From the upcoming Radio Derb, now available exclusively on VDARE.com

What Radio Derb listeners really want to know, of course, is how they are coping in Turkmenistan. I can report that Radio Derb's good friend and supporter President Gurbanguly Berdymukhammedov of that country has been characteristically ingenious. Along with the usual array of measures—travel restrictions, lockdowns, etc.—President Gurbanguly Berdymukhammedov has taken a leaf from the book of our own Social Justice Warriors.

It is an article of faith with Western progressives that where some fact about the world is inconvenient to their machinations or offensive to their tender sensibilities—facts about black crime, for example, or sex differences—the authorities should simply suppress all public discussion of those facts.

That has been a feature of President Gurbanguly Berdymukhammedov's uniquely bold approach to the coronavirus pandemic. Quote from Radio Free Europe's Turkmen service, edited quote:

The authorities in Turkmenistan's capital Ashgabat have started arresting people for discussing the COVID-19 coronavirus in public … Plainclothes informants of the security services are being used to eavesdrop on people's conversations in the streets.

Special plainclothes individuals are listening to conversations in queues, at bus stops and on public transport. No one knows what happens to those who are arrested … It is not a matter of the dissemination of false information in order to spread panic, as is punishable in other countries in the region … people can be arrested for any kind of conversation on the topic.

Turkmenistan arresting people for talking about coronavirus, Fergana.ru, March 27, 2020.

As I said, a bold approach by Turkmenistan, right out of the CultMarx playbook. If you can't talk about it, you can't think about it. You can enjoy peace of mind!

Long live the subtle and ingenious President Gurbanguly Berdymukhammedov! Long live the noble people of Turkmenistan!

Now, let's all sing the National Anthem of Turkmenistan: