"Kyrgyz official extends lease to key US base; Interim leader also offers deal to ex-president" by Peter Leonard and Yuras Karmanau, Associated Press | April 14, 2010
BISHKEK, Kyrgyzstan — Kyrgyzstan’s interim leader said in an exclusive interview yesterday that her government will extend for a year the lease of a US air base key to the war in Afghanistan and guarantee the deposed president’s safety if he steps down and leaves the country.
The ousted ruler said he was willing to step down but he also wants security for his family and inner circle as a condition of his resignation — a demand that could block a deal to transfer power and exacerbate the turmoil gripping the Central Asian nation.
Roza Otunbayeva, the interim leader, said the agreement allowing the United States to use the Manas air base will be prolonged after the current one-year deal expires in July. “It will be automatically extended for the next year,’’ she said.
The US base, at the capital’s international airport, provides refueling flights for warplanes over Afghanistan and serves as a major transit hub for troops.
Otunbayeva said her government is offering security guarantees for deposed president Kurmanbek Bakiyev if he steps down and leaves the country, but she wouldn’t offer such protection to his family members, whom the opposition has accused of corruption and other abuses.
“We will provide security guarantees which he’s entitled to under the constitution,’’ she said.
Earlier yesterday, a deputy head of the interim government, Azymbek Beknazarov, said Bakiyev has been stripped of his presidential immunity, and threatened to send special forces to arrest him if he didn’t turn himself in. But Otunbayeva refuted that statement, saying her government was considering whether to lift Bakiyev’s immunity but hasn’t made the decision yet.
Bakiyev fled the capital, Bishkek, last week after a rally against corruption, rising utility bills, and deteriorating human rights exploded into police gunfire and chaos that left at least 83 people dead and caused protesters to storm government headquarters.
He told reporters in his home village in the south that he would resign and relinquish his claim on power if the interim authorities guarantee “my own security and the security of members of my family and those close to me.’’
Nothing about the militia he is creating, 'eh?
Both the United States and Russia, which also has a military base in Kyrgyzstan, have watched the violence in the impoverished former Soviet nation with concern. A spokesman for US Central Command, which is in charge of US military operations in Afghanistan, said troop transports to and from Afghanistan were suspended last week at the Manas air base. Refueling flights have continued.
Major John Redfield said flights resumed briefly Friday and a few hundred troops were flown back to the United States on Monday after being stuck at Manas by the shutdown. Other than that, flights to and from Afghanistan remain suspended.
Good! Maybe that will be LESS DEAD PEOPLE we STACK UP!!
Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates said yesterday that the United States has alternatives to the air base in Kyrgyzstan but that they are not ideal. Gates said operations in Afghanistan have not been hampered by the turmoil in Kyrgyzstan.
Why is every word out of their mouths some double-talking piece of trash?
Russia has watched the US military presence in what it considers its backyard with unease, and it had pushed Bakiyev’s government to evict the US military. But after announcing last year that American forces would have to leave the Manas base, Kyrgyzstan agreed to allow them to stay after the United States raised the annual rent from $17 million to about $63 million.
Yeah, it is a good thing you had the change to spare for that 9/11 lie, America.
Ah, the costs of empire!
Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton spoke with Otunbayeva over the weekend, to offer humanitarian aid and discuss the importance of the US air base. Assistant Secretary of State Robert Blake is to travel to Kyrgyzstan today for talks including the base status.
Otunbayeva said her government expects to continue receiving about $47 million a year in US financial assistance, adding that foreign aid is vital for shoring up democracy in the impoverished nation. She said her government also expects Russia to provide some urgent aid.
Hey, they got a good game going here, huh?
Play us both off against each other!
--more--"
Now before giving you the garbage background the first item was one of those rewritten, reedited, nowhere to be found PoS that I am soooo tired of, readers.
Web had this: Uprising leaves dozens dead in Kyrgyzstan (By Clifford J. Levy, New York Times)
I'm not even going to bother; I've already got too much to do and I'm sick of the censorship games, folks.
Next day opens the same way:
"Kyrgyz opposition says it will rule for 6 months" by Peter Leonard, Associated Press Writer | April 9, 2010
BISHKEK, Kyrgyzstan --Opposition leaders moved to consolidate their control over Kyrgyzstan after their victory in a bloody uprising, saying they would hold power for six months and assuring the U.S. it can keep a strategic air base here -- at least for now.
