#224: Georgia-Russia

South Osetia = Kosovo!
Georgia = Serbia!
US = Russia!
Were they justified?

#197: Land and Politics

Transfer of Üzöngüü-Kuush to China triggered the Aksy events, which then led to the flight of Askar Akaev from Kyrgyzstan on March 24, 2005. The current government might be doing similar mistakes in trying transfer several strips of land and 4 resort centers on the shore of Issyk-Kul to Kazakhstan. This simply becomes ammunition for the opposition, which today is still a weak and diverse group.

The opposition is will hold a kurultay (convention) tomorrow to discuss a number of issues, including tranfers of land to Kazakhstan. As a preparation, the opposition, jointly with some youth activities, held a rally against this yesterday. And of course, the police rounded them up and arrested all of the 50 protesters. Pictures (courtesy of AKIpress and morrire) are belo
Kyrgyzstan does seems to be falling off the radar. The west rarely now mentions Kyrgyzstan. The US seems to presenting Kazakhstan as the success story of democratization.

#182: US Foreign Policy

Admiral William Fallon, the head of US Central Command, resigned reportedly for questioning possible military attack on Iran, although the Bush Administration denied change of policy. It will be a very big mistake if Bush decides in the last 10 months of his presidency to attack Iran, especially after all the lies and distortions of intelligence on Iraq' WMD, and leave the whole Middle East in turmoil. In addition, George Bush vetoed a bill prohibiting CIA from using techniques , such as waterboarding, while interrogating suspects.

Fueled by the anti-American rhetoric in the Russian media, sentiments in Kyrgyzstan have long turned against the U.S. policies around the world, especially we host an American airbase near Bishkek. Anti-Russian newspapers and groups could soon start rallying against the American presence.

#181: Manas Airbase

Last week the Pentagon banned Google from mapping street-level video maps - i assume these are like 3D images - of US bases. It turns out that the ban does not apply to the satellite images from Google Maps. This is what I was able zoom in. The bottom part of the image is the actual base. You can see USAF cargo planes (grey) parked on the tarmac along with the civilian airplanes (white) at the Manas International Airpot. This actually is not the limit of zoom.
This is one of their checkpoints

#169: Super Tuesday

Sitting all the way here in Kyrgyzstan, even I am sucked in US politics. I will wake up tomorrow morning and turn on CNN to see the results.

The more I follow the US presidential elections, the more convinced I am that Kyrgyzstan badly needs a person like Barack Obama.

#126: Kymyz or Vodka or Coke?

As a continuation on one of my favorite topics, I present you posters depicting the eternal human dilemma: Kymyz or Vodka or Coke?
These are parodies to the Soviet anti-vodka posters.

#99: Parasitic Dependence, Blind Servility, Genuflection, Primitive Boot-licking, and Double Standards

First, President Bakiev is expected to address the country in his speech in the Parliament on September 19, 2007. Let's see if he has radically new thing to say.

Second, more and more people are painting a gloomy picture of the way Kyrgyzstan is heading. In an interview to weekly Obschestvenniy Reiting, opposition MP Kubatbek Baibolov characterized our society, especially the ruling elite, as being dominated by "parasitic dependence, blind servility, genuflection, primitive boot-licking, and double standards." He says that if we don't root these vices out, Kyrgyzstan will not go anywhere.*

This reminded me of the time couple of weeks ago when a friend of mine and I were having plov in Jalalabad Cafe and a man in his early 50's asked if he could join us on the tapchan, a wooden platform to dine on, because only two of us were occupying it, which could accommodate at least three more people. We agreed. He joined us and silently devoured his lagman as we ate and chatted about Kyrgyz politics. He then joined our discussions and defended the current way of doing politics. He said the president is a khan and as such he should act accordingly and people should obey him accordingly. It turned out that he worked on legal issues for President's Administration, as he confessed. Unfortunately, people like that man dominate the government.

Third, the situation in Iraq is worrying a lot of people, except extremists. The Economist's cartoon below depicts it well.
I guess you see people of such description not only in Kyrgyzstan, but everywhere around the world. For those who speak Russian, I decided to give what Baibolov said: "...пока в обществе господствует идеология иждивенчества, слепого чинопочитания и коленопреклонения, примитивного лизоблюдства и двойной морали, каких-либо серьезных сдвигов ожидать трудно, да и бессмысленно."

On that note, I read that the Constitutional Court declared that the November and December (current) constitutions are illegitimate because of the way they were passed. Ironically, judges of the CC were elected by the Parliament according to the December constitution, which makes them and their decision illegitimate as well. Anyways, this is a vicious circle of legal chaos that started in 2005, or as some say in 2000.

#98: 9/11 and Ramadan

Today is the 6th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Center. With Afghanistan ignored and left to the mercy of warlords and Iraq on the brink of a fiasco, the world is no safer place than six year ago. Russia's 1Kanal showed a documentary (not sure if it was Spielberg's movie) commemorating the tragedy.

Tomorrow is the beginning of the holy month of Ramadan, Orozo in Kyrgyz. Today families will gather for arapa dinner to mark the beginning of the fast. I fasted the whole month last year, but I am thinking about it this year. Last week I signed up to a gym, but with fasting I don't think I will be able to do any of the weight-lifting exercises. Kyrgyz in general are very relaxed about religion. Fasting the first and the last three days of the month counts as well. Ramadan Mubarak! Orozonor kabyl bolsun!

Russian TV Channel, Rossiya, reported about the neo-Nazi gang arrested in Israel, but hid the fact that the arrestees were of Russian descent. Russia's FOX News. Fair and Balanced! @#$%&!

