21 ms·

I got arrested in Kazakhstan and represented myself in court

• staticfish 10y ago
  what a wonderful story. really puts arguing about typesafe frameworks in perspective.. A+++ would read again.
• steven777400 10y ago
  Great read. I've never been in a situation where a bribe might have helped and so it's good to get some idea of "how bribes work" for possible future reference. I have noticed that it seems valuable to project being "poorer" rather than "richer" when traveling. Naively it might seem like throwing money around would grease all sorts of wheels but the opposite has been my experience (although probably I just don't have enough money to throw around to really grease the wheels).
  • mc32 10y ago
    John MacAfee has a great guide. Context is important. You need to know the situation, you have to be situationally aware. You can't just start showing money (maybe alcohol or other "currency" depending on their penchants are more apt). You have to know a bit about the locals. See http://www.whoismcafee.com/the-travel-guide/ http://www.whoismcafee.com/the-travel-guide/
    • pavel_lishin 10y ago
      Serious question: given how ... unstable ... McAfee seems to be, how reliable is this guide?
      • mc32 10y ago
        Well, going to these places is by the nature of them, risky for non locals. Knowing what works, how locals operate helps. Don't overplay your hand, don't insult (even unintentionally, it can cause affront). I think it helped that he seems to be very situationally aware. It's not going to work well, if you're green at it. Like many things, it probably takes luck and practice and interpersonal skills.
      • brianwawok 10y ago
        I mean, this is advice about doing something crazy. We aren't asking him for tax advice ;)
        • zanny 10y ago
          He seems pretty smart. I'd want a second opinion, but I wouldn't mind the help!
      • sithadmin 10y ago
        Based on what I've heard from colleagues that have spent extensive amounts of time in Central America, it's 100% spot-on.
      • at-fates-hands 10y ago
        Just because he's paranoid schizophrenic now does not lessen his experiences before his brain went AWOL. Considering he's dealt with some pretty hostile governments and government officials, I'd say the advice is pretty solid. On a side note, when I was in telecom, My boss (who had been in the industry for 15 years) used to tell me about working for MCI and doing surveying and laying copper in several middle eastern countries. He told me some stories that would make the hair on your neck stand up. He said it was an open secret that MCI was giving his team suitcases of cash to bribe officials and the military just to allow them to do their job. Stories of being pulled over at gunpoint, negotiating with military people and being able to talk through the process of a bribe was something he always maintained was part of the day-to-day survival game they played.
        • k-mcgrady 10y ago
          >> "Just because he's paranoid schizophrenic" Was this confirmed somewhere? I can't find any evidence with a quick search and I saw some of his interviews during the presidential campaign (he was running from the libertarian nomination I think) and he seemed ok.
          • mc32 10y ago
            I think a lot of that stems from his reported behavior in Belize. I think it was reported he was high on something on the occasions of some of his reportedly bizarre behavior. From my recollection.
            • k-mcgrady 10y ago
              Yeah that's my recollection as well. I presume the parent has something to back up the claim though as it's not a term you throw around lightly.
              • tripzilch 10y ago
                Most probably they did throw in fact it around lightly, but (carelessly) didn't intend to. I'm always very careful to not throw around medical (particularly psychiatric) diagnoses because I'm not trained for that. Instead I prefer to describe the symptoms I perceive and phrase it as my personal perception (aka, own it). At very most I might say "that guy might have some autistic tendencies ..." and almost always qualify it with "... but that spectrum is so vague, forget the label and just assess him on his particular quirks like the individual he is". Anyway, not to distract this discussion into a further tangent, I think the best way is to charitably read it as "paranoid schizophrenic episode" (which is kind of fair, yes?) and the "mind AWOL" remark as hyperbole, without reading too much behind it. It was a setup to the post's main point anyway, the anecdotal part.
      • Teever 10y ago
        Is McAfee that unstable? Like I understand that he has done a lot of crazy drug addled things but I don't think that necessarily means that he is stupid or insane.
