Political Crossfire Forums

[smirnoff]

democracy in central asia? no

[DBG]

From an Op/Ed piece dated today:


http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=127&ncid=742&e=8&u=/ucru/20050330/cm_ucru/wholostcentralasia

Although the quest for freedom is always worthy, recent events in Kyrgyzstan were less of a revolution than a looting raid on the capital by impetuous southerners. The post-Akayev era forces the Kyrgyz to choose between two unpleasant options, autocratic former regime figures like Kulov and the Taliban-influenced Islamists who drove the president from power.

The Kyrgyz rebellion has sent shockwaves throughout the region. Cutthroats like Kazakh president Nursultan Nazarbayev and Uzbekistan's Islam Karimov are likely to draw the conclusion that Akayev's liberalism--even at the end, he refused to permit the police to fire at the rebels--led to his downfall. Increased repression will heighten already growing anti-American sentiments in Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan, all of which are unstable U.S.-funded "client states" with ostentatious post-9/11 American military bases. Ensuing revolutions could diminish American influence in those nations, denying us access to untapped oil and natural gas reserves larger than Saudi Arabia and Iraq's combined.

Hey soldier boys - - wanna go to Uzbekistan?

(cont.)
Central Asia provides a case study in the gaping chasm between our high-flying freedom-and-democracy rhetoric and a grim reality in which we cut sleazy deals with thuggish tyrants. We abandoned the democratic role model Akayev created in Kyrgyzstan because it had no direct role in America's strategy of "total energy dominance." We cozied up to the murderous dictators of oil- and gas-rich Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan even though we knew their citizens despised them for funneling their nations' wealth into Swiss bank accounts while most people starved.

Now Central Asia's only democracy is history. The dictatorships are cracking down on Muslims guilty of nothing more than wearing a beard and a skullcap. They're turning moderates into radicals. That sound you hear is Osama laughing. Again.

Never have we Americans talked up our supposed values more than since 9/11. The lesson of 9/11, however, is that the rest of the world watches what we do more than they listen to what we say.

[DBG]

U.S. Air Base Can Now Stay in Kyrgyzstan


Wed Mar 30, 5:43 PM ET
WASHINGTON - Kyrgyzstan's new government has assured the Pentagon that it will allow a U.S. air base to remain and that its foreign policy will not change, a senior general said Wednesday.

"Our folks do not feel threatened," said Lt. Gen. Lance Smith, deputy commander of U.S. Central Command, during an interview at the Pentagon. "They are obviously not roaming around downtown, but they do not feel threatened and there are no indications whatsoever that our relationship will change."

Ganci Air Base is 19 miles northwest of the capital, Bishkek, where protesters stormed the presidential headquarters last week and forced longtime leader Askar Akayev to flee. An opposition government has taken hold and is working to restore order.

About 800 U.S. personnel are stationed at the base, which serves as a logistical hub for U.S. operations in Afghanistan.




IOW - - we already have people in harm's way - -guarding oil.
NO BLOOD FOR OIL???
HAH! Think again..............