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Dirty Diplomacy: The Rough and Tumble Adventures of a Scotch Drinking, Skirt Chasing,
Dictator Busting and Thoroughly Unrepentant Ambassador Stuck on the Frontline of the War Against Terror, by Craig Murray
... There are women in Murray’s world, but they are not people. They are props for his torture crusade, or for his sexual appetite (almost all women are described in overt sexual terms, unless they’re old or ugly), or for his career. His wife Fiona is never discussed in terms of love or regret — which one might expect for a woman he’s cheated on routinely — but as a career boost. His new girl-toy, Nadira, was found at a strip club where he handed her a wad of cash and his business card, along with an invitation to be his mistress (this, quite unironically after he expressed horror at the sexual exploitation of Uzbekistan’s women).
Indeed, Moe at Jezebel summarized the whole sordid affair quite aptly: “… it did not help that also, he was sort of a drunk who left his wife for an Uzbek heroin addict’s daugher who stripped at a North Korean club and was dating a 19-year-old American soldier when first she laid eyes on him.” Indeed, one should be (hopefully) forgiven for thinking Murray’s mad, impulsive quest to save the universe is driven from his wretched mess of a personal life.
It is also surprising, given how he flaunts his expertise in the country and region, that Murray doesn’t understand a simple, fundamental fact of life in Central Asia: rumor is fact. He gets angry when the FCO finds false accusations against his credible; Murray is smart enough to realize there is no difference between rumor and fact in much of the world, and especially there. That his life was sordid and uncontrolled enough to give such allegations even a sliver of credibility is unfortunate; as I’ve said on many occasions, and in contrast somewhat to Nathan’s argument, I don’t begrudge the man his belief in Uzbekistan’s right to be free of torture, just the ways he went about trying to end it ...
Indeed, Moe at Jezebel summarized the whole sordid affair quite aptly: “… it did not help that also, he was sort of a drunk who left his wife for an Uzbek heroin addict’s daugher who stripped at a North Korean club and was dating a 19-year-old American soldier when first she laid eyes on him.” Indeed, one should be (hopefully) forgiven for thinking Murray’s mad, impulsive quest to save the universe is driven from his wretched mess of a personal life.
It is also surprising, given how he flaunts his expertise in the country and region, that Murray doesn’t understand a simple, fundamental fact of life in Central Asia: rumor is fact. He gets angry when the FCO finds false accusations against his credible; Murray is smart enough to realize there is no difference between rumor and fact in much of the world, and especially there. That his life was sordid and uncontrolled enough to give such allegations even a sliver of credibility is unfortunate; as I’ve said on many occasions, and in contrast somewhat to Nathan’s argument, I don’t begrudge the man his belief in Uzbekistan’s right to be free of torture, just the ways he went about trying to end it ...
http://registan.net/index.php/2008/02/22/dirty-diplomacy-the-rough-and-tumble-adventures-of-a-scotch-drinking-skirt-chasing-dictator-busting-and-thoroughly-unrepentant-ambassador-stuck-on-the-frontline-of-the-war-against-terror-by-craig-murr/