Russian Official Urges Interim Kyrgyz Government to Shut US Air Base
Posted by Jim Hoft on Saturday, April 10, 2010, 9:14 AM
A billboard, displaying Russia’s President Dmitry Medvedev (R) and former Kyrgyz leader Kurmanbek Bakiyev, is seen in the town of Jalalabad in southern Kyrgyzstan April 10, 2010. Kyrgyzstan on Saturday buried several of those killed in the overthrow of the government, while security concerns prompted the U.S. military to halt troop flights from its base in the Central Asian state. (REUTERS/Denis Sinyakov)
A Russian official urged the interim Kyrgyzstan Government to shut the US air base in Manas this week. Russia is suspected in having a hand in the unrest in the Central Asian nation this week after pro-Russian opposition forces took over the government. Vlad Putin was the first world leader to recognize the opposition as the legitimate government following the bloody street battles.
Reuters reported:
Russian-backed coup or not, the uprising in Kyrgyzstan means the United States may have to bargain hard to keep its last military base in Central Asia.
Turmoil in Kyrgyzstan has thrust the fate of the Manas air base — which is crucial for fighting the Afghan war — to the forefront of rivalry between the United States and Russia.
Russia has long dreamed of evicting the United States from Central Asia and a Russian official said on Thursday that Moscow would urge the interim Kyrgyz government to shut the U.S. base.
Suspicions of the Kremlin’s hand in the unrest were raised when Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin became the first world leader to recognize the authority of the self-proclaimed government, just hours after it took power.
Washington has been more guarded, refusing to endorse either President Kurmanbek Bakiyev or the self-proclaimed government leaders, some of whom have already raised the specter of shutting the base.
China, which shares a land border with Kyrgyzstan, has been largely silent.
Barack Obama signed a nuclear agreement with Russia this week.
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Published May 24, 2012 at 8:46 pm - 86 Comments
Greg commented:
Putin at the treaty signing spoke to O’bama on the side issue of Kysigstan telling him what was going to happen and that the US will stay out of it
chuck in st paul commented:
The Empty Suit get out maneuvered again and probably has no foggy idea of the ramifications for the future. What’s more, I’m sure he doesn’t care. We are so-o-o-o screwed.
gus commented:
SMART DIPLOMACY!! Real professionals are in charge NOT TO WORRY.
Robert commented:
I am sure that President Pudd’nhead
and his crew know what’s best for us.
Valerie commented:
Gateway, Robert at #4 is asking to be banned. Please oblige him.
Brian commented:
Russia’s proliferating nuclear weapons to Iran, North Korea and Venezuela while Obama waves a meaningless piece of paper as a sign of victory.
Acting President Putin continues to occupy Georgia, undermined the Orange Revolution of the Ukraine to secure their base on the Black Sea, has effectively overthrown the ostensibly U.S. friendly Kyrgyzstan gov’t and now the President of one our staunchest allies has been killed in a plane crash en route to mark the anniversary of Soviets killing Poles.
It’s all one great big coincidence and Communism is not at all on the march.
In November, the American people get to exercise a Reset Button of their own.
bcvbc commented:
Obama is helping Russia rebuild the Soviet Union.
avery commented:
Well it has begun,Russian going to put Polin and Cz.back under their control.Well we sold them out on Missile defence,so what can we exspect.
Fred J Harris commented:
With the Polish sidelined and Obama warming Putin’s bed the Russians can get on with rebuilding their empire.
squeaky commented:
[East Germany's Forgotten Bunkers
New Research Sheds Light on Soviet Plans for World War III]
http://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/0,1518,687920,00.html
Neo commented:
Obama should have a staffer check to see if Medvedev put a “Kick Me” sign on his back.
sliderblaze commented:
smart power indeed.
Opaobie commented:
The Community Organizer thought he could just forget about foreign policy and work on Communizing the country. While he’s shooting hoops and having beer summits and ramming COMMUNISM down the throats of the American people and destroying what good will we had with our allies, our enemies are on the march and marginalizing our positions everywhere else across the globe.
Maybe “The Won” should have tried channeling Napoleon instead of FDR.
James commented:
Boy, the soviets move fast. They didn’t dare do this when President George W. Bush was president. They only moved into Georgia when President Bush had like one month left of his Presidency.
Warren Bonesteel commented:
So…other than an influx of cash, and no matter who their president happens to be, is there any reason that Kyrgyzstan should tolerate a US base on its sovereign soil? Having a US military base in Poland or Kyrgyzstan places those nations under our political and military control, doesn’t it? Just as we do with Korea, Japan and The Philippines.
I mean, would we tolerate a Kyrgyzstan military base on US soil? For any reason?
If it’s perfectly ok for us to have a base in Kyrgyzstan or a missile defense system in Poland, then it would be perfectly ok for Russia to have the same in Mexico or Cuba, and having UN peacekeepers stationed in the US would also be perfectly acceptable.
What I’m saying is that when presenting your arguments, people, offer something besides outrage. “The other guy is doing the same thing we’re doing, and it just isn’t fair!!!” is not a rational argument.
Jerry M commented:
Obama doesn’t care because he knows most of the morons in this country are too clueless to understand the implications of his disastrous national security and foreign policy decisions. As is usually the case, they will wake up only after some tragedy occurs and then a few years later, they will turn on the person who inherited the problem and even gin up conspiracy theories accusing that person of being complicit in causing it. Think Clinton on whose watch the ground work was laid for 9/11, the 9/11 truthers who blamed Bush for 9/11 with significant numbers of Americans believing that BS and Bush who was falsely accused of lying about WMD in Iraq and was villified by many of the same buffoons in Congress who agreed about the WMD threat and voted to authorize the war. We live in a very sick country which is rapidly approaching a critical mass of idiots. How else could Obama and Democrat majorities in the House and Senate have been elected.
Freddy commented:
Would Obama do anything to defend Germany if