[Licacivelip]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/us_kyrgyz...V3a3lyZ3l6cnVs


New Kyrgyz rulers hail Russia, aim to shut U.S. base
Reuters



U.S. walks careful line on Kyrgyzstan Reuters – Young people stand in front of The White House", the presidential office, to prevent it from being …
By Maria Golovnina and Dmitry Solovyov Maria Golovnina And Dmitry Solovyov – 2 hrs 25 mins ago

BISHKEK (Reuters) – Kyrgyzstan's self-proclaimed new leadership said on Thursday that Russia had helped to oust President Kurmanbek Bakiyev, and that they aimed to close a U.S. airbase that has irritated Moscow.

Their comments set Wednesday's overthrow of Bakiyev, who fled the capital Bishkek as crowds stormed government buildings, firmly in the context of superpower rivalry in central Asia.

No sooner had presidents Barack Obama and Dmitry Medvedev signed an arms reduction pact in Prague as part of an effort to "reset" strained relations than a senior official in Medvedev's delegation urged Kyrgyzstan's new rulers to shut the base.

The official, who declined to be named, noted that Bakiyev had not fulfilled a promise to shut the Manas airbase, which the United States uses to supply NATO troops in Afghanistan. He said there should be only one base in Kyrgyzstan -- a Russian one.

Omurbek Tekebayev, a former Kyrgyz opposition leader who took charge of constitutional matters in the new government, said that "Russia played its role in ousting Bakiyev."

"You've seen the level of Russia's joy when they saw Bakiyev gone," he told Reuters. "So now there is a high probability that the duration of the U.S. air base's presence in Kyrgyzstan will be shortened."

Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin denied that Moscow had played a part in the turmoil in the former Soviet republic, which Russia openly regards as part of its own back yard.

But he was the first foreign leader to recognize opposition figure Roza Otunbayeva as leader of Kyrgyzstan, and rang her soon after she said she was in charge.

The United States said it had not yet decided whether to recognize Otunbayeva's government, and did not say who it believed was in control.

Russia's top general said 150 paratroopers had been sent to Russia's own Kant base in Kyrgyzstan, and Medvedev's office said they would protect Russian citizens at its embassy and other diplomatic facilities.

Click image to see photos of protests in Kyrgyzstan



AP

Otunbayeva, who once served as Bakiyev's foreign minister, said the interim government controlled the whole country except for Bakiyev's power base of Osh and Jalalabad in the south, and had the backing of the armed forces and border guards.

She said the situation in Kyrgyzstan's economy was "fairly alarming" and it would need foreign aid. She said Putin had asked how Russia could help.

FLYING TO MOSCOW

"We agreed that my first deputy and the republic's former prime minister, Almaz Atambayev, would fly to Moscow and formulate our needs," she told Russian Ekho Moskvy radio.

Putin did not promise a specific sum, she said. "But the fact that he called, spoke nicely, went into detail, asked about details -- generally, I was moved by that. It is a signal."

Otunbayeva said Bakiyev was holed up in Jalalabad. "What we did yesterday was our answer to the repression and tyranny against the people by the Bakiyev regime," she told reporters.

Kyrgyzstan, a country of 5.3 million people, has few natural resources but has made the most of its position at the intersection of Russian, U.S. and Chinese spheres of influence.

Washington has used Manas to supply U.S.-led NATO forces fighting Taliban insurgents in Afghanistan since losing similar facilities in Uzbekistan, apparently after pressure from Moscow.

Bakiyev announced the Manas base would close during a visit to Moscow last year at which he secured $2 billion in crisis aid, only to agree later to keep it open at a higher rent.

The U.S. charge d'affaires in Bishkek met Otunbayeva, while in Washington a top U.S. diplomat received Bakiyev's foreign minister, Kadyrbek Sarbayev.

"Our message to both is the same," State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley told a news briefing. "We will continue to urge them to resolve this in a peaceful way."

Michael McFaul, a senior White House adviser on Russia told reporters in Prague: "This is not some anti-American coup. That we know for sure, and this is not a sponsored-by-the-Russians coup."

He said Medvedev and Obama had not discussed the base. A U.S. official said they had considered making a joint statement on Kyrgyzstan, but none was issued.

AIRBASE STILL OPERATING

The Pentagon said limited operations were continuing at Manas, and support to Afghanistan had not been seriously harmed.

Pentagon officials say Manas has been central to the war effort, allowing around-the-clock combat airlifts and airdrops, medical evacuation and aerial refueling, and that alternative solutions would be less efficient and more expensive.

Bakiyev, himself brought to power by a "people power" revolution in 2005, told Reuters by telephone that he had no plans to step down, but offered to talk to the opposition leaders who have claimed control of Kyrgyzstan.

