Another Cold, Dark Winter That Central Asia Will Not Forget

TASHKENT/DUSHANBE -- 'Will you turn it on, or not?' asked a woman in the Uzbek town of Chirchik, as she grabbed a grid electrician from behind and held a kitchen knife to his neck in an exchange captured on camera.

'If you are going to cut me, cut me,' responded the electrician, after power-starved residents descended on company premises for a control room showdown.

The incident in Chirchik, an hour outside