There were signs of instability, though, as deposed President Kurmanbek Bakiyev refused Thursday to relinquish power after the revolt, which left at least 75 people dead and hundreds wounded. As he spoke, gunfire broke out after nightfall in the capital, Bishkek; there were no reports of casualties Friday from the nighttime shooting.
Roving bands of armed marauders trawled the streets of the capital overnight, despite warnings from the opposition leadership that looters would be shot. Newly appointed security officials warned they would use every means to restore calm. A mourning ceremony for clash victims was planned for later Friday in Ala-Too Square near the government headquarters and security was likely to be heavy amid the intense emotions there.
The former Soviet nation is home to a key U.S. military base supporting the fighting in Afghanistan that opposition figures have in the past said they wanted to see shut down. Kyrgyzstan also hosts a Russian military base and is the only nation where both Cold War foes have bases. Roza Otunbayeva, a former foreign minister now heading the interim government, said there were no plans yet to review the lease agreement for the Manas air base, which runs out in July. She said her government would meet U.S. diplomats for talks in Bishkek....
Is the newspaper trying to imply Russia was behind this?
**********
U.S. military officials said Kyrgyzstan halted flights for 12 hours Wednesday, confining troops to the air base; they did not say if flights had resumed. Some 1,100 troops are stationed there, including contingents from Spain and France, in support of NATO operations in Afghanistan.
President Barack Obama and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev discussed Kyrgyzstan before signing an arms treaty in Prague on Thursday. Michael McFaul, Obama's senior director for Russian affairs, emphasized that the U.S. did not view the conflict as any kind of proxy struggle between the U.S. and Russia.
In that case, it must be.
"The people that are allegedly running Kyrgyzstan ... these are all people we've had contact with for many years," McFaul said. "This is not some anti-American coup, that we know for sure. And this is not some sponsored-by-the-Russians coup, there's just no evidence of that."
Oh, so this was BACKED by the CIA, huh?
Bakiyev becoming too much of an irritant and liability, huh?
Kyrgyzstan shares a 533-mile border with China and is a gateway to energy-rich Central Asian countries where the U.S., China and Russia are competing for dominance.
Yes, the MORE I READ the more it smells like CIA!
China said it was "deeply concerned" about the violent uprising in its small western neighbor, echoing comments by the United States and Russia. Otunbayeva said parliament had been dissolved and that she would head an interim government for six months before elections are called. She said the new government controlled four of the country's seven regions and called for Bakiyev to admit defeat. "His business in Kyrgyzstan is finished," she said.
In a sign that Russia may lend its support to the opposition, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin called Otunbayeva on Thursday. Any suggestion that Russia is backing the new leadership would add to the pressure on Bakiyev to step down. Russia sent in 150 paratroopers to its base to ensure the safety of the 400 military personnel and their families there, Russian state media reported....
Now that is where my printed paper cut it.
One area of consensus was on the decision to repeal sharp increases in heating and electricity bills that provoked widespread anger and helped precipitate this week's violence....
Keep the people happy, that is what I always say!
Now the web carried this update: Kyrgyz opposition says it’ll maintain rule for 6 months (By Philip P. Pan and Craig Whitlock, Washington Post)
Of course, there are no games on some days(?):
"Thousands demand prosecution of missing Kyrgyz leader; Growing tension could threaten key US base" by Philip P. Pan and Craig Whitlock, Washington Post | April 10, 2010
BISHKEK, Kyrgyzstan — Thousands of angry residents gathered in the central plaza of this tense capital city yesterday to mourn more than 75 people killed in violent protests and demand that the interim government prosecute the nation’s missing president for ordering security forces to fire on demonstrators.
The peaceful crowd laid flowers outside the charred and ransacked seat of government known as the White House and on sprawling Ala-Too Square, where much of Wednesday’s bloodshed occurred. Nearby, firefighters battled a blaze at the headquarters of the chief prosecutor.
President Kurmanbek Bakiyev fled the capital Wednesday night after protesters angered by the shootings overwhelmed police and took control of key government buildings. But he has refused to resign and remains in hiding in the nation’s south, where his opponents say he may be trying to organize an armed resistance.
“He should suffer as he made his people suffer,’’ said Talaibek Abdurakhmanov, 58, a retired engineer, who traveled to the capital to help friends retrieve the bodies of three college students killed in the clashes. “He should be put on trial and sentenced to life in prison.’’
