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Postcards And Update From Revolutionary Kyrgyzstan
One day after revolution swept this central Asian country, it has largely disappeared from the mainstream media. Which is why it means it is time for an update. The following was posted on blog Russian Scoop:
Looting and arson of retail outlets and VIP homes continues in Bishkek. A neighborhood housing foreign diplomats has been ransacked, as have the homes of the deposed prime minister and the president's son. The national art museum is said to have been looted. City police have successfully defended their headquarters against an angry mob of several thousand. Shots have been heard throughout the city through all of last night and all day long today. As in 2005, the main culprits seem to be poor, recent arrivals to the city as well as village dwellers who traveled into town overnight on buses or other commandeered vehicles, taking advantage of the political chaos and police disorganization to grab whatever they can, including weapons. Some of the looters are said to be moving from neighborhood to neighborhood in organized fashion, on buses, en masse. They are being opposed by several thousand spontaneously organized, partially-armed civilian volunteer militia (identified by red, blue, or white armbands) and shopkeepers defending their property as well as any police willing and able to remain on duty. Firefights between looters and defenders are occurring as frequently as several times per hour. The casualty toll from yesterday's political events, before today's battle over property, has reached 75 dead and 1000 injured. A more recent figure is not available. People are standing in line at hospitals to donate blood. Army units are said to be arriving into town at this time.
President Bakiev and his ruling family are confirmed as hiding out in their southern hometown of Osh, the country's second largest city. Bakiev has made a statement in which he refused to renounce his post, but claimed to be willing to stand a fair trial. His recalcitrance could become a major problem, as the previously-deposed ruling family fled the country during the 2005 revolution, making things easier for the new government.
The security forces are said to have pledged their loyalty to the provisional government. Political exiles are returning from Europe and the USA at this time, presumably through Kazakhstan as the Bishkek airport is said to be closed. Russia has recognized the provisional government. The USA has not, although U.S. Embassy staff are said to be in talks with the new leaders.
Access to the Youtube website has been blocked in Kazakhstan, presumably to prevent the population from getting any ideas about how to uninstall their own government. Official media in Uzbekistan have not reported on Kyrgyz events at all.
One thing of notice is that Kyrgyzstan is the location of a key US air base,which is used by the US and NATO for Afghanistan air strike campaigns. It seems the provisional government is not too keen on maintaining a relationship with the US.
From Reuters:
A senior official in Kyrgyzstan's self-proclaimed government said on Thursday that there was a high probability that the U.S. lease of an air base serving Afghanistan would be shortened.
"Russia played its role in ousting Bakiyev," Omurbek Tekebayev, a former opposition leader who is now in charge of constitutional matters in the government that said it had taken over power from President Kurmanbek Bakiyev, told Reuters.
"You've seen the level of Russia's joy when they saw Bakiyev gone," he said. "So now there is a high probability that the duration of the U.S. air base's presence in Kyrgyzstan will be shortened."
The United States has leased the Manas air base, which provides crucial support for military operations in nearby Afghanistan, since shortly after the war there began in 2001.
In the meantime, Russian having learned not to let a crisis got to waste, is getting involved. Via Interfax:
Medvedev also confirmed that Russia would be sending troops to Kyrgyzstan to protect Russians there.
Here are some pictures of the Bishkeh revolution:
A full album of the looting and pillaging can be found here and here.
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They don't want to give the audience any ideas, so the spiral of silence begins in earnest.
it's illegal to posess any firearms over there (except for the basic hunting rifles.) imagine the same taking place in the States: thousands of rednecks with their trucks, armed with AR-15s, sniper rifles, etc etc.
They would probably use the arms to insure that no one leaves NYC or Washington, DC. Let the smart people figure out how to fish.
who you callin' a redneck, punk?
It ain't the rednecks folks need to worry about. They won't be the ones assaulting neighborhoods.
+1000
Lots and lots of non-rednecks have trucks and guns too.
I hope that by rednecks you mean the good old boys that will come and save our asses, when we get into trouble.
+1
Yeah, just like in Deliverance.