#83: On Afghanistan

Last night I went to sleep at around 5 am reading The Kite Runner, which I had for since last August, but never had the determination to start reading. I went to bed at around 11pm, but for some reason, despite my exhaustion, I could not fall asleep, so I took the book from shelve and started reading. Today, sleepy and tired at work, I realized that Afghanistan is of the main topics in the list of books, both fiction and non-fiction, that I've been reading lately. It all started with the The Great Game: The Struggle for Empire in Central Asia about a year ago.

No country in the world has experienced such a violent history with extreme changes as Afghanistan. Its people have suffered from British, Russian, and now U.S. interferences causing its government change from monarchy to communist rule to fanatic Taleban to the current tribal warlord rule.

These books below are fascinating sociologically and historically. The Soviet rule in 5 Central Asian republics cut off ties with Afghanistan and erased many cultural similarities between us. Some customs and believes, for example the hole concept of dignity, are still shared by many rural Kyrgyz (or other Central Asian people) and Afghans. Over the last 100 years we have drifted away: ex-Soviet Central Central towards Russia, while Afghanistan towards Pakistan, Iran, India. Once it was one cultural, religious, historical, political region.

1. Karl Meyer. Tournament of Shadows: The Great Game and the Race for Empire in Asia
2. Peter Hopkirk. The Great Game: The Struggle for Empire in Central Asia
3. Asne Seierstad. The Bookseller of Kabul,
4. Khaled Hosseini. The Kite Runner
Any other suggestions?

#78: Iraq For Sale

Watch this Robert Greenwald documentary about the war in Iraq and the role of the corporations such as Halliburton, Blackwater, and others in the war.


Update: In addition to this, look what ex-Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld did to the soldier, who turned in the pictures from the Abu Ghraib prison. What an @#$%&! Never liked that old creep!

#72: Internet and Politics

This video has been watched by more than 2.5 million people on YouTube!


Obama Girl vs. Guiliani Girl


McCain Mama


It will be years till Internet starts influencing Kyrgyz politics.

#66: CIA conspired with mafia to kill Castro

The Guardian: The CIA conspired with a Chicago gangster described as "the chieftain of the Cosa Nostra and the successor to Al Capone" in a bungled 1960 attempt to assassinate Fidel Castro, the leader of Cuba's communist revolution, according to classified documents published by the agency yesterday.
...
The documents are available at: www.foia.cia.gov/

#63: Host an International Student

CALL FOR PARTICIPATION
Host a International Student, ACTR/ACCELS
Theory to Practice: Working With Foreign High School StudentsAmerican Councils for International Education: ACTR/ACCELS, manages programs for students from the former Soviet Union (FLEX), Serbia andMontenegro (A-SMYLE) and Afghanistan (YES) sponsored by the U.S.Department of State. We are an international not-for-profit workingsince 1974 in education and research. If you are interested in hosting, coordinating for a student or beinginvolved in some other way, please contact us at:inbound@americancouncils.org, or 202-833-7522.
To potential host families: I guarantee it is a fun experience

#51: Another Wall?

The U.S. government wants to build a wall in Baghdad separating Shia and Sunni neighborhoods. In a world that has survived the Berlin Wall, a symbol of artificial division, countries and world leaders should oppose such barriers. The Israeli government is errecting a "security barrier" around the West Bank perpetuating the occupation of certain territories. The wall in Baghdad will just deepen and exhibit the Shia-Sunni division and reinforce the image of Americans as occupiers, which will delay resolution of the conflict in Iraq.

#49: Does Kyrgyzstan Pose Threat to U.S. Security?

Watch the movie till the end...

Report #26: Wasn't there an embargo?

The Guardian: Dissidents blew American 'aid' millions on luxuries for Cuba
Richard Luscombe in Miami
Thursday November 16, 2006

Cuban dissidents who were given millions of dollars by the US government to support democracy in their homeland instead blew money on computer games, cashmere sweaters, crabmeat and chocolates, which were then sent to the island.
A scathing congressional audit of democracy assistance programmes found "questionable expenditure" by several groups funded by Washington in opposition to President Fidel Castro's rule on the communist Caribbean island.

The Miami-based Acción Democrática Cubana spent money on a chainsaw, Nintendo Game Boys and Sony PlayStations, mountain bikes, leather coats and Godiva chocolates, which the group says were all sent to Cuba. "These people are going hungry. They never get any chocolate there," Juan Carlos Acosta, the group's executive director, told the Miami Herald.

He also defended the purchase of a chainsaw he said he needed to cut a tree that had blocked access to his office in a hurricane, and said the leather jackets and cashmere sweaters were bought in a sale. "They [the auditors] think it's not cold there," Mr Acosta said. "At $30 [£16] it's a bargain because cashmere is expensive. They were asking for sweaters."
The audit analysed $65m of spending by the US Agency for International Development (USAid) from 1996 to 2005 and concluded that poor management was to blame for the waste. "There were weaknesses in agency policies and in programme office oversight, and internal control deficiencies," the report states.

None of the 36 groups that received money were identified in the report, but others admitted to the Miami Herald in advance of its publication on Wednesday that they had been investigated.

Frank Hernández-Trujillo, executive director of Grupo de Apoyo a la Democracia (Group for the Support of Democracy), said his organisation received more than $7m from USAid, a programme that has been a central part of President George Bush's policy on Cuba.

"I'll defend that until I die," Mr Hernández-Trujillo said of his decision to spend part of his group's allocation on boxes of computer games. "That's part of our job, to show the people in Cuba what they could attain if they were not under that system."

Most of the items were distributed to dissidents in Cuba by US diplomats in Havana, who were sometimes unaware what was in the shipments. The US government, however, has previously accused the Cuban government of hijacking consignments sent to its mission.