Temir Sariyev, one of the opposition figures in the new government, said a criminal case had been opened against Bakiyev and several family members and that police were making plans to arrest him. “We have interrogated suspects, and they are providing evidence against the president, and against his brothers and children,’’ he said. “Our law enforcement agencies are involved in special operations to detain him.’’
Yeah, okay.
Two days later they are saying he can leave.
Opposition leaders said they had no immediate plans to close the US air base at Manas International Airport, a major transit hub for personnel and equipment en route to Afghanistan. But they indicated that, at a minimum, Washington would be forced to negotiate fresh terms to maintain the military installation, less than a year after the Bakiyev government tripled the rent and extracted $150 million in other concessions.
HOLY CRAP, America!!
The instability in Kyrgyzstan could complicate President Obama’s plan to send 30,000 more US troops to Afghanistan as part of an even larger NATO buildup there. In March, 50,000 US and allied forces heading to and from Afghanistan transited through the Manas air base, more than three times the monthly average last year. US officials said they were forced to curtail flights at Manas on Thursday and confine all troops to the base.
Awwww, isn't that too bad!!! Less war dead today, huh?
In the capital, the mourners gathered as the interim government appeared to make progress in restoring public order in the capital with the help of civilian militias after two nights of looting and gunfire. Dawn arrived to reveal streets littered with garbage and lined with looted stores. Charred remains of a few police and military vehicles sat outside the seat of government, along with the chief prosecutor’s building. Across the boulevard was an abandoned armored personnel carrier, its tires slashed and an empty beer bottle sitting on the hood.
Yes, I am getting the feeling this may not be an agenda-approved move, or one that is getting out of control.
Roza Otunbayeva, a former foreign minister and ambassador to the United States, has been named the leader of the interim government.
So we would know her!
She suggested that the new government would honor the US lease for the base at Manas, which expires in July. But she made no promises beyond that, saying at a news conference, “We still have some questions on it.’’
Several opposition leaders had criticized Bakiyev for agreeing to host the base and the Obama administration for overlooking his government’s human rights abuses and suppression of democratic freedoms.
Nothing new for the U.S. when it is OUR GUY!
One leader of the interim coalition said the lease on the base might not last, citing Russia’s support for Bakiyev’s removal....
Wow, and my printed paper is still going:
Last year Moscow thought it had persuaded Bakiyev to expel the US military, but he changed his mind after Washington agreed to pay more.
See: U.S. Caves to Kyrgyzstan Extortion
The Boston Globe Endorses Extortion
"You've seen the level of Russia's joy when they saw Bakiyev's ouster," Omurbek Tekebayev, a former opposition leader now in charge of constitutional matters, told the Reuters news agency. "So now there is a high probability that the duration of the US air base's presence is shortened."Nope.
In addition to serving as a hub for troops flying back and forth from the war zone, the base is a refueling center for US planes flying missions over Afghanistan and is home to a KC-135 tanker squadron.
Oh, less missiles raining down on the region?
Good.
--more--"
Related: Kyrgyzstan crisis reverberates for Boston conductor
That was the coverage on Sunday.
And somehow this AP article didn't need rewriting, reediting, or censorship.
Hmm.
"Kyrgyzstan’s deposed president seeks UN intervention" by Peter Leonard, Associated Press | April 12, 2010
TEYIT, Kyrgyzstan — Kyrgyzstan’s deposed president yesterday defended the legitimacy of his rule and urged the United Nations to send peacekeepers to help stabilize the strategically vital Central Asian nation.
Well, if he is calling on them for help is he one of ours!
President Kurmanbek Bakiyev said in an interview at his home village in the south of the country that he had not ordered police to fire at protesters in the capital. “My conscience is clear,’’ he said.
Oh, well then.
Just wondering how so many dead bodies got left lying around!
Bakiyev fled the capital, Bishkek, on Wednesday after a protest rally against corruption, rising utility bills, and deteriorating human rights exploded into police gunfire and chaos that left at least 81 people dead and sparked protesters to storm the government headquarters.
Looking self-assured and calm, Bakiyev denounced the protest as a “coup’’ and angrily rejected the self-proclaimed interim government’s demand to step down. “I’m the head of state,’’ he said.
They never give up power easy, do they?
The stalemate has left Kyrgyzstan’s near-term stability in doubt, a worry for the West because of the US air base in Kyrgyzstan that is a crucial element in the international military campaign against the Taliban in Afghanistan.
Not any more.