Yeah! Who are you calling a redneck? The pen is mightier than the sword but there is a reason the brilliant men who founded this country gave us the Second Amendment. Because of as*holes like the ones we have Inside the Beltway and in state capitals.
Grab power at their peril.
I am hardly a redneck.
First Iceland. Then Greece. Now Kyrgystan and Thailand.
And equity investors love social unrest. Who knew?
Could this ever happen in the US, Europe, Japan? Hopefully not but you can never tell what will happen when the currency is trashed.
US Government Coup!!
www.theonion.com/video/us-government-stages-fake-coup-to-wipe-out-nationa,14356/
If the provisional government isn't keen on maintaining a relationship with the US, then I imagine the provisional government will have to go.
Just wait until the US can no longer afford those 129 military installations around the world.Oh I know it all about money etc but the result will be the same.... Global politics is going feudal.
129 installations? Maybe in 1945.
We are currently up to 737 overseas bases now...
http://www.counterpunch.org/roberts11072007.html
(Looks like 'American' feudalism is going global!)
Ya.. I should have said Nations not installations. But the point is the same , the terf battles will be eveywhere without the global police .. the US military.
I particularly enjoyed the CNBC/Steve Liesman soundtrack that accompanies the first photo:
"The retail revolution isn't just in Apple stores or Pier 1, it's sweeping the world. Even in far away Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, retailers just can't keep anything on the shelf. It's off to Osh, b'gosh!"
is this evil?
Soros Foundation-Kyrgyzstan
Well it appears not to be helping.
you need to go over to robo's page RIGHT NOW!
fight club†
Thanks for "just" the tip ;)
Here is a much better soundtrack for this photo album:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZWmf7r_37eA&feature=related
how quickly did this happen?, as in how long has this revolution been bubbling?
how quickly *could* this happen...? rules, what rules?
This revolution has been brewing since about two years after the Tulip Revolution - it was clear to me in 2006 it was only a matter of time before the government was to be toppled.
Bakiev is corrupt to the core just like Akayev was. The tipping point was probably when he decided to close down independent media outlets and arrest opposition politicians.
Kyrgyz people are by and large lovely people but most are obviously fed up with the corruption and nepotism of the ruling elites.
I am concerned this may break out into a civil war if Bakiev does not go quietly. Culturally the north is different to the south and is physically separated by mountains. Bakiev has been forced to flee the capital Bishkek in the north to his homelands and the southern capital of Osh. I pray that this does not go the way of Tajikistan in the 90's.
Cannabis sativa is a native plant and can grow to six feet tall. Methinks it is time for a few Kyrgyz to smoke the peace pipe before things get out of hand.
Bongs away!
Can't we just...all get a bong? hat tip to the bumper sticker at my local head shop.
Russia is reestablishing security through border (buffer) states.
don't think i understand your concealment remark. gun or the pm's. the dealer told me it was legal for me to buy the gold/silver. what do you think about the more expensive Panda's? i am so drawn to them. i look at them as art, but shouldn't right? art or bank, right†
The concealed comment was about guns...
I tend to not buy higher-markup stuff, but you absolutely should appreciate / enjoy what you buy. Coins have been an art form for thousands of years.
I like the panda's as well. There harder to find in local shops where I do alot of my purchases, but I think worth it. As there's a different image for every year and such a small minting if there is a confiscation I imagine you could make a case for them being a collectors item as opposed to a 1oz Eagle.
sorry, I believe those all count as bullion and would be taken under a similar confiscation today as happened with FDR.
from my cold, dead hands
Russia is playing with fire: they are also terribly corrupt and unstable.
Russian ruling regime understands very well they have two dreadful enemies:
Russia and China have agreements in which if one is attacked the other one will go to war WITH the attacked. Iran is the third wheel in the agreement. You are wrong on #2.
Iran is not a member
Are you trying to get me on a technicality? Because I said third wheel. Iran is an "Observer", and they applied for "full membership" status in '08.
Although I am no expert, I assert that Russia, China and Iran are all scorpions in a bottle. If the USA would just kindly mind its own business, those 3 will screw each other well enough such that we would have little to worry about.
In case I am wrong buy some more gold then. Mr L. H. likely would agree!
