President Islam Karimov, the Uzbek leader, clearly hopes to profit from his tough approach to the recent protests in the town of Andizhan. The west must make sure that he does not. If Mr Karimov survives the crisis with his authoritarian regime intact, undemocratic leaders everywhere will see that brutality pays.

Mr Karimov has obviously learnt from the wave of democratic revolts that have recently swept the former Soviet Union. In Georgia, Ukraine and Kyrgyzstan, long-serving presidents were driven from power by public protests. All were defeated because they would not - or could not - use force against peaceful demonstrators.