"I can't say that Russia is behind this," he said. "I don't want to say that -- I just don't want to believe it."

Speaking to Russia's Ekho Moskvy radio, he acknowledged that he had little control over events in the capital.

With rioters roaming the streets and widespread looting after a day in which dozens were killed in clashes between protesters and police, the self-proclaimed new interior minister ordered security forces to fire on looters.

Bishkek awoke to blazing cars and burned-out shops on Thursday after a day in which at least 75 people were killed.

Smoke billowed from the seven-storey White House, the main seat of government, as crowds rampaged through it. Looting was widespread and shots could still be heard on Thursday night.

The uprising was sparked by discontent over corruption, nepotism and rising utility prices. A third of the population live below the poverty line. Remittances from the 800,000 Kyrgyz working in Russia make up about 40 percent of Kyrgyzstan's GDP.

Another 10 percent or so comes from the giant Kumtor gold mine, operated by Canada's Centerra Gold.

Centerra said operations were unaffected by the turmoil, but its shares were down around 5 percent on the day, following an 11 percent fall on Wednesday. [nN08121726]

(Additional reporting by Olga Dzyubenko in Bishkek, Khulkar Isamova in Osh, Robin Paxton, Steve Gutterman and Guy Faulconbridge in Moscow; Lucy Hornby in Beijing, Peter Graff in Kabul; Denis Dyomkin in Prague; Phil Stewart, Andrew Quinn and Adam Entous in Washington; Writing by Kevin Liffey; editing by David Stamp)

[Licacivelip]

Vladimir Putin is so good, that Obama is absolutely no fight.

He lured Obama to sign nuclear treaty and simultaneously he pulled the plug on Obama for his Afghan wars. Now that is a good surprise!

The Soviet had got fucked in Afghan, now it is USA's turn. No escape.

Obama is in the middle of his personal Troop Surge campaign in Afghan he need the highest of logistics and supplies from Kyrgyzstan base. Now Vladimir Putin had used the perfect timing of nuclear treaty to hoodwink Obama, and unplug the most crucial supply to his big big Troop Surge campaign.

Very impressive!



http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn...041001110.html

U.S. halts troop flights from Kyrgyz base


By Maria Golovnina ATA-BEIIT, Kyrgyzstan (Reuters) - The United States stopped all troops flying to Afghanistan via its Kyrgyz air base as security concerns persisted on Saturday following an uprising in the impoverished Central Asian republic.
Reuters
Saturday, April 10, 2010; 8:12 AM

The fate of the Manas base, a central cog in the U.S.-led war effort in Afghanistan, has been thrown into question since the overthrow of President Kurmanbek Bakiyev's government.

Up to 10,000 mourners gathered on the edge of the burned-out Kyrgyz capital at a funeral to commemorate at least 78 people who were killed when troops loyal to Bakiyev shot into crowds of opposition protesters on Wednesday during the uprising.

U.S. military Central Command, which oversees the Manas base in Kyrgyzstan, said all military passenger flights had been suspended and that cargo flights were not guaranteed.

"Decisions on conducting other, non-passenger-related, flight operations from the base will be made on a case-by-case basis," a spokesman for Central Command said.


A U.S. official, speaking on condition of anonymity in Washington, said it was a security-related decision made by the base commander on the ground at Manas.

A spokesman for the U.S. base declined to say when troop flights would resume or what alternative routes would be used.

Pentagon officials say Manas is central to the war effort against the Taliban, allowing around-the-clock flights in and out of neighboring Afghanistan. About 50,000 troops passed through last month alone.

Lieutenant-Colonel Tadd Sholtis, a spokesman for the commander of U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan, said the disruption at the Kyrgyz base was not yet having a significant impact on operations on the ground.

"It's only been a couple of days," Sholtis said. "It's not concerning at this time. It would be if it went on for a long time."

The uprising in Kyrgyzstan, where a third of the 5.3 million population lives below the poverty line, forced the president to retreat to his stronghold in the south of the country. His exact whereabouts are unclear.

PRESIDENT BAKIYEV

Bakiyev's refusal to step down remains the key question as calm returned to the streets of Bishkek, still strewn with rubble and broken glass after days of violent clashes and looting.


Roza Otunbayeva, who led the opposition to Bakiyev and is now the interim government chief, has offered the president safe passage out of Kyrgyzstan if he steps down.

"We would really like to start negotiations. We will solve everything peacefully," Keneshbek Dushebayev, head of the new state security service, told reporters.

Mourners at the funeral on the outskirts of Bishkek showed little sympathy for Bakiyev.

Carrying coffins draped in the red-and-yellow Kyrgyz national flag, they clutched portraits of the dead at a memorial complex built in honor of the victims of mass executions ordered by Soviet leader Josef Stalin in the 1930s.