        • celticninja 10y ago
          I agree. Alexander Shulgin did far more than McAfee and i dont think anyone would question his sanity.
          • wavefunction 10y ago
            Sasha was a responsible scientist with a stable life. McAfee is someone who kept a minor girlfriend, fled Belize after being implicated in the murder of his neighbor and spent most of his time down there booty bumping bath salts. For some perspective.
            • zensavona 10y ago
              > spent most of his time down there booty bumping bath salts source? Having lived in Cambodia (nowhere near as dangerous as Belize, but probably just as corrupt), being implicated with a crime you didn't commit isn't the most far fetched thing.
              • PeCaN 10y ago
                Going by forum posts McAfee made—it's questionable whether or not he was trolling (he was for sure at one point wrt bath salts) but it's also somewhat likely he's into stimulants and sex.
                • TeMPOraL 10y ago
                  > it's also somewhat likely he's into stimulants and sex Like every single other human being on this planet. It's a feature of our brains. I still don't understand what's the reason to treat McAfee as extremely unreliable. Could someone state the reasons explicitly?
    • cm2187 10y ago
      Thanks. This guide is absolutely hilarious!
  • blackholesRhot 10y ago
    I just responded on the Medium link but here's another short Kazakhstan bribe story: I once took the train from Urumqi to Almaty. After touring around Kazakhstan for a week or so I went to the airport to fly to Baku. When I walked into the airport two police officers told me to follow them. They took me to a small room. They kept asking me “would you like any tea?” And I kept responding “no thanks, I really need to catch my flight.” They asked at least five times and then started using variants like “would you like coffee?” I ignorantly kept replying, “I’m really sorry. I appreciate the offer but I need to catch my flight.” After ten minutes or so they got frustrated and told me that I’m a stupid American and to leave and catch my flight. It clicked after sharing the story w/ some Kazakh folks that they were asking for a bribe. Sometimes ignorance is bliss. Oops.
  • deleted 10y ago
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  • rangibaby 10y ago
    Poor is better, because then you aren't worth their time. Why bother with the small fries when they are plenty of big fish out there? When I was younger and traveling in China alone, I fell for one of the "tea house" scams common in the bigger cities. The leader of the heavies sent to intimidate me was somewhat nicer when he figured out that I didn't have much money or a credit card and wasn't lying about it. He gave me some life advice: "don't go anywhere with a stranger" then took ¥10,000 (about 300 in Chinese money) and sent me on my way. It was pretty surreal.
• joelhaasnoot 10y ago
  Cute story, but wonder if the outcome would be the same if the author hadn't originally been Russian and didn't speak Russian.
  • csmajorfive 10y ago
    It might've actually worked out better if he hadn't spoken Russian. Speaking the local language evokes a "who are you to bypass the rules?" sentiment and enables the officers to pass the time hanging out with you. A non-speaker would just be a huge hassle.
    • mildbow 10y ago
      I haven't found the same to be the case. Being able to speak the local language and to be able to portray yourself as "local boy made good" seems to bring out something in people where they want to root for you.
      • csmajorfive 10y ago
        Yeah, I think it can go either way. I've had a few situations in Russia where speaking the language evoked "You idiot. You should know better and let me set you straight." while speaking English evoked "Stupid American. Here's how we fix it."
        • mildbow 10y ago
          Exactly. Both your responses have the person taking on the role of a --short term-- mentee: they show some sort of of connection + naïveté that prompts the authority figure into rooting for them ie caring enough to indicate next steps. '
        • drpp 10y ago
          Yes, on this trip I had many Police encounters. Most of the time, the best course of action was to feign ignorance and speak very loudly and excitedly in English, "Good Morning Officer!" and just keep repeating that and smiling. Then they would give up on you and move on to easier targets. I tried that at first here, but then changed tactics.
• mind_heist 10y ago
  Is that picture going to get Irlan in trouble ?
  • giancarlostoro 10y ago
    I was wondering the same thing. Hopefully the wrong people never find it. It's no wonder they didn't want him sharing their picture, I hope he changed the actual names.