Bakiyev strongly urged the UN to send a peacekeeping force to Kyrgyzstan, arguing that the nation’s police and the military are too weak to keep the unrest from spreading. “The people of Kyrgyzstan are very afraid,’’ Bakiyev said. “They live in terror.’’
And did under you, too, from what I've read!
The head of the interim government, Roza Otunbayeva, said yesterday that Bakiyev must face trial, rescinding an earlier offer of security guarantees for him. The statement reflected the toughening of the new authorities’ stance as they grow increasingly impatient with Bakiyev’s refusal to step down.
Yeah, well, whatever.
Speaking to a crowd of supporters yesterday at his family mansion, Bakiyev warned the government against an attempt to arrest him, saying that it will lead to bloodshed. Servants treated the crowd to a traditional rice dish and dumplings.
Outside, gangs of young men barricaded a road leading to his house with cars, but they didn’t have any weapons. Bakiyev called for an international investigation of the violence in Bishkek.
The sign of a loser, right?
--more--"
And now I know he was one of ours:
"Backers rally around deposed Kyrgyz leader; In hometown, Bakiyev tests resistance effort" by Peter Leonard, Associated Press | April 13, 2010
TEYIT, Kyrgyzstan — The deposed president rallied supporters in his home village yesterday, testing his ability to mount resistance to the opposition forces that drove him out of the capital last week.
As about 500 people gathered in a muddy field in Kurmanbek Bakiyev’s native village of Teyit, the deputy head of the self-declared interim government said in the capital that an operation to arrest Bakiyev was being organized.
“Just let him try. If he does, much blood will be shed,’’ Bakiyev told reporters who asked him about the statement by Almazbek Atambayev....
At least 81 people died in the capital Wednesday when a confrontation between police and protesters exploded into gunfire and chaos. Protesters stormed government buildings and Bakiyev fled to his native southern region....
There were no uniformed police in view at the rally, and the loyalty of the country’s security forces remains a significant question.
Could it possibly be to their country?
The stalemate has left Kyrgyzstan’s near-term stability in doubt.
Maybe that is the whole point, what with the attack on Iran coming.
That worries the West because a US air base in Kyrgyzstan is crucial in the military campaign against the Taliban in Afghanistan. The base is used both as the launch point for refueling flights over Afghanistan and as a troop transit point. Troop transit flights had been diverted for several days, but the US Embassy said yesterday those flights have returned to normal operation and that the refueling flights are continuing.
That's all that really matters, right?
US Assistant Secretary of State Robert Blake is to travel to Kyrgyzstan tomorrow for talks including the base status. Atambayev, echoing previous statements by interim government leader Roza Otunbayeva, said the base’s status will be discussed with the United States and “we shall decide everything in a civilized way.’’
Many Kyrgyz oppose the base and Atambayev expressed deep ambivalence.
And they are calling the place a "democracy," huh?
How come you NEVER GET WHAT YOU WANT in a "democracy," readers?
“This base is our common cause to provide stability in Afghanistan,’’ he said. But then he launched into criticism of the United States for allegedly cutting deals with Bakiyev’s family for contracts at the base. Alleged corruption by members of the Bakiyev family, including enriching themselves through fuel contracts for the base, was one of the top issues that brought out protesters last week.
Yeah, it is a "democracy," all right.
“While trying to preserve the base, you lost the respect of the people,’’ Atambayev said of the United States.
Pretty much confirms it.
Bakiyev said in an interview on Sunday that he had not ordered police to fire at protesters in the capital. He strongly urged the United Nations to send a peacekeeping force to Kyrgyzstan, arguing that the nation’s police and the military are too weak to keep the unrest from spreading.
In taking power Thursday, the interim leaders said they controlled four of Kyrgyzstan’s seven regions. By Saturday they said they had expanded their control throughout the country.
Meaning our tulip tool is done!
Here is some rare background, readers.
The opinion page, of course.
"Off base; The US use of Kyrgyzstan as a military staging ground has caused it to turn a blind eye to conflict" by Stephen Kinzer | April 13, 2010
Stephen Kinzer is the author of “Overthrow: America’s Century of Regime Change From Hawaii to Iraq.’’
DESPITE ITS rugged Alpine splendor, or perhaps because of it, Kyrgyzstan is one of the world’s least-known countries. So there has been much puzzlement over the recent explosion of violent pro-democracy protest there, which forced President Kurmanbek Bakiyev to flee the capital and has apparently ended his rule.
