could be like Borat. Thats whats funny. So, the truth is that underlying all that theres a huge amount of interest in this part of the world because Americans hear about a country like Tajikistan but they dont know where it is. Well some people feel like they want to fill in that gap in their knowledge so they do seek it out and that is why theres an interest in my book. Theres a lot more interest among readers with my book than among reviewers. Id say this is my least reviewed book in my career even though it is without a doubt my most ambitious and best realized book. I actually had a couple of critics at major newspapers tell me that they didnt want to review the book because they thought it would be too hard to read. At first I was like, Give it a chance. Then I stopped myself because I was like, These are book critics. I review books for the San Diego Union Tribune and some of them are very hard. Its unbelievable the laziness thats out there in the media, but at the same time the book is selling well which proves that people are walking into the bookstores and saying, Central Asia, New Middle East. Ive always wanted to know about that.
DRE: Do you have any graphic novels coming out soon?
TR: Im working on a graphic novel right now. Its called, The Year of Loving Dangerously and its about the year I was expelled from college and I had to rely on my wits to survive being homeless in New York. Im writing it and someone else is drawing it.
DRE: What made you decide to not draw this one?
TR: Frankly it has a lot of sex scenes. I dont really draw all the sex scenes very well and I felt that nobody would want to look at hot girls in my drawing style
DRE: So The Year of Loving Dangerously is a little bit more like My War with Brian.
TR: Yeah it will be more like 2424 or My War with Brian but like twice the length. Also this is going to be full color and hes got a nice painterly style. It probably wont be the last project that I write and have someone else draw. Theres another thing that Im f working on that I cant talk about, thats going to be like that.
DRE: I heard a rumor that My War with Brian was optioned to be a movie.
TR: Theres been lots of talk about it but theres been nothing formally arranged unless they know something that I dont. Its actually shocking that it never has been made into a movie. Its my one property that I always assumed would be picked up.
DRE: Is there any update on the Danny Hellman situation?
TR: Well, my attorney died of brain cancer so that held things up. The most likely to win team wants to go to trial right away and the most likely losing team side wants to push the paperwork to stall as long as possible. Danny obviously knows he has a losing case because thats why hes been stalling trial for six years. We were ready years ago for trial. It has really gotten to the point where enough is enough, I want my day in court. Now my new lawyer is working on it. I think Danny has been spreading the rumor that its done. But I hope for his own defense that he doesnt believe that because its not true. Hes made it very clear that if I were to drop the case he would continue his activities so I cant drop the case.
by Daniel Robert Epstein
SG Username: AndersWolleck
zoetica:
By day Ted Rall is a scathing and often very controversial political cartoonist but for the past few years hes been concentrating on releasing non-fiction accounts of his journeys overseas. Before his latest work, Rall had released To Afghanistan and Back which chronicled...
pascipio:
What about the suit against Ann Coulter? Could Rall not come up with the $6,000 he asked his fans to send him? Or did that pesky First Amendment get in the way again?