Relatives lowered bodies into 16 graves lined in rows and joined hands in prayer, while mullahs chanted in Arabic.

"Those who died on April 7 are the heroes of Kyrgyzstan," Roza Otunbayeva, the interim government chief, told the crowd.
ad_icon

"It was our duty to establish justice. Those who are being buried here today are all our children, the children of Kyrgyzstan."

Omurbek Tekebayev, a key figure in the provisional government, told the crowd: "Our people defeated the dictator."

Kuat Niyazbekov said his brother had died in the uprising.

Reuters reporters saw dozens of riot police and troops repeatedly fire into crowds of protesters who had massed on the main square outside Bakiyev's offices on Wednesday.

"We don't even know what really happened on the square, what his last minutes of life were like," he said. "We can't forgive a president like that."

The interim government has accused Bakiyev's supporters of stoking violence. In the southern city of Jalalabad, 200 of his supporters gathered near a billboard picturing a smiling Bakiyev shaking hands with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev.

A crowd of 5,000 ethnic Uzbeks, who comprise a large part of the population in southwest Kyrgyzstan, rallied several kilometers away, saying they supported Kyrgyz unity and opposed any attempt to divide the north and south of the country.

Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin became the first world leader to recognize the authority of the self-proclaimed government, just hours after it took power, raising suspicions that Moscow had played a role in the events.

Otunbayeva has described Russia as a key ally and publicly thanked Putin for his support. Almazbek Atambayev, deputy head of the new government, met Putin in Moscow on Saturday but there were no details of the talks.

(Additional reporting by Dmitry Solovyov in Jalalabad; Writing by Maria Golovnina, Robin Paxton and Guy Faulconbridge; editing by Myra MacDonald)

[Licacivelip]

STUPID OBAMA!



Tah Tah Afghan Wars!


Hahaha! You got Fucked!


http://www.newser.com/story/85659/ky...gerprints.html


Kyrgyzstan Unrest Bears Putin's Fingerprints
How about a stop to the meddling, pleads Simon Tisdall


(Newser) – Vladimir Putin’s “sardonic” acknowledgment of the interim regime in Kyrgyzstan yesterday is just another clue that the Russian government was involved in ousting president Kurmanbek Bakiyev, Simon Tisdall writes. It’s obvious: Putin essentially paid off Bakiyev to boot the US from a Kyrgyz air base, which ended up not happening. Then, voila! Russian TV stations “not usually noted for their concern for human rights have freely criticized Bakiyev.”

But it’s the US that dealt with Bakiyev despite legitimate concerns over abuse, showing “President Obama’s at home in the compromised world of realpolitik,” Tisdall writes in the Guardian. Russia “insists on regarding this vast region as falling within its sphere of influence,” and the US exhibits a “self-interestedly insouciant disregard for the regime's egregious human rights abuses.” A more productive approach would see the established powers “not try to exploit the power vacuum, confine themselves to constructive advice and assistance, and stop using the country as a playboard.”

[Licacivelip]

http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp...8rOK2iedeF3acw

US sends aid to Kyrgyzstan

(AFP) – 4 hours ago

BISHKEK — The United States has started sending aid to Kyrgyzstan after the unrest this week in which scores were killed and saw the opposition seize control of the Central Asian nation, the US embassy said Saturday.

"We have offered and intend to provide humanitarian assistance. We are already supplying medical supplies and assistance through the Transit Center at Manas", near the capital, Bishkek, the embassy said in a statement.

The embassy repeated an appeal to "all parties to refrain from violence and to continue to move Kyrgyzstan on is democratic path", following the bloody riots that toppled President Kurmanbek Bakiyev.

The base is the main transit centre for soldiers going to Afghanistan, and the US army confirmed that it had stopped the transport of troops to Afghanistan.

"The decision was made Friday evening to temporarily divert passenger transport flights", the spokesman for the Manas base said, reading a statement from the US army.

"The Transit Center at Manas is conducting other flight operations and continues to support operations in Afghanistan".

The base in Manas is key to operations in Afghanistan but it is badly viewed in Moscow, which considers it as a US intrusion in a region long-considered a zone of Russian influence.