Nominally I agree, but they are currently looking at a common enemy. Being that common enemy is not a great place.
USSR and Germany had a lot of agreements in 1941. =)
wait a second that last photo with the red tile roofs. how do looters and protectors cause that kind of damage? looks like earthquake hit. i don't have any direct experience though, but are they dropping/firing bombs?
oh, after watching the slideshow it was probably caused by fire damage, huh?
Signatures on the walls inside the house:
Translation:
DIE MAXIM
MAXIM GO AWAY
Translation:There is no place for dirty Jews and for such as Maxim in Kyrgyzstan
Maxim is the president's son
this is cut and paste, i am not saying this-vb.
"There is no place for dirty Jews and for such as Maxim in Kyrgyzstan".
This is the sentence written on large placards hanging on the Presidential palace walls. This message is present on two different pictures.
Looks like Obama and his zionist masters got one more headache.
Obama has many masters. Some are Zionists, some are Dragon Beasts from the Planet Anu, where they live off of sprinkled donuts, grass seed, and virgin hearts. They are from the solar system "We worship Power and Control, so keep using the DOELARR OR ELSE we will....we will....shoot the hostage!"
"But you have the gun pointed at your own head?" said the child in the back.
"SHUTUP and buy what we tell you to buy, and sleep when we tell you to sleep!"
So some are "Zionist", does it matter? The pope is "Christian", and that mother fucker is as evil as they come!
If you want to get into symantics, they want control of "Isis-Ra-El" (Shit man look at the name, that ain't Jewish! The name of the State is a combination of three Egyptian Gods!) because it lies directly between the largest land mass on earth. IT HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH RELIGION! It has to do with control!
Pffft! Of course it has disappeared from the Main Stream Media, you wouldn't want to give the serfs in this country any ideas, now would you.
Stalin - Man of Steel
Oppressing the Kulaks since 1917.
Wow your avatar is awesome! But then I'm biased, Stalin = most evil man in history.
It was not possible to gain such enormous power as he got, alone without support of millions of selfish, uneducated, brain-damaged lower class people. They did the most evil routine acts, such as writing complains to police on people they hate or even dislike, blaming people as "the enemy of the folks" just because they themselves are jealous and envious and so on.
All the Gulag system was built with help and support of such "simple minds". The problem lies in mentality, which was shaped by genetic, environmental and social/cultural constraints.
Stalin was just a folks urge to create a new tsar to replace the executed one, because tsar and god is the most important parts of Russian mentality - they are whom to blame for all misery and disasters, instead of themselves.
The only hell on Earth is the people's ignorance. =)
hmmm the tsar balks at a central bank and gets the deep six. next thing you know there's 60 million dead christians; churches defiled and burnt but sinagogs untouched. not coming to a history book near you. ready for another secret holocaust?
http://www.rense.com/general86/realholo.htm
"Medvedev also confirmed that Russia would be sending troops to Kyrgyzstan to protect Russians there."
Like they protected the Russians in Georgia last Year...
Because it wasn't like the Georgians didn't give Russia a reason to move in and protect their citizens. Killing Russian peacekeepers and attacking civilians in Tskhinvali doesn't amount to a provocation I guess.
Yeaaah... that's how it got started.
Who gave Vlad Putin a user id???
+1
He snuck in using his moms id.
Borat says, "It is nice...I like!"
That was kazakhstan.
Tiger Woods.
Whats more important than Tiger Woods?
he is havin' one today, i am impressed. didn't know what kind of shape his game and mind would be in. pretty spot on. shows, it is all in your mind.
He was so relaxed to have gotten over this ordeal.
I realy think that his outing was a blessing in diguise and created a form of catharsis. he could have never stopped this lifestyle on his own. Too addictive.
His life now is an open book and takes the weight off his shoulder and hits harder. Pun intended.
With that steady diet of silicon and skull helium he's been chowing down you don't think his game would be operating at a high level?
I can see Russia from my house.
sarah?
LOL mi europenita!
Absolutely no WAY she could get past the captcha.
Amazing photos. How rare it is for us to get to see a revolution come to life like that. Must have been absolutely terrible to go through those first 24 hours.
