Thread: What's going on in Kirgizistan?

I just read an article about chaos there; protesters are occupying buildings and the interior minister was killed. Anything could happen..

I have no idea what the political situation in Kirgizistan is, or how it's been run; but judging from the article the country seems to have terrible troubles.

The article explains that the president has failed to reduce corruption (as he had promised when he participated in something called the "Tulip revolution". He may be planning for his son to be his political "heir" like in some kind of feudal society, and he has completely given up on democracy as an option for the country.

Half the country lives on USD2 a day and is dependent on income from labour in Russia. Also -- Russia was planning to provide aid to Kirgizistan but withdraw it for various reasons, with very negative effects for the Kirgiz.

Is this something that would interest/concern someone in Russia? Or is it no more relevant than it would be for me, for example?

Originally Posted by Johanna

Is this something that would interest/concern someone in Russia? Or is it no more relevant than it would be for me, for example?

As far as I can judge according to the people around me Russians takes the problems in Kirgizia very seriously.

Ok, I see. Just one comment: For a country where the average person lives on only a few dollars a day, I must say the police surely has very modern and high-tech outfits!! Robocop! And why are they writing "Police" in English on the helmets?

Вроде, Dogboy в Киргизии служил?

I guess that U.S. paid them with thouse outfits for deploying the military base there. And of course they didn't bother about writtings in Kirgiz or Russian on them.

Originally Posted by BappaBa

Вроде, Dogboy в Киргизии служил?

Yeah, he was there... But he didn't reveal exactly what he did. I don't think it's a very common holiday destination though, so I guess it was "business".

Hah, yeah that explains the police outfits.
The photograph was on a news site.

Apparently Kirgistan took loans from IMF The international Monetary Fund. This is terrible for a country from what I understand. Now they are in a pit, economically.

Apperently there has now been a revolution in Kirgistan, everybody thinks either Russia or the USA backed it... Anyone knows?

Originally Posted by Johanna

Yeah, he was there... But he didn't reveal exactly what he did. I don't think it's a very common holiday destination though, so I guess it was "business".

Kyrgyzstan is actually an extremely beautiful collection of mountains and lakes. It's not a hugely popular tourist destination, but there are plenty of reasons to go if you are feeling adventurous. I am hoping to go this summer, but these recent events have thrown a monkey wrench into my plans.

Apparently Kirgistan took loans from IMF The international Monetary Fund. This is terrible for a country from what I understand. Now they are in a pit, economically.

Apperently there has now been a revolution in Kirgistan, everybody thinks either Russia or the USA backed it... Anyone knows?

The USA and Russia play many games, but I don't think that the US is responsible for this one. After all, the US had a good relationship with Bakiyev (the primary concern being the Manas Air Force Base near Bishkek, which is of the utmost strategic importance for American troops in Afghanistan) and had recently cut a deal with the Kyrgyz government on that issue. If anything, there seems to be a bit of an anti-American sentiment among the protesters -- resentment that the US has implicitly backed a corrupt and autocratic leader like Kurmanbek Bakiyev. Russia stands to benefit from this a lot more, but it might just be that they got lucky.

The whole "Tulip Revolution" was a big disappointment; under Bakiyev the country became even more corrupt and there was even more nepotism than before under Akayev. These latest protests seem to have been sparked by those reasons as well as basic economic grievances. I hope that whoever emerges from this fiasco provides better governance........but all too often it's a case of "meet the new boss, same as the old boss".

Poor provincal destitutes forgot their political ideas and hurried to maraud the capital city.

I have always been very fascinated by Central Asia... Just looked so amazing to stare at on the map.. endless space and poetic sounding names. Places like Samarkand are located there... Silk road history and amazing art. Practically nobody from Europe has been there.

What a tragedy it's gone downhill so much in that area lately. That's surely must be an area for which the USSR brought a lot more good than bad things?

Seems like Kazakhstan is able to manage fine on its own but the other Central Asian countries are struggling. Lord knows what's going on in Turkmenistan - quite mysterious country at the moment; apparently they don't let journalists in.

The new Kirghiz premier Okunbaeva seems sympathetic. What can they realistically do to improve conditions there? I mean, what skills do the people have and what industry or natural assets have they got?

I'm amazed at how easy it was to overthrow the gov't. A couple hundred people and bang, a new gov't.

