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| Caucasus/Russia/Central Asia |
| Clinton Calls Acting Leader of Kyrgyzstan |
| 2010-04-11 |
| BISHKEK, Kyrgyzstan -- The United States made its first high-level contact with the interim government of Kyrgyzstan on Saturday, getting assurances that the new leadership would live up to previous agreements and allow American use of an airport that plays an important role in supplying the war effort in Afghanistan. But a statement posted on the State Department Web site did not indicate how long the agreements were for, and the long-term prognosis for the use of the airport remains murky. Russia has bridled in the past at the American presence in a region it calls part of its zone of influence. We can take the short-term assurance and work on the long-term, though the latter likely will cost us some coin ... Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton called the transitional leader, Roza Otunbayeva, in Bishkek, the capital, late in the evening Saturday, according to the State Department and Ms. Otunbayeva's chief of staff. |
| Posted by:Steve White |
| #4 There is no denying that Hitler and Stalin are alive today... they are waiting for us to forget, because this is what makes possible the resurrection of these two monsters. Simon Wiesenthal |
| Posted by: yo adrian 2010-04-11 14:02 |
| #3 Oops, I meant Friday. See here: Rantburg's link. Original article at Foreign Policy: Blood in the Streets of Bishkek. |
| Posted by: Thing From Snowy Mountain 2010-04-11 13:47 |
| #2 From the article linked here Sunday: The older man in charge bangs his hand on the punctured tires. He is wearing a traditional, elf-like Kyrgyz hat. Eyes are reddened. Then he gestures to our right past the empty beer bottle perched on the metal armour of the dead APC. "They were shooting from up there. " The finger points at the ruined White House. All windows have been shattered and blackened burn marks mar the facade. It is now a gutted, looted ruin. The corpse of power itself. Toughs wrapped in the flag have pieced together the ornate railings that were ripped apart when insurrection struck and mobs stormed the building. A placard hangs in a prominent spot on the building. Black-painted words, in Russian so that foreigners like me can read them. "Dirty Jews and all those like Maxim Bakiyev have no place in Kyrgyzstan." "We captured the building ... Lots of people died, but now we are in control." The older man waves his laminated membership card of an opposition party in my face and grins at the placard. "The Jews are Kaput. ... The Jews are already gone." A smoker chides in from the left. "The Jews were around the president and his gangster son Maxim. They were taking over our economy, with banks and capital. They have fled." A twisted and torched car hulks on the pavement. Incinerated skeletons of the armoured trucks rioters used to smash down the railing of the White House are still beached where they torched. |
| Posted by: Thing From Snowy Mountain 2010-04-11 13:45 |
| #1 Clinton Calls Acting Leader of Kyrgyzstan convinces her that the current US administration are childish idiots and sticking with Russia is a right decision. |
| Posted by: g(r)omgoru 2010-04-11 03:24 |