Kyrgyzstan
"Kyrgyzstan, an impoverished and mainly Muslim nation of around 5 million people on China’s western fringes, is home to both US and Russian military air bases, making its fortunes the subject of lively international interest."
Not for much longer:
"Kyrgyz vote winner wants US base shut" November 02, 2011|Associated Press
BISHKEK, Kyrgyzstan - Kyrgyzstan’s president-elect said yesterday that the US air base needs to close by 2014 because its presence on Kyrgyz soil puts the former Soviet nation at risk of retaliatory strikes from those in conflict with the United States.
Almazbek Atambayev, who won over 60 percent of ballots in Sunday’s vote, said Kyrgyzstan will honor a contract allowing the United States to lease the Manas base through mid-2014.
The United States has used Manas, located within a civilian airport, as a key logistical hub for operations in nearby Afghanistan since 2001.
“We know that the United States is often engaged in conflict - first in Iraq, then in Afghanistan, and now relations are tense with Iran,’’ he said. “I would not want for one of these countries to launch a retaliatory strike on the military base.’’
The base is the subject of frequent rumors among local residents and politicians, who maintain that fuel dumps by US planes devastate crops and cause illnesses. US military officials have always strenuously denied such allegations and say they make every effort to minimize their impact on the area.
Then it is true.
Manas remains the only US military outpost in the volatile region after the United States was evicted in 2005 from a base in authoritarian Uzbekistan over Washington’s criticism of a brutal crackdown on protesters by Uzbek forces.
Manas was a key transit point for American troops and military supplies, especially during the troop buildup in Afghanistan, but that can be expected to diminish as the United States and its NATO allies wind down their combat role.
And likely even more so since Pakistan has shut down the land lines over the Khyber Pass.
The Afghan government is scheduled to take the lead role throughout the country by the end of 2014, although the United States intends to maintain a diplomatic presence for many more years.
Related: Afghanistan After 2014
Not really leaving.
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Kazahkstan
"Peace Corps to pull out of Kazakhstan" November 19, 2011|Associated Press
BISHKEK, Kyrgyzstan - The US Peace Corps will pull out of the Central Asian nation of Kazakhstan, a move that follows reports from volunteers about a spate of sexual assaults and Islamist-inspired terrorist attacks on the program’s workers.
The Peace Corps has been in Kazakhstan since shortly after the former Soviet nation gained independence in 1991 and currently has about 120 volunteers working in the fields of education and health. It has sent about 1,000 volunteers to the country since it started operations there in 1993.
Honestly, I believe the Peace Corps is nothing but a CIA front just like the U.S. State Department.
US Embassy spokesman Jon Larsen said the Peace Corps will be leaving but gave no specific details on why. The Peace Corps also declined to give an immediate explanation.
Several volunteers, however, posted messages online linking the move to rapes and other attacks....
Peace Corps volunteers who had been raped while serving overseas complained to US lawmakers in May that the organization was not doing enough to train its workers about how to avoid or deal with violent attacks. They also said the Peace Corps reacted insensitively and was not helpful after the crimes.
Kazakhstan has also seen a rash of terrorist attacks in recent months. Last weekend, a gunman went on a rampage in the southern city of Taraz, killing seven people, including five law enforcement officers. He blew himself up as officers moved in to arrest him.
Kazakhstan, a vast oil-rich and mainly Muslim nation of 17 million people along Russia’s southern border, had been largely untouched by Islamist violence since independence....
Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm!
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Tajikistan
"Russia fights back, deports Tajik migrants" November 16, 2011|Associated Press
DUSHANBE, Tajikistan - The spat threatens to imperil the livelihood of thousands of Tajik laborers and stir discontent in a country struggling to protect its border with Afghanistan.
The former Soviet nation’s economy relies heavily on the remittances provided by the many hundreds of thousands of Tajiks working in Russia.
Over the past year, Moscow has been attempting to strong-arm Tajikistan into permitting Russian border troops to resume patrols of the rugged 840-mile frontier with Afghanistan.
Tajik authorities have responded testily to such overtures, which they view as an attempt by the Kremlin to dilute their country’s sovereignty. Russia, meanwhile, grumbles that Tajik troops are not up to stemming the huge flow of heroin streaming north from Afghanistan.
I thought NATO was putting a stop to that.
This latest tit-for-tat dispute will probably undermine efforts to deepen cooperation on enhancing regional security....
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Ukraine
"Ex-Ukraine leader faces indefinite arrest" December 10, 2011|Associated Press
KIEV - A Ukrainian court has ordered the indefinite arrest of Yulia Tymoshenko, a former prime minister, even if her current seven-year sentence is overturned, her office said yesterday.
Kiev’s Shevchenkivsky Court ordered Tymoshenko arrested late Thursday as part of a probe into the activity of an energy company she headed 15 years ago.
The decision shows that Ukrainian authorities remain unbowed by strong Western pressure to release the country’s top opposition leader. The United States and the European Union have condemned her seven-year sentence on abuse of office charges as politically motivated and have demanded her release....
The court ruled during a session in Tymoshenko’s jail cell where she’s bedridden due to a back problem....
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"Ukraine, EU deal stalls over jailing" December 20, 2011
KIEV - The European Union, concerned about the jailing of a former prime minister, balked yesterday at signing a landmark cooperation agreement with Ukraine, in a move that could push Kiev back into Russia’s orbit as it lobbies Moscow for cheaper gas prices.
EU President Herman van Rompuy said that the long-awaited deal outlining political and economic cooperation between Kiev and Brussels has been finalized, but its signing hinges on former prime minister Yulia Tymoshenko’s fate....
She's obviously an agent.
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Related: Ukranian Heartbreakers
