09-04-2010, 12:00 AM
April 8, 2010
Baloney in Bishkek
![[Image: kyrgyzstanmap.jpg]](http://electricpolitics.com/media/photos/kyrgyzstanmap.jpg)
Whoever engineered the coup in Kyrgyzstan did a damn fine job. The experienced trouble-shooters got in and out without a trace. The rebels understood enough to take over the airwaves. Even more impressively, many demonstrators stood their ground under small arms fire. Diverse channels leaked stories to the U.S. press, stories that were (as usual) repeated uncritically, to the effect that Washington nervously awaits word whether the new regime will allow it to keep its airbase. Virtually nobody in the mainstream or alternative media wonders whether the coup might not have been a local product. Message sent to pipsqueak dictators everywhere: "Don't push your luck, Buddy, we can get rid of you if we like." Pretty much a perfect coup. If the CIA wasn't behind it, it should've been. I hope whoever organized it gets promoted.
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[B]From the FAQ's:[/B]
[B]Er, thanks. And who are you again, anyhow? [/B]
![[Image: gk2.jpg]](http://electricpolitics.com/media/photos/gk2.jpg)
![[Image: chadevanswyattcredit.gif]](http://electricpolitics.com/media/photos/chadevanswyattcredit.gif)
Here's the short version of my bio: I'm George Kenney. I was born in Algiers in 1956, during the battle of Algiers, to a US foreign service family, and I grew up in the states, in Africa and in Europe. I spent way too much time in graduate school at the University of Chicago (MA in Economics) from which, following family tradition, I joined the foreign service myself. I was a tenured, mid-level career officer, serving as Yugoslav desk officer at the State Department headquarters in DC, when I resigned my commission in 1991 over US policy towards the Yugoslav conflict. Subsequently for a few years I was a consultant in residence at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. Those were my salad days as a pundit. I had about 60 articles published in mainstream outlets, did hundreds of radio and tv interviews and talk shows, and traveled extensively through the US on speaking tours. In the mid-1990s, however, I came down with symptoms of a hereditary illness — iron overload — which sidelined me for years. With treatment I'm now operating more or less on two cylinders, more or less permanently. C'est la vie... and I'm glad to be alive!
Baloney in Bishkek
Whoever engineered the coup in Kyrgyzstan did a damn fine job. The experienced trouble-shooters got in and out without a trace. The rebels understood enough to take over the airwaves. Even more impressively, many demonstrators stood their ground under small arms fire. Diverse channels leaked stories to the U.S. press, stories that were (as usual) repeated uncritically, to the effect that Washington nervously awaits word whether the new regime will allow it to keep its airbase. Virtually nobody in the mainstream or alternative media wonders whether the coup might not have been a local product. Message sent to pipsqueak dictators everywhere: "Don't push your luck, Buddy, we can get rid of you if we like." Pretty much a perfect coup. If the CIA wasn't behind it, it should've been. I hope whoever organized it gets promoted.Permalink | Comments (0)
[B]From the FAQ's:[/B]
[B]Er, thanks. And who are you again, anyhow? [/B]
Here's the short version of my bio: I'm George Kenney. I was born in Algiers in 1956, during the battle of Algiers, to a US foreign service family, and I grew up in the states, in Africa and in Europe. I spent way too much time in graduate school at the University of Chicago (MA in Economics) from which, following family tradition, I joined the foreign service myself. I was a tenured, mid-level career officer, serving as Yugoslav desk officer at the State Department headquarters in DC, when I resigned my commission in 1991 over US policy towards the Yugoslav conflict. Subsequently for a few years I was a consultant in residence at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. Those were my salad days as a pundit. I had about 60 articles published in mainstream outlets, did hundreds of radio and tv interviews and talk shows, and traveled extensively through the US on speaking tours. In the mid-1990s, however, I came down with symptoms of a hereditary illness — iron overload — which sidelined me for years. With treatment I'm now operating more or less on two cylinders, more or less permanently. C'est la vie... and I'm glad to be alive!
"Where is the intersection between the world's deep hunger and your deep gladness?"