Originally Posted by sperk

I'm amazed at how easy it was to overthrow the gov't. A couple hundred people and bang, a new gov't.

That depends on the government. First militia and then the military changed sides pretty quickly. This means that the government had no authority over these bodies.

I wonder if Russian is the language of instruction in schools there because the leaders speak it fluently. Russian is called the official language while Kyrgiz is the state language (whatever that means.)

Originally Posted by sperk

I wonder if Russian is the language of instruction in schools there because the leaders speak it fluently. Russian is called the official language while Kyrgiz is the state language (whatever that means.)

Kyrgizia (that's how it was called before the USSR dissolution) was a part of the USSR and naturally everyone learnt Russian there. Many people who is older than 30 probably speak Russian. I imagine that many young people there learn Russian simply because there are better job opportunities for those who speak it.

Originally Posted by Ramil

Kyrgizia (that's how it was called before the USSR dissolution) was a part of the USSR and naturally everyone learnt Russian there. Many people who is older than 30 probably speak Russian. I imagine that many young people there learn Russian simply because there are better job opportunities for those who speak it.

Kyrgyz is very similar to Kazakh. I have a friend who speaks Kazakh who was told that she spoke Kyrgyz with a Kazakh accent. I once had a professor who said, "a language is a dialect with an army and a navy". I think that applies here.

Anyway, in my experience Kazakh simply isn't adequate for a lot technical subjects. Most people here use lots of loaner words from Russian -- nobody knows the Kazakh word for 'tomato', for example. I know a little Kazakh, so when people hear a foreigner speaking it, they comment, "молодец!", not contemplating the irony. For many years, Kazakh was a village language but it's being promoted more and more now. Unfortunately, there are few scientific and technical words that are in common use -- they've adopted a bunch from Turkish, but they haven't really entered the vernacular.

Kazakh/Kyrgyz isn't really an academic language (even if it's slowly changing). For now, you need Russian for certain things.

Originally Posted by почемучка

Originally Posted by Johanna

Yeah, he was there... But he didn't reveal exactly what he did. I don't think it's a very common holiday destination though, so I guess it was "business".

According to this analysis, it is actually Russia which has orchestrated this coup in Kyrgizistan.

http://www.stratfor.com/weekly/20100412 ... bd51836d10

Oh yes, bloody KGB is behind everything.

Originally Posted by Ramil

Oh yes, bloody KGB is behind everything.

The bloody KGB does not exist anymore. This time it was the bloody FSB.

Dear, esauder. Do you want me to find an 'analysis' that the US orchestrated the 9/11? Don't believe every 'analysis' you read, especially if there is no analysis in that article. The only thing there is that this coup might be beneficial to Russia (or might not, we will see). So, based on the very similar logic, would you say that the recent events surrounding Iran elections were orchestrated by the US?

Dear, esauder. Do you want me to find an 'analysis' that the US orchestrated the 9/11?

Thanks for the offer, but that won’t be necessary. Such arguments don’t persuade me because it is generally not in the interest of a nation to blow up its own military and financial centers.

More to the point, however, it can be in the interest of nations to involve themselves in the affairs of other nations to their own benefit. The US and Russia both have considerable history and experience in this, so I don’t find it to be beyond the realm of possibility for either one. As to whether the article in question is true or not, I have no idea. My words were “according to this analysis…”, not “this is true and you ought to believe it.” I thought the article was at least interesting and worth considering in light of the subject line and that it might be of benefit to the discussion. The site where I read the article is generally quite balanced and objective in how they look at things. I'm sure they're not always right but they certainly are not given to wild speculation and neither am I. However, I have no wish to offend anyone here as I am brand new to the list and fear I may have gotten off on the wrong foot...so I’ll gladly drop it.

Originally Posted by esauder

However, I have no wish to offend anyone here as I am brand new to the list and fear I may have gotten off on the wrong foot...so I’ll gladly drop it.

Nah, don't worry, I'm sure you haven't offended anyone. That idea's been around for some time now, so I guess it was inevitable to pop up. Please make yourself comfortable in our forum. Welcome!

Originally Posted by Crocodile

Nah, don't worry, I'm sure you haven't offended anyone. That idea's been around for some time now, so I guess it was inevitable to pop up. Please make yourself comfortable in our forum. Welcome!

Thanks! I've actually been reading the archives on here for a while and have enjoyed them. Good to be here finally!