(no subject)

[sophiaserpentia]

Kyrgyzstan is a central Asian nation which shares a border with China (the Tien Shan mountains form the natural border between them). It's a secular Muslim country. The Silk Road passed through it, and historically it is tied to the Mongolian Khanates and was at the center of the Manichaean sphere of influence.

Most Americans have probably never heard of it, though we have a military base there, a former Soviet base we are leasing from the Kyrgyz government. It's a strategic supply point for US forces in Afghanistan. The base is there so that it wouldn't be in Pakistan, which would be problematic for numerous reasons, and also because relations soured with the Uzbek government and the US had to close its base there.

Yesterday many of the Kyrgyz people took to the streets to complain about rapid rises in utility bills and the cost of living, and in the ensuing street violence -- over 100 people were killed -- the protesters ousted the president and overthrew the government. So far I haven't heard anything about how spontaneous this was versus whether it was arranged by the opposition (who was curiously poised to assume power quickly). I think, though, this is the kind of scenario that keeps CIA folks up at night. The lease on the military base expires in June and the new junta has not expressed much interest in renewing it.

Comments

[lassiter.livejournal.com]

I read that US payments for the right to use their base, and Russian payments for the several bases they have there, are in fact about the sole source of income for any Kyrgyzstan government, so it's not too likely they'd want to kick either country out of the bases outright.

[sophiaserpentia.livejournal.com]

Ah, okay. That answers that question. I wonder, though, how the administration will deal with the whole "We don't want to diplomatically recognize a junta but we need to deal with someone in actual power" situation. I suspect the usual: the junta will announce that elections will be held in the future, and State will say, "Good enough for us!"

[lassiter.livejournal.com]

Reading between the lines of this story, and remembering that the WashPost is the CIA paper, it starts to sound like it was the US itself that was behind the coup.

[sophiaserpentia.livejournal.com]

"The people that are allegedly running Kyrgyzstan ... are all people that [the White House has] had contact with for many years."

Ah, I see. I got it backwards.

[sophiaserpentia.livejournal.com]

And the airbase there is named after the national mythical hero Manas? That's extra classy.

[alobar.livejournal.com]

Slightly off topic, but of possible interest.

Pro-Unified Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) anarcha-feminist punk
band from Nepal on MySpace.
http://www.myspace.com/tankgirlpunk

[dorothy-android.livejournal.com]

Interesting. Are the over throwers Taliban supporters?

[sophiaserpentia.livejournal.com]

The article lassiter linked to above says they are people known to the US who are not anti-US, which would imply they are not Taliban supporters.

I'm seeing today it could be a pro-Russian revolt.