  • klenwell 10y ago
    The same thing crossed my mind. In his statement to the judge, he says: I very sincerely, on behalf of my country and Obama, my state and Arnold Schwarzenegger, myself and my family beseeched her to be lenient in her judgment. Schwarzenegger was governor until 2011, which would presumably date his escapades to sometime between 2009 and 2011. Hopefully it's long enough ago to clear Irlan or anyone else mentioned or photographed in the post of any problems should it get traced back to them. Great story, by the way. Well told.
  • krick 10y ago
    I hope not, but it seems to me that not taking photos if explicitly asked not to is the least you can do for a guy who, upon arresting you treats you like a best friend, helps you to get refund for unused ticket and buys you bear and coffee. Hell, it's actually only human to restrain from taking photos of somebody who doesn't want to, but doing so to that Irlan guy? The most repulsive thing is author doesn't do that because of malevolence. He just honestly doesn't care. It's funny that probably being a type of person that I dislike so much, may be actually helping him to write a story I like so much.
    • crazypyro 10y ago
      I personally don't find it morally wrong to take pictures of someone who was pressuring you for bribes. My "best friends" don't try to extort me for money. Irlan was only nice when he realized the author could provide entertainment and had very little assets...
• mildbow 10y ago
  Heartwarming story. What I've experienced is, all over the world, people will try to help: if you seem like you need help and don't have all the answers/money. For travelers -- if you know the local language, speak it. I had a scary experience in the same part of the word and managed to "ingenious" my way out of it. Speakign the local language just helps people identify with you more. treat them like a person and they'll treat you like you are a person.
  • deleted 10y ago
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• fsckin 10y ago
  This reminds me of Bert Kreischers' story about his travels in Russia as part of a language immersion trip. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8PAtFsJY5q0 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8PAtFsJY5q0
  • aflex 10y ago
    One of my favorite stories from mother land.
• swimnow 10y ago
  Something similar happened to me. I was a citizen of Uzbekistan at the time. I was about to fly out of Almaty. When the lady at the checkpoint saw my passport, she asked where my exit visa was. I never knew all the Uzbek citizens needed one to leave the post Soviet territory. So, I was denied my seat on the plane. Had to renew my ticket for $50. Come next day, another lady at the checkpoint says the same thing - without the exit visa I am not going anywhere. The plane was already boarding and I was about to miss it again. She saw me getting agitated and says "why don't you talk to this man here?". He said everything could be arranged for mere $300. Even though I was an actual student and poor as a church mouse, I had to pay it. I was let out.
  • pavel_lishin 10y ago
    How much would it have cost to get an exit visa?
    • Someone 10y ago
      In dollars, I would guess less. In hours, likely a lot longer.
  • k-mcgrady 10y ago
    Curious why you found out you needed an exit visa, rebooked, and came back without one. Were you just hoping you'd get lucky with the border staff the second time?
  • Smirnoff 10y ago
    I must say this is strange. As an Uzbek citizen you don't need an exit visa (OVIR) to go to Kazakhstan or Russia. I guess they were trying to hustle you. @pavel_lishin: The exit visa costs about $50 -- you pay a fee to the government and possibly a fee to fill out the application. These days it takes anywhere between 2 weeks to 2 months to get it. Depending on the country you want to visit or where you have been previously (based on your application), you might also have to go through a security interview with intelligence officers.
  • nv-vn 10y ago
• johansch 10y ago
  a) Sensationalist headline - something that seems amazing to someone who is not e.g. russian - but the person is actually russian b) Outing the photo of a cute 18 yo girl "who just got raped" Yes - an interesting story - but this is extreme clickbait likely for profit. And problematic in other dimensions. This guy is an opportunist who does not seem to care about other people.