Yet this outburst was eminently predictable. Kyrgyzstan has a better chance of moving toward democracy than any other country in Central Asia, but it is caught up in big-power rivalries and remains in the grip of authoritarian traditions of the Soviet era. Not coincidentally, it is also a reluctant host to an air base that the United States uses to supply its troops in Afghanistan.
How did Kyrgyzstan fall into the abyss of instability? Part of the answer lies in the American policy of arming, training, and financing Islamic radicals in Afghanistan during the anti-Soviet insurgency of the 1980s.
You know, what is now called "AL-CIA-Duh!"
Veterans of that insurgency fanned out into nearby countries, including Kyrgyzstan, determined to impose fundamentalist rule like the kind the Taliban brought to Afghanistan.
Related:
"The U.S. government was well aware of the Taliban's reactionary program, yet it chose to back their rise to power in the mid-1990s. The creation of the Taliban was "actively encouraged by the ISI and the CIA," according to Selig Harrison, an expert on U.S. relations with Asia. "The United States encouraged Saudi Arabia and Pakistan to support the Taliban, certainly right up to their advance on Kabul," adds respected journalist Ahmed Rashid. When the Taliban took power, State Department spokesperson Glyn Davies said that he saw "nothing objectionable" in the Taliban's plans to impose strict Islamic law, and Senator Hank Brown, chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Subcommittee on the Near East and South Asia, welcomed the new regime: "The good part of what has happened is that one of the factions at last seems capable of developing a new government in Afghanistan." "The Taliban will probably develop like the Saudis. There will be Aramco [the consortium of oil companies that controlled Saudi oil], pipelines, an emir, no parliament and lots of Sharia law. We can live with that," said another U.S. diplomat in 1997."
He should know that, readers!!!
Kyrgyz authorities responded with brutal tactics that stigmatized all practicing Muslims as potential enemies.
You know, a good ally.
This repression, combined with the collapse of social services that people enjoyed during the Soviet era, pushed some Kygyz toward radicalism.
Kyrgyzstan, though, almost escaped the cycle of autocracy that has crippled Central Asia. After unexpectedly becoming independent following the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, it cast about for a national leader who could give this new nation an identity. The sentimental favorite was the novelist Chingiz Aitmatov, Central Asia’s pre-eminent intellectual and one of the few people who seemed to have a coherent idea of what Kyrgyzstan was or could be. He declined the honor, and recommended a little-known scientist and mathematician, Askar Akayev, who was duly elected and served two terms as president.
I met President Akayev in 1999 as his second term, the last allowed to him by law, was ending. My main question was whether he would step down voluntarily — something that would make him unique in Central Asian history — or adjust laws to keep himself in power. He didn’t answer directly, but told me that the 2000 elections would be “fair and transparent.’’ Soon afterward, he decided to rewrite the constitution and run for another term. His control of the electoral machinery assured his victory, and his government became more corrupt and repressive. It was overthrown in the “Tulip Revolution’’ of 2005, which brought Bakiyev to power.
Ah, yes, the U.S. hand finally revealed.
Bakiyev, however, proved no more responsive to public will than his predecessor. Now he has apparently paid for his misrule.
Because the United States was focused on its need for an airbase in Kyrgyzstan, it turned a blind eye to Bakiyev’s sins.
That is why no one takes us seriously when we complain about human rights or democracy?
Americans claimed to need the base in order to fight for democracy in Afghanistan, but to secure it, they had to support an undemocratic regime in Kyrgyzstan. This contradiction, which is inherent in any imperial project, naturally alienated Kyrgyz citizens who believe they too are entitled to live in freedom.
Now if only we could find some over here.
The United States wound up looking like the enemy of groups supporting “American ideals,’’ while propping up a regime based on principles it professes to detest. Bakiyev’s son, widely seen as one of his most loathsome henchmen, was in Washington last week for what were supposed to be friendly talks; anger over America’s willingness to receive him helped set off last week’s explosion.
Sigh.
First I've read of it.
Strange how this all took place with him over here.
The United States has seen Kyrgyzstan as a military staging ground, but it is something more: a nation struggling toward freedom. Democracy has a better chance in Kyrgyzstan than anywhere else in Central Asia. If the new regime manages to consolidate itself in the coming days, the United States should approach it with humility rather than more demands. If it does, Kyrgyzstan — not Afghanistan or Pakistan — might emerge as the region’s democratic leader. That would be the kind of victory for freedom that American leaders say they want to win in this deeply troubled region.
He should now that we are not really interested in that or "democracy!"
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Yeah, I would say so.
