Government by control freak

Tajikistan is on the move:

DUSHANBE (Reuters) - Tajikistan is launching a crackdown on witchcraft and fortune-telling as part of an anti-poverty drive after earlier banning lavish weddings and expensive funerals. ...

"Those indulging in sorcery and fortune-telling shall be fined between 30 and 40 times the minimum monthly wage (85 to 113 pounds)," says the text of a draft law backed by the lower chamber of the Tajik parliament on Wednesday and obtained by Reuters.

Earlier this year, Tijikistan ordered its people to change their names back to Persian style:

DUSHANBE: Tajik leader Imomali Rakhmonov, in a flamboyant move to revive Persian roots in the former Soviet state, has ordered his people to drop Russian-style surnames and banned Soviet-era school festivals.

The president led on this by example: he dropped the last syllable of his surname and is now known as President Imomali Rakhmon.

As you contemplate a government which prioritizes these issues, would you be surprised to learn that Tajikistan "is the poorest Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) country and one of the poorest countries in the world."