The Sweet Smell of Post-Soviet Dictatorship

As I read Friday's release from the prosecutor general's office of Uzbekistan, which finally explained what's been happening to the older daughter of the Central Asian country's founding president since 2013, I thought about perfume with ylang ylang as a prominent note.

Islam Karimov, who was Uzbekistan's president until he died last year, had two daughters. Gulnara, the older one, was as flamboyant as her sister was discreet. She tried to be a pop star, wore leopard skin prints and ran a media empire in Uzbekistan. A U.S. diplomatic cable described her in 2005 as a "robber baron" who had "usurped" businesses using her status. In 2012, she launched her ylang ylang-fragranced perfume -- Guli Mysterieuse for women and Guli Victorious for men.