  • anotheryou 10y ago
    b) is really bad also I'd be so grateful for the boys, I'd least make some effort to repay all the beers :) about a) i liked it. It builds a expectation that is completely shattered by the "but i got treated so well". He lures you in to thinking a little racist and than disproves it :)
  • otl1248 10y ago
    Yeah, absurd that people are glossing over the fact that he outed (with photos for chrissakes) a rape victim.
    • Mithaldu 10y ago
      She asked him to take photos (unless he's lying). While not stated, there's a good chance he asked her if he could post them online.
      • deepinthewoods 10y ago
        > and asked me to take lots of pictures of her for my memory For his memory. Clearly it wasn't a "tell my story!" Kind of moment. Even if it was, she'd been raped the day before then tried to flee the country with no money, got arrested and thrown in prison. She was clearly in a very vulnerable state and the writer was the first friendly face she'd seen. He admits he didn't contact her before posting her face all over the internet. The pictures have been taken down now btw. Edit: OP says she asked him to tell her story. I still think he should have asked her at a time when, you know, she wasn't at the lowest point in her life.
  • 10y ago
• dakics 10y ago
  Great story! 5 years ago we went on a Mongol Rally. Driving European vehicle through the Stans makes you easy prey for local policeman. My co-driver had a strategy of befriending them and sharing small gifts (pens, lighters etc.). Most expensive were Tajik GBAO guards, they got headlamps. During my shifts I had 2 encounters but played dumb, even though I'm native in similar language and could communicate. No bribes given. :) Had a great time in Semey, KZ and later across the border in Barnaul. Must go back some day, driving, of course:). If you love big skies of US west, you'll be in heaven in Kazakhstan.
  • asymmetric 10y ago
    Would love to read about your experience on the Mongol Rally!
    • dakics 10y ago
      There are plenty of videos and blogs, and in fact 2016 MR just started, so you can follow teams. This is how they got me, took me few years to prepare. We were with convoying Mongolia with bunch of cool guys from AUS, NZ and UK. One team went through northern Iraq (it was relatively safe back in 2011) and later had to double as Kyrgyz emergency as they were driving an ambulance. Links are mostly broken, but you can read some of it here: https://web.archive.org/web/20111122143223/http://www.travelodium.com/a-mongolian-adventure https://web.archive.org/web/20111122143223/http://www.travel... We had another trouble in Novokuznetsk, as we were filming clip on factory there, for a project on environment and pollution. Part of the sponsorship deal, so we took Wikipedia and found bad spots along the route. Of course, few minutes after setting up the camera we were busted. Screeching tyres of UAZs as they were coming out, like in the movie. It was tense, but we played Slavic card there and so they just deleted memory cards. At that point after 30 days or so in a van, I guess we were not much of your typical spy. :). We were told it's good it was private security company, because they could just kick us out from the scene without all the paperwork required by regular police. Good times :)
    • donretag 10y ago
      The Mongol Rally is on my bucket list, but there is no way I could ever find like minded people to do it with.
• jgust 10y ago
  Can anyone tell me what this means? > ...in another ten years, you will see, we’ll be living like Arabs.
  • stryan 10y ago
    I'm assuming he meant "living like Arabs" in the sense that they'll become a very prosperous country.
    • jgust 10y ago
      That's what I assumed, but I didn't know if people of Kazakhstan have a negative view of how Arabs live. Thanks!
  • clydethefrog 10y ago
    The future of Kazakhstan is highly unstable. The current slightly benevolent dictator has no good processor and the development of Kazakhstan is mostly dependent of oil, so when renewable energy becomes the norm and rhe president dies in the coming ten years the country will probably implode.
    • kome 10y ago
      nope, "living like Arabs in 10 years" in that context means becoming rich.
    • civilian 10y ago
      > has no good processor Do you mean he is stupid or that Kakakistan doesn't have an oil refinery or that he doesn't have a successor?
      • jjawssd 10y ago
        I think he meant to write predecessor but what he really meant was successor. Potentially confusing similar words for non-English speakers.
