A few years ago, tales of Turkmenistan’s crazy “president for life,” Saparmurat Niyazov, made the secretive Central Asian nation the darling of offbeat travel writers. Niyazov’s title was actually “His Excellency Saparmurat Türkmenba?y, President of Turkmenistan and Chairman of the Cabinet of Ministers,” and he wielded his power as  Top Turkman with a heavily gilded fist. [...]