www.lesswrong.com/posts/TYfpTRxGH9frTymwN/how-much-should-we-worry-about-the-pne...
1 correction found
Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan are now doing quarantine health checks at the Russian border to contain the spread of pneumonic plague.
This is geographically wrong for three of the four countries named. Kazakhstan borders Russia, but Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan do not; reports said they tightened checks at their own border crossings, not “at the Russian border.”
Full reasoning
Only Kazakhstan has a direct border with Russia. Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan do not share a border with Russia, so they cannot be carrying out checks at the Russian border.
Official country information pages list these borders as follows:
- Kyrgyzstan borders Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, and China.
- Tajikistan borders Afghanistan, China, Kyrgyzstan, and Uzbekistan.
- Uzbekistan borders Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Afghanistan.
Contemporaneous reports about the plague scare said these countries were strengthening sanitary/quarantine controls at their own state border checkpoints. So the post’s phrasing is not just imprecise; for Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan it is literally impossible as written.
3 sources
- President of the Kyrgyz Republic — About Kyrgyzstan
The official country profile says Kyrgyzstan 'Borders Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and China.'
- Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Tajikistan — Territorial and border-related issues
The ministry says Tajikistan 'in the south borders with Afghanistan, in the east with the People’s Republic of China, in the northeast with Kyrgyz Republic and in the northwest with the Republic of Uzbekistan.'
- Government of Uzbekistan — Territory
Uzbekistan’s official government site says it borders Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Afghanistan.