• vbezhenar 10y ago
  I'm surprised, that a western man is so ready to participate in corruption. I live in Kazakhstan and I would be very afraid to bribe an official, it could become worse very fast and if you are caught with that, you'll have to bribe much more people or end up in a jail with a very serious offence. I definitely don't recommend to bribe an official in Kazakhstan, usually it's better and safer to follow a law.
  • trhway 10y ago
    >it could become worse very fast and if you are caught with that, you'll have to bribe much more people or end up in a jail with a very serious offence by association, how even the ones with Masters in Bribery can make a rookie mistake - right these days the top staff of the Moscow DA office (the first deputy) and Russia AG office (the head of the Internal Affairs and his first deputy) have just been arrested by FSB on charges of taking bribes (on the scale of 1M euro) for helping the recently arrested "thief in law" (a king in organized crime hierarchy) and his "colleagues". The issue of course not the bribes itself :) The "king"'s group tried to extort from a restaurant which was under "protection" of ("roofed by") a group of former KGB officers (thus FSB involvement). One would think that challenging KGB/FSB wouldn't be a smart move, and it probably can be explained by the fact that the "king" - Shakro "Young" - was crowned only recently after the previous "king" had been killed (that guy was "Grandpa Hasan", i kid you not, it is Moscow, 21st century :). By taking the bribes the DA guys made the same rookie mistake of going against FSB.
  • astral303 10y ago
    I agree. It's very naive and the original poster is lucky that he didn't end up in serious trouble.
    • coldtea 10y ago
      Anybody who thinks it's "very naive" has never travelled much in such places to see how things work, or went to some kind of boy scouts or the seminary school...
• nathan_f77 10y ago
  Ooh, I have a relevant story that I've never shared before. I was living in Kazakhstan for a while and had to take the overnight train to Kyrgyzstan for a visa run. They're very old trains. I woke up around 3am and had to use the restroom. The train had just stopped at a station in the middle of nowhere, and it was the middle of winter. I went to the restroom. I flushed. But when I looked down through the toilet, I saw snow and train tracks. These trains didn't have anything to collect waste, they just flushed straight onto the ground. I immediately heard some loud whistles and shouting, and footsteps. I rushed back to the bed and hoped that no-one saw me, but it was too late, and then we spent the next 30 minutes talking to soldiers. I wasn't sure if they were asking for extra money, or if it was something we needed to pay anyway because we were crossing the border. It was a tiny train station in the middle of nowhere, and we had no SIM cards, so I started thinking about what we would do if they kicked us off the train. I was actually kind of excited about the idea of building an igloo and sleeping there overnight, and then going to get some help in the morning. That would have been a better story, but in the end they just let us go. So don't flush any ex-soviet train toilets when you're stopped at a station in Central Asia.
  • _delirium 10y ago
    > But don't flush any ex-soviet train toilets when you're stopped at a train station. Not just ex-Soviet trains, British ones too. Newer and renovated trains have sewage tanks, but older trains flush directly onto the tracks (and often therefore have a sign in the toilet asking you not to flush when stopped at a station). According to the BBC, as of 2015 this applied to about 10% of the trains in service: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-30541015 http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-30541015 The tabloids periodically have a field day with it when people notice again that these trains are still not quite phased out. E.g. in 2014, there was a minor sensation about the quantity of "fertiliser" on the tracks producing tomato growth: http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/trains-dump-much-human-waste-4445188 http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/trains-dump-much-human-...
    • tn13 10y ago
      Almost all modern Indian trains are like this too. But I dont think you will get into trouble for shitting on a station.
• grizzles 10y ago
  This dude just grassed on all the people who bent the rules to be nice to him. With pictures. For a moment of blog fame. Very uncool.
  • nicolas_t 10y ago
    This was exactly what I was thinking. All of them have been very nice and with this blog are likely to get into trouble. He could have told the same tale but anonymized things and definitely not post a photo of Irlan when he requested not to.
  • zanny 10y ago
    Hopefully any higher up officials can recognize this just gave what is probably on average a fairly affluent tech class on HN a more positive outlook on Kazakhstan. Its positive advertising for the country to hear that you don't end up in a gulag for having your passport lapse.
