Time for Bakiyev to go? riots in Kyrgyzstan

[geni]

Well Bakiyev appears to have started running so what are we going to call this revolution:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2010_Kyrgyzstan_riots

[Cleon]

I'm *********** sick of flowers and colors. Call it what it is: The GTFO Rebellion.

[Darat]

Daffodil?

[Darat]

They could save everyone a lot of trouble if they just called these changes "elections".

[ddt]

They could save everyone a lot of trouble if they just called these changes "elections".

You mean the people voting with their pitch forks?

[Darth Rotor]

I'm *********** sick of flowers and colors. Call it what it is: The GTFO Rebellion.

A reasonable request. What is Khyrgyzstanese for GTFO? :confused:

An interesting summary here.
http://www.newsweek.com/ID/236021

Thanks, geni, for the thread. Poor, Khyrgyzstan, going through post-Soviet growing pains, still. I keep a glance at it, thanks to future fun and games in Afghanistan for NATO, and basing rights at the Manas airfield. Whatever new boss shows up to replace the old boss gets to choose whether or not to keep that lease/agreement going.

Aside: Stories like this make me want to give Pete Townshend and The Who the twentieth century political commentary Pith Award: The last lines of Won't Get Fooled Again:

Meet the new boss
Same as the old boss

A few points from the Newsweek article:

Indeed the popular anger at old, corrupt Communist elites was similar in all cases. But in truth the Kyrgyz "color revolution" brought to power not pro-Western democrats but a group of former apparatchiks who quickly became as hated as the ousted Akayev regime.

The Bakiyev family "ran the country like a criminal syndicate," says Professor Alexander Cooley of Columbia University. Worst of all, for the people of Kyrgyzstan and the region, Bakiyev and his allies soon began cracking down on opposition activism, on international observers such as the International Crisis Group, and on the U.S. presence in his country by threatening to expel American troops from the Manas airbase, a key staging post for NATO operations in Afghanistan.

Putin made me grin with this crack:

Putin was unable to resist the temptation to twist the knife in the fallen president. "When Bakiyev came to power a few years ago he severely criticized his predecessor for nepotism—and now I have the impression that Bakiyev stepped on the same rake."
DR

[geni]

Hmm looks like things may end without significant further conflict. Reports increasingly suggesting that Bakiyev isn't going to fight it out.

[geni]

Well Bakiyev appears to have dissappeared but given current events that may be a fairly smart move.


Kyrgyzstan's interim government has given security forces shoot-to-kill powers in a bid to stop ethnic fighting which has taken nearly 80 lives.

It also declared a partial mobilisation of the army to combat "destructive forces and criminal elements".

Thousands of ethnic Uzbeks have been fleeing what they say are ethnic Kyrgyz gangs in the southern city of Osh.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia_pacific/10302611.stm

The goverment has asked Russia for help, Moscow has appealed for calm (heh when was the last time you heard that) and those in the south appear to have been hoping that uzbekistan will help them.

[geni]

So we've got an ethnic conflict with over 100 dead rather more displace and large parts of Osh set fire to. For the record Osh is here:

http://toolserver.org/~geohack/geohack.php?pagename=Osh&params=40.53_N_72.8_E_region:KG_type:city%28220,00 0%29

[dudalb]

I'm *********** sick of flowers and colors. Call it what it is: The GTFO Rebellion.

Shades of the War Of The Roses......

[NWO Sentryman]

Guns and Roses and a highway to hell.

[geni]

Hmm the new goverment is blaming claiming Maksim Bakiyev (son of former president) is behind it.

They've released this phone recording:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6KB8GAnNM78&feature=related

But that is fakeable.

Maksim Bakiyev is aparently in the UK of all places. Russian media are reporting that if the UK doesn't hand him over the US may lose Manas Air Base.

[Doctor Evil]

Seems to be really bad there. Number of dead is in the thousands now.

[bigjelmapro]

Not a peep from UN human rights watch though.

Will this have any effect?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yNCyNiPHB7E

[geni]

Not a peep from UN human rights watch though.


There is no such organisation as "UN human rights watch".

U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights made a statement as far back as june 15:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100615/ap_on_re_as/as_kyrgyzstan

UNHCR, UNICEF and WHO have been involved on the ground. Other agencies involved include OCHA and UNOSAT of all people.

[bigjelmapro]

There is no such organisation as "UN human rights watch".

U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights made a statement as far back as june 15:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100615/ap_on_re_as/as_kyrgyzstan

UNHCR, UNICEF and WHO have been involved on the ground. Other agencies involved include OCHA and UNOSAT of all people.
Oops, got UN watch/Human Rights Watch and UN Human Rights Council messed up. And I didn't critisize the UN wholesale, otherwise I've would've stated it as such.