So, from what I can understand from the photos...
The government was corrupt, mostly due to some corrupt finance minister mis-allocating government money for the benefit of the few. Sounds remarkably similar to something else...
Hopefully, Greece blocks the images in their country, you know, for austerity purposes.
Too bad Kyrgyzstanians had not immigrated to America in mass. We could have used them and their balls, guts, and glory right about now.
Take it over Kyrgies! Then sell oil for $200 a gallon. We will buy it, trust me.
No revolution is US. People is lethargic.
Steps to reach a revolutionary state in a coutry must includeP:
For the first precondition; after 3 decades of Huge Prosperity the US citizens consider unpatriotic to ever question about the government reasons, so no matter how good/bad the state is, no one cares.
For the second; Health care asure free Prozac, Valium and painkillers until US citizen drops dead, so no pain.
You see, something bad its impossible to happen in the US.
improbable. just sayin'
Agreed, lots of Valium would help.
Can anyone tell me which exit off the New Jersey Turnpike is Kyrgyzstan?
Wow, you have just given a summary of how the USA will look in 5 years time. Mad Max Thunderdome.
I wonder how long it will take the US to get this type of third world experience.
Correct me if I am wrong but in the last twenty years here in the good ole' USA when we saw rioting and looting in major cities there was a clear absence of rednecks driving around in pick-ups doing all the damage.....
Sublime - April 29, 1992 (Rodney King riots)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N-LB94Kwlws
april 29, 1992 where were you?
PA, where do you think i got this new guitar your hearing today.
first up was the liquor store.
coming up and screaming what the fuck†
let it burn let it burn, chorus riots on the streets, cleveland, LA, eugene, san diego, let it burn get rid of the loiter.
cant we just get alone?
ps. endure the first 50 sec than it has a beat
"Where do you think I got this guitar that you're hearing today, eh?!"
Oh and technically the lyric is "Eugene Oregon". ;)
V, this is one of my favorite songs! Of all time!
There were rednecks. Maybe they couldn't afford pickup trucks, but there were rednecks.
Thats nice.. Market still goes up
Thats nice.. Market still goes up
Step 1: depose
Step 2: get rid of the US base
Step 3: enter the new free economic zone (Rus, Kaz, Bel and now Kyr)
Step 4: drive a hard bargain with Nato (whose military is still dying in droves in Afgh. for the Bush's "glorious" freedom fight, or whatever) - since Nato will now have a really hard time w/o that thingy eliminated in Step 2 (see above). 'Tis called "Geopolitics" - Yankees educated Russia well on how to play this game (Ukraine, Georgia... Kyrgyzstan!!!) color-revoltutions in reverse!!! Eat this, Sir, Yes Sir!!!
Step 5: TBD
Prayers for the good people of Kyrgyzstan.
The pictures coming out of that part of Central Asia are very disturbing. The region is often overlooked by most people. However an unstable, downwardly spiralling, vortex of a place will do no good for the entire world commonwealth of nations. The universe is stable, ordered, benevolent and expansive even if the minds of many bear witness to the opposite fact. Each nation on earth must reflect this divine paradigm. The word nation is mentioned over one hundred times in the Tanach. There is a reason why the concept of a sovereign nation state is so important. Those who do not care about other countries except their own should take note of this.
P.S. In economic terms the country's GDP of $11.6 billion is 0.00028 % of the global total, i.e. Miniscule in the bigger picture, but vital to the citizenry. Myopic pure capitalists could assume they can thus ignore the place as events there will have no bearing on their portfolios. However in a decent civilization our boundary of concern should extend further than the face we see in the mirror in the morning. If a neighbour's house down the road is going to rack and ruin it is unwise to put up the shutters and pretend that everything is fine in the hood. An interconnected world requires a certain command structure to oversee and facilitate solutions to the myriad of problems that presently exist. The private sector must work with this government. A certain level of regulation is required.
hmmm...
"Despite the government press briefings, the fact remains that Afghan opium crops and heroin product make their way through a variety of countries in Central Asia with porous borders. Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan have been named as key border transit routes for shipments."
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Central_Asia/DL25Ag01.html