[Licacivelip]

stupid obama!



tah tah afghan wars!


hahaha! You got fucked!


http://www.newser.com/story/85659/ky...gerprints.html


kyrgyzstan unrest bears putin's fingerprints
how about a stop to the meddling, pleads simon tisdall


(newser) – vladimir putin’s “sardonic” acknowledgment of the interim regime in kyrgyzstan yesterday is just another clue that the russian government was involved in ousting president kurmanbek bakiyev, simon tisdall writes. It’s obvious: Putin essentially paid off bakiyev to boot the us from a kyrgyz air base, which ended up not happening. Then, voila! Russian tv stations “not usually noted for their concern for human rights have freely criticized bakiyev.”

but it’s the us that dealt with bakiyev despite legitimate concerns over abuse, showing “president obama’s at home in the compromised world of realpolitik,” tisdall writes in the guardian. Russia “insists on regarding this vast region as falling within its sphere of influence,” and the us exhibits a “self-interestedly insouciant disregard for the regime's egregious human rights abuses.” a more productive approach would see the established powers “not try to exploit the power vacuum, confine themselves to constructive advice and assistance, and stop using the country as a playboard.”

声东击西 ＝ 孙子兵法高招 ！
前门签核子和约，后门阴招偷袭成功。
Obama 上当中招

[Licacivelip]

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/11/wo.../11kyrgyz.html

New Leaders in Kyrgyzstan Edge Closer to Russia
By ANDREW E. KRAMER and MICHAEL SCHWIRTZ
Published: April 10, 2010



BISHKEK, Kyrgyzstan — The interim government of Kyrgyzstan, which took control on the heels of protesters storming the presidential building earlier this week, moved quickly on Saturday to solidify relations with Russia.

Roza Otunbayeva, the transitional leader, spoke with a senior Russian official by telephone on Saturday in the second courtesy call from the Kremlin since the previous Kyrgyz government was overthrown on Wednesday, according to Ms. Otunbayeva’s chief of staff.

Any eclipsing of American influence here by a quick Russian embrace of the new government could prove troublesome for the United States’ military operations in Afghanistan. An airport outside Bishkek, the capital, is used as an American military base to transfer soldiers from chartered civilian airplanes to military aircraft as they enter Afghanistan.

The United States Embassy, meanwhile, issued a statement on Saturday that stopped short of endorsing Ms. Otunbayeva’s government.

“We remain a committed partner to the development of Kyrgyzstan for the benefit of the Kyrgyz people and intend to continue to support the economic and democratic development of the country,” the statement said. The United States has provided medical aid from the military airport, it said.

After two days of looting and several cases of arson, the capital was calm for a second day on Saturday. The new leaders said they were negotiating with relatives of the ousted president, Kurmanbek Bakiyev, who has taken refuge in the south of the country and is said to be moving from place to place while being accompanied by a small group of supporters.

On Saturday, the authorities here said they had learned that Mr. Bakiyev had been disbursing weapons to supporters in the region. However, Edil Baisalov, Ms. Otunbayeva’s chief of staff, dismissed any threat of a civil war in Kyrgyzstan because, he said, the officer corps and army garrisons in the south are loyal to the new government.

The opposition leaders took power after protests that began with a demonstration against rising utility rates in a provincial city. On Wednesday, soldiers guarding Mr. Bakiyev’s offices opened fire on protesters, killing as many as 75 people before they swarmed into the building. Mr. Bakiyev took power in 2005, also after a popular uprising, promising democracy and an end to corruption. Opponents say he quickly became as corrupt and authoritarian as his predecessors.

After Mr. Bakiyev fled the capital on Wednesday, Ms. Otunbayeva, a former foreign minister, announced that she would lead a “people’s government” until a new constitution could be written and elections held. The next day, she spoke by phone with Prime Minister Vladimir V. Putin of Russia, who offered support.

The Russian government also dispatched an airplane to fly Almazbek Atambayev, an acting minister for economic affairs, to Moscow. He is negotiating a reduction in fuel tariffs and other economic aid, Mr. Baisalov said.

Mr. Baisalov said that Russian diplomacy in the region had shifted since the so-called color revolutions that overthrew entrenched leaders and installed pro-Western governments in the former Soviet Union — in Georgia in 2003, Ukraine in 2004 and Kyrgyzstan in 2005 — and that the new government here had taken note.

“It’s no longer the Pavlovian response that if you talk to the Americans, you must be pro-American,” said Mr. Baisalov, a civil society activist who returned from exile in Sweden to join the new government. “It’s much more nuanced.”

Russia now has a “pragmatic” stance that accepts some Western influence, while seeking recognition for the assistance to the Kyrgyz economy it has provided.

Outside the Kyrgyz capital, several victims of the violence received a hero’s burial at a cemetery in the foothills of the Tian Shan Mountains reserved for significant national figures, including those killed in Stalin’s purges in the 1930s. The ceremony was complete with rifle volleys and speeches by the country’s interim leaders, who described those who died as patriots.

Ms. Otunbayeva said the people cut down by rifle and machine-gun fire from government troops and the police, who were mostly young, had “fought for the freedom of our people.”

She vowed to find those responsible, but she asked the relatives of the dead to be patient.

“We will do all we can to seek justice for our people,” she said.