gmoke's corner ... | 4 comments (4 topical, editorial, 0 hidden)

Re: Venezuelan Oil Is Ours (none / 0)

A good read ...

Chavez Raises the Stakes ... Again | by soj @BooMan on 21 March 2005 |

Soj on Kyrgyzstan in 2005 ...

Kyrgyz Elections: Part 4
The West's relationship with Kyrgyzstan is more tangled than its relations with Ukraine and Georgia. Akayev was considered the most liberal of Central Asia's presidents in the 1990s, but his democratic reputation soured as he amassed more and more power for his allies. Then he was again in favor in 2001, when Washington needed his permission to install U.S. air bases in Kyrgyzstan for the war in Afghanistan.
Akayev and some Russian observers accuse western sources of funding and fomenting the unrest in Kyrgyzstan. But as the crisis has unfolded, U.S. officials have kept a low profile, unlike they did in Ukraine and Georgia. They appear more concerned with U.S. security interests - and their relationship with China, on Kyrgyzstan's eastern border - than democratic revolutions.
Russia and the United States have more in common when it comes to Kyrgyzstan than both sides seem willing to admit. Both have a military presence there, and both want stability in the region but have reservations about Akayev. Both are determined to retain influence in Central Asia: Moscow wants to keep Washington from gaining the upper hand, and Washington wants to make sure it doesn't become a Russian fiefdom. Facing off over Kyrgyzstan would put both sides' goals at risk.

The U.S. bases in Kyrgyzstan are pretty important for the neocon plans on Iran, Pakistan, Russia, and China. Russia feels the same way about the place.

Today's headlines ...