1. Orientation
   1. What countries are these features in?
   2. Caspian Sea
      1. largest non-ocean body of water in the world
      2. what about lake titicaca?
   3. Aral Sea
      1. shrinking into oblivion
   4. Tien Shan mountains
   5. Gobi Desert
   6. Hindu Kush mountains
   7. Himalayan Mountains
   8. There's no coastline here.
   9. There are many largerish deserts smaller than Gobi
2. Introduction
   1. Borat is from the glorious nation of Kazakhstan
   2. Physical and Political
      1. Physical
         1. Very low population density
      2. Political
         1. Breakup of the Soviet Union
            1. Azerbaijan
            2. Naxcivan
            3. Turkmenistan
            4. Tajikistan
            5. Uzbekistan
            6. Some Exclaves exist in Kyrgystan
            7. Fergana Valley
            8. Kazakhstan
            9. Kyrgyzstan
            10. -Stan
            11. comes from the ancient persian meaning place of <people>
            12. means land or region, sometimes nation
            13. Not always
            14. Karakalpakstan in the state of Uzbekistan
         2. Other
            1. Mongolia
            2. Xinjiang - China
            3. Tibet
            4. Nei Mongol
            5. Qinghai
   3. Culture
      1. Religion
         1. Islam
         2. Buddhism
      2. Pastoralism
         1. Animal Husbandry
         2. As opposed to Hunting and Gather
         3. As opposed to Agriculture
      3. Identity is complicated
         1. Russian is lingua franca language tho
         2. What the hell are we????!?!?
         3. Political instability is commonplace
3. Afghanistan
   1. United States: Connection and War
   2. People's Democratic Party of Afganistan
      1. April 1978: Military Soviet Coup
   3. Afghan War
      1. Dec 1979 - Feb 1989
   4. Mujahideen
      1. Fought the roosks for Independence
      2. Operation Cyclone
         1. CIA trained, armed, and funded
         2. Bankroll like a motherfucker
         3. Started by Mr. Jimmy Carter
         4. Endorsed by Ronald Reagan
         5. Guess who was a Deen? Osama.
         6. Al Qaeda's seed dollars came from CIA money
   5. 1996
      1. Taliban Government takeover of Afghan government
      2. Mullah Omar takes over
   6. September 7, 2001
      1. Afghan War begins
      2. Longest Standing War in American History
4. Buddhism
   1. Teachings of Siddhartha Gautama: "The Buddha"
   2. Is it a religion?
      1. no creation myth
      2. no plan of where to go
      3. no plan of where we came from
   3. Northeastern "India"
   4. 400-600 BCE
   5. Four Nobel Truths
      1. Life is Suffering
      2. But Suffering has a Cause
         1. Craving
         2. Desire
         3. Wanting
      3. Enlightenment
         1. The end of suffering
      4. Follow the Buddha to end Suffering
         1. Nirvana
   6. Karma / Reincarnation
      1. Karma is punishment of the soul
      2. Reincarnation is the result of punishment / nirvana of the soul
5. Tibet
   1. Conflicts with Chinese Dynasties
   2. Tibet claimed independence after last dynasty's fall at the turn of the last century
   3. 1949
      1. China unified under Mao
      2. Tibet officially taken by communist China
   4. 1959
      1. Tibet is invaded by China
      2. Dalai Lama / Dalai Lamas
         1. Dalai Lama bugs out
         2. Dalai Lama is a religious leader of Tibetan Buddhism
         3. 14th Dalai Lama
   5. Technically
      1. Tibet is an "autonomous region" meaning "subjugated state"
      2. The tibetan people are nationally chinese, but without an ethnic state
   6. Current Event
      1. 52nd anniversary of China's invasion of Tibet
      2. Dalai Lama retired as leader of Tibetan-Gov-In-Exile
         1. Today
      3. Dalai Lama has addressed Tibetan-Assembly-In-Exile