[Polaris]

Hmm the new goverment is blaming claiming Maksim Bakiyev (son of former president) is behind it.

They've released this phone recording:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6KB8GAnNM78&feature=related

But that is fakeable.

Maksim Bakiyev is aparently in the UK of all places. Russian media are reporting that if the UK doesn't hand him over the US may lose Manas Air Base.

Moscow's been looking for an excuse to push the US out of Kyrgyzstan for a while. This might be it.

[geni]

Oops, got UN watch/Human Rights Watch and UN Human Rights Council messed up.

UNHRC passed a resolution on June 18th. This doesn't really fall within their remit though since short term responces are meant to fall to other bodies within the UN (UNHCR for example).


And I didn't critisize the UN wholesale, otherwise I've would've stated it as such.

So in other words your only interest in an event that resulted in the deaths of at least a few hundread people is missaimed UNHRC bashing?

[geni]

Moscow's been looking for an excuse to push the US out of Kyrgyzstan for a while. This might be it.

Moscow doesn't appear to be doing much at the moment. Being dragged into kyrgyzstan politics and the local ethinic tensions would be kinda risky.

[Cleon]

Moscow's been looking for an excuse to push the US out of Kyrgyzstan for a while. This might be it.

Moscow's been staying the hell out of it. The interim Kyrgyz president even asked them for military help, and Russia said no (http://rt.com/Top_News/2010-06-12/kremlin-humanitarian-help-kyrgyzstan.html).

[bigjelmapro]

UNHRC passed a resolution on June 18th. This doesn't really fall within their remit though since short term responces are meant to fall to other bodies within the UN (UNHCR for example).

Resolution that didn't involve Kyrgyzstan other than a statement regarding a probe. Took them over a week to make a statement, not a resolution. Would like to see how this doesn't fall within their framework to respond to human rights violations.

Took UNHRC less than a day to call a special meeting for the Gaza flotilla incident and to reach an actual resolution condemning Israel, as in not solely a statement as with Kyrgyzstan. Here UNHRC has shown its ability to act with urgency with unfolding events (especially if they've had a few weeks of seeing smoke on the horizon)

The video linked summarizes the lack of response to a number of incidents, but I take this could very well be due to the UNHRC's members themselves in keeping it off the agenda.


So in other words your only interest in an event that resulted in the deaths of at least a few hundread people is missaimed UNHRC bashing?
Quite a stretch there to phrase it 'in other words' from the quoted material. Nice try though.

Why even bother asking anymore? You know just for good measure....and not missaimed at all.

[Captain.Sassy]

Moscow's been staying the hell out of it. The interim Kyrgyz president even asked them for military help, and Russia said no (http://rt.com/Top_News/2010-06-12/kremlin-humanitarian-help-kyrgyzstan.html).

This really surprised me, since the Russians are often portrayed as wanting to take any opportunity to expand their regional influence and especially their hard power projection abilities. Also, by most accounts Moscow was pretty happy to see Bakiyev go, and there were also rumblings about Otunbayeva taking a more pro-Moscow stance, so it is something of a puzzle for me as to why Russia would have turned down the request.

Maybe the Russians don't want to be seen as picking a side in the conflict? If they want a future (post referendum, post election) Kyrgyz gov't that is more aligned with their priorities, perhaps being perceived by the Kyrgyz population as having stepped in to aid the Uzbeks might be a liability.

Moscow also indicated it wanted to work through the CSTO framework, and through the OSCE (IIRC). Kazakhstan is currently heading up the OSCE. So it might be a play to get greater 'legitimacy' for these organizations or for Kazakhstan's international role. Also, while Moscow didn't provide soldiers, I do think that they may have supplied fuel and equipment to the Kyrgyz security forces, as well as humanitarian assistance.

If anyone's got any better explanations, I'm all ears!

CapSas

[Captain.Sassy]

human rights ... Gaza flotilla ...off the agenda... Quite a stretch ...

c'mon man.

there are some israel threads elsewhere on the board.

[Captain.Sassy]

"Destructive forces scheduled another coup in Kyrgyzstan on June 22 ... We know who they are, but we cannot arrest them because they are still talking about peaceful protests, although we are aware of their intentions," - said Tekebayev. He noted that the organizers who want to overthrow the current leadership of the country are preparing to transfer people from the south to Bishkek. The Vice Prime Minister did not specify whether he meant the supporters of overthrown President Kurmanbek Bakiyev.

delicious sauce:
http://english.pravda.ru/hotspots/conflicts/23-06-2010/113973-kyrgyzstan-0

[bigjelmapro]

c'mon man.

there are some israel threads elsewhere on the board.
Wasn't used to turn this thread into an Israel subject, merely to establish timing of certain NGO's.