08-04-2010, 06:12 AM
Post-Soviet Tragedy
8 04 2010 Post-Soviet Tragedy
Violence in Kyrgyzstan follows a pattern of misrule and repression in Central Asia
The riots and clashes that have left scores dead in Kyrgyzstan have followed a pattern all too familiar in Central Asia. For months protests have been growing against the authoritarian rule of Kurmanbek Bakiyev, who swept to power in the so-called Tulip Revolution of 2005, but has proved as inept, venal and corrupt as his predecessor. Despite the arrest of three leading opposition figures and the declaration of a state of emergency, the authorities have failed to halt the mounting protests that resulted in the storming of parliament, the burning of government offices and the capture of the television centre. President Bakiyev has, so far, refused to resign.
In the past decade there have been similar [American-engineered] clashes, crackdowns and arrests across most of Central Asia. The five countries that once formed the prosperous and relatively stable Muslim underbelly of the Soviet Union have, since independence, shown an abysmal record of authoritarian rule, economic stagnation, rights abuses and instability. In Uzbekistan, hundreds of people were killed in 2005 when troops fired on those demonstrating against the autocratic rule of President Karimov. Subsequent repression has led to the jailing of dozens of human rights activists, despite sanctions imposed by the European Union.
In Turkmenistan the bizarre and dictatorial rule of the megalomaniac first post-Soviet leader, Saparmurat Niyazov, led to widespread abuses, a sinister cult of personality and a catastrophic fall in educational standards. The small former Soviet republic of Tajikistan suffered prolonged civil war soon after independence. Only Kazakhstan, the largest and richest state, has prospered — but at the expense of democracy and human rights as President Nazarbayev has repressed, exiled or imprisoned almost all his political opponents.
In almost all countries, misrule has fuelled the growth of Islamist extremism and the withering of early hopes for democracy. The fertile Fergana Valley, where a jigsaw of borders drawn up by Stalin criss-crosses the historic Silk Road, has become a breeding ground for Islamist militancy, challenging established governments and threatening to spread the instability of Afghanistan right across the vast Central Asian region.
It is not only Russia that is concerned by the turmoil in its former Asian possessions. America has tried to set up forward bases in the region to supply its operations in Afghanistan. But the US was expelled from Uzbekistan after criticising President Karimov’s record, and the current turmoil in Kyrgyzstan threatens vital Nato supply lines that depend, more and more, on the northern routes into Afghanistan. Ban Ki Moon, the United Nations Secretary-General, has been touring the area and has spoken out, with unusual and commendable candour, criticising the violation of human rights in Turkmenistan and Kyrgyzstan, [Moon added fuel to the fire, by encouraging the public in its demands for immediate improvement in human rights. If he wanted to help the people here he would lead a UN effort to create an international pipeline consortium that no single nation or group of nations could control. This would bring the money for development and improvements in the local human condition.] once seen as an island of democracy. On Sunday he visits Uzbekistan, where he will be under pressure to follow up on the sharp criticism of the UN Human Rights Committee two weeks ago.
Central Asia is vast, strategic and potentially very wealthy. The five nations are rich in resources much in demand by China, their neighbour to the East, and by the sub-continent. [The American great game is to create for itself the power to disrupt fuel supplies to competitors in Asia.] None, however, has understood that to attract outside investment, a minimum of good government, social cohesion and political tolerance is needed. Kyrgyzstan is just the latest example of this post-Soviet tragedy.
8 04 2010 Post-Soviet Tragedy
Violence in Kyrgyzstan follows a pattern of misrule and repression in Central Asia
The riots and clashes that have left scores dead in Kyrgyzstan have followed a pattern all too familiar in Central Asia. For months protests have been growing against the authoritarian rule of Kurmanbek Bakiyev, who swept to power in the so-called Tulip Revolution of 2005, but has proved as inept, venal and corrupt as his predecessor. Despite the arrest of three leading opposition figures and the declaration of a state of emergency, the authorities have failed to halt the mounting protests that resulted in the storming of parliament, the burning of government offices and the capture of the television centre. President Bakiyev has, so far, refused to resign.
In the past decade there have been similar [American-engineered] clashes, crackdowns and arrests across most of Central Asia. The five countries that once formed the prosperous and relatively stable Muslim underbelly of the Soviet Union have, since independence, shown an abysmal record of authoritarian rule, economic stagnation, rights abuses and instability. In Uzbekistan, hundreds of people were killed in 2005 when troops fired on those demonstrating against the autocratic rule of President Karimov. Subsequent repression has led to the jailing of dozens of human rights activists, despite sanctions imposed by the European Union.
In Turkmenistan the bizarre and dictatorial rule of the megalomaniac first post-Soviet leader, Saparmurat Niyazov, led to widespread abuses, a sinister cult of personality and a catastrophic fall in educational standards. The small former Soviet republic of Tajikistan suffered prolonged civil war soon after independence. Only Kazakhstan, the largest and richest state, has prospered — but at the expense of democracy and human rights as President Nazarbayev has repressed, exiled or imprisoned almost all his political opponents.
In almost all countries, misrule has fuelled the growth of Islamist extremism and the withering of early hopes for democracy. The fertile Fergana Valley, where a jigsaw of borders drawn up by Stalin criss-crosses the historic Silk Road, has become a breeding ground for Islamist militancy, challenging established governments and threatening to spread the instability of Afghanistan right across the vast Central Asian region.
It is not only Russia that is concerned by the turmoil in its former Asian possessions. America has tried to set up forward bases in the region to supply its operations in Afghanistan. But the US was expelled from Uzbekistan after criticising President Karimov’s record, and the current turmoil in Kyrgyzstan threatens vital Nato supply lines that depend, more and more, on the northern routes into Afghanistan. Ban Ki Moon, the United Nations Secretary-General, has been touring the area and has spoken out, with unusual and commendable candour, criticising the violation of human rights in Turkmenistan and Kyrgyzstan, [Moon added fuel to the fire, by encouraging the public in its demands for immediate improvement in human rights. If he wanted to help the people here he would lead a UN effort to create an international pipeline consortium that no single nation or group of nations could control. This would bring the money for development and improvements in the local human condition.] once seen as an island of democracy. On Sunday he visits Uzbekistan, where he will be under pressure to follow up on the sharp criticism of the UN Human Rights Committee two weeks ago.
Central Asia is vast, strategic and potentially very wealthy. The five nations are rich in resources much in demand by China, their neighbour to the East, and by the sub-continent. [The American great game is to create for itself the power to disrupt fuel supplies to competitors in Asia.] None, however, has understood that to attract outside investment, a minimum of good government, social cohesion and political tolerance is needed. Kyrgyzstan is just the latest example of this post-Soviet tragedy.
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