    • adventured 10y ago
      Higher up officials in Kazakhstan have never heard of HN.
      • NKCSS 10y ago
        You'd be amazed; even Borat frequents HN
        • boratsagdiyev 10y ago
          iz very nize!
      • jumasheff 10y ago
        I shared the link on Twitter. Got about 100 followers from Kazakhstan.
        • piaste 10y ago
• HNaTTY 10y ago
  Reading this and then going back and reading his SF arrest story (linked in the article) is a real contrast.
  • gnu8 10y ago
    Hopefully those cops are in prison now, but I suspect they're still on the streets beating people.
  • plaguuuuuu 10y ago
    Is that story legit?
    • Viper007Bond 10y ago
      It happened, but whether it happened like he said is up for debate. There's reports from others out there that he actually was being drunk, disruptive to rescue operations, and elbowed a cop in the eye. Yet another reason to have body cameras -- no he said, they said.
      • jpreiland 10y ago
        It seems like body cams keep mysteriously getting disconnected before something goes down though
• cloudjacker 10y ago
  and the award for biggest snitch of the year goes to OP...... can you like take this down?
• jlg23 10y ago
  Great read, but I don't buy it. I've not been to Kazakhstan but traveled Africa and South America extensively. I've been to war zones. A lot of things don't add up: * A cop takes a bribe, is surprised the tourist is in some computer and then returns the bribe? I've never ever encountered a cop who takes bribes but does not know how the system works. They are not this stupid. This, by the way, is the best way to avoid bribing: Point out you accept punishment and let them work out the consequences for them - paperwork, getting you to jail etc. All this for a visa that expired a few hours ago? I'm sure they'll find a less work-intensive way to let you go. * Cops being happy to have some "criminal" around for getting drunk and they even pay? No, they rather take your money and get drunk with their friends. * The girl's story did not make much sense (abortion, breaking up, being raped, leaving school, being arrested, being dug on by a male guard while making out with a female guard and all of this within 24h? wait, what, I am missing some connections here). I'm not saying that the base of the story ain't true, but there is, IMHO, a lot of storytelling in there, too.
  • Pinatubo 10y ago
    If you read his story about his SF arrest you'll see he and his friend were drunkenly interfering with paramedics trying to treat an accident victim, even after the police told them to stop. He then threatened to commit suicide while in jail and got put on psychiatric hold. And somehow he turns that into a story of injustice. So yes, he likes storytelling.
    • jjawssd 10y ago
      Good perspective
    • umwhat999 10y ago
      Um, what? I read the story of his SF arrest. That's... not what happened. He was arrested because the police resented that he did not immediately 'respect my authoritah'. He was not interfering with paramedics. He was a safe distance away. He got put on psychiatric hold by the police as retribution for insisting it is reasonable for him to have the right to see a doctor for medical treatment. Medical treatment which was only required because the police physically assaulted him. It's very hard to imagine a retelling of his story which doesn't involve substantial police misconduct.
• fiatjaf 10y ago
  Is this real?
• kharms 10y ago
  "I could have called the US embassy, but from past experience I knew their help was often useless, and occasionally even harmful." This was an interesting throw away. I wonder what his experience was.
  • jrockway 10y ago
    His other article is about how to never call 911 if you see someone injured because you'll get arrested. Good reading material, but I'm probably going to call the embassy (and 911).
    • nommm-nommm 10y ago
      The author was being a total dick in that other story so his conclusion was incorrect. At the very least its very impolite to hang around and gaggle at a police investigation or someone getting aid from the EMS. At that point you are only getting in the way. I've never personally gotten assistance from a US Embassy but I know people who have and they were genuinely helpful.
• ommunist 10y ago
  for god sake, the author has to at very least change names of the guys who sincerely helped him to avoid serious troubles.
  • marssaxman 10y ago
    Are you sure he didn't already do that?
