Divas and despots: the stars who sing for dictators - Telegraph
►http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/northamerica/usa/8371731/Divas-and-despots-the-stars-who-sing-for-dictators.html
(...) Sting then went on to defend his trip on artistic and political grounds, asserting: “I am well aware of the Uzbek president’s appalling reputation in the field of human rights as well as the environment.
"I made the decision to play there in spite of that. I have come to believe that cultural boycotts are not only pointless gestures, they are counter-productive, where proscribed states are further robbed of the open commerce of ideas and art and as a result become even more closed, paranoid and insular.”
Uzbek democracy activist and independent journalist Umida Niyazova,who fled the country in 2008 after spending four months in jail, was unimpressed by his arguments. “This is blood money, mafia money,” she said.