This is very common. Brutal and dictatorial regimes often buy PR and lobbying from K street, also put ads in magazines.<p>If you see &quot;Uzbekistan: A misunderstood gem&quot; (just an example) touting how great it is, and how torture we hear about is all fabricated lies, in full page add in Foreign Affairs, it is obvious what is going on. But they can of course be more subtle and are buy academics, like you showed in the links. Those professors seem to the outside world as &quot;independent&quot; thinkers&#x2F;researchers. So if they then start publishing papers on &quot;Benefits of business development in Central Asia&quot; mentioning Uzbekistan as a great place to do business, it is a bit less obvious what is happening. Someone might get fooled.<p>This also happens with climate and other major areas that affect powerful interests.