• polytap 10y ago
  This story reflects most poorly on the author himself.
• atmosx 10y ago
  All ex-communist countries were poverty is the status quo have a similar way of dealing with things. We call it bribe, but most of us are on the bright side of the planet, financially speaking at least. If Irlan didn't wanted to be bribed there would no discussion. All the chit-chat was in order to induce the victim to bribe him. I heard much more salty stories from my father who was a Businessmen in the Balkan area in the 90s and 00s. After 2002 the situation in the Balkan area improved a lot, but it's not uncommon for police officers to get bribed, it's their way to make ends meet and the easier way for a foreigner to get things done.
• exabrial 10y ago
  I don't know even what to make of this... The preamble suggests that Kazakhstan justice was superior to American justice, but after reading the whole story I'm like... dude, grow a sense of self-responsibility. It's not like your visa expiring was a surprise... you knew exactly when it was going to happen, and YOU CHOSE to violate it without giving yourself any wiggle room. Then you willingly participated in a corrupt system, rewarding those who profit from it. It would have been so much easier and involve less questionable ethics to just leave more than 24 hours in advance.
  • skewart 10y ago
    But then he wouldn't have had a cool story to post on Medium. He wouldn't have gotten all this attention. Alternatively, one could argue that he took one for the team - he did something risky and stupid so he could find out what would happen, see if he could get out of it, and share the experience with those of us too responsible and sane to try it ourselves. Either way though your point stands. He clearly chose to put himself in the situation he was in.
    • RangerScience 10y ago
      > He clearly chose to put himself in the situation he was in. The thing that always bothers me about that attitude is that it removes any and all responsibility from the people who make the situation within which the choice is made. It actually reminds me of basic Bayesian considerations: just as you can't know what a test means without knowing the false positive rate (and false negative, and true positive and negative...), you can't pass any kind of reasonable judgement on a choice unless you know what the alternatives were (and the situation in which the choice was made, and whether the alternatives were known or unknown, or...) So no. He did NOT clearly choose to put himself in that situation.
      • bcook 10y ago
        I would say he did not create the conditions of the resulting situation, but he did absolutely create the situation. He had the most control. He could have left earlier.
• agentgt 10y ago
  The author is very gifted writer. I was hoping for a quick skim but I could not stop reading.
• lunchTime42 10y ago
  We are programmers and architects - do not bend the rules, we made them, your bending suggests flaws and imperfection and is offending. Trains shall run on tracks. Spontanious agents are a loss of controll. The horror.
  • lunchTime42 10y ago
    The downvoting behaviour so predictable. The irony of a controlling agent, hating the idea of beeing controllable.
• Twirrim 10y ago
  "He who represents himself has a fool for a client" - Abraham Lincoln.
• gheeohm 10y ago
  I'm amazed by the amount of negative comments. In my opinion, this is a great, well written traveling story, where no objective, willful harm was caused by the author. What I got from it was that a book should not be judged by its cover, it's important to try and relate to people when traveling, and violence against women is a horrible problem. If the names weren't changed, you could say he was a bit naive (although the odds of this ever reaching Irlan seem somewhat small to me), but ultimately, he portrayed all of the people he met in a positive light that makes me want to visit Kazakhstan. I think being in such a situation, out of one's comfort zone, gives great perspective on what really matters (although it's not for everyone).
• scooke 10y ago
  It helped that he speaks Russian. It helps even more that he clearly had an idea of what was going to happen and so could roll with it. I know a few North Americans who did not speak English and did now get even close to similar treatment; they were viewed as walking ATMs. It also didn't help the North Americans that they freaked out and tried to fight it out of their own sense of what is fair and right.
• robertson041 10y ago
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• Annalbano012 10y ago
  I met him back then in 2014, he has helped me with more than five exploits, he is a great guy and a competent professional. I feel everybody should have him as a hackerbuddy. just add [privateinvestigator1967@gmail.com]on your gmail and contact him for anything you might need..Tell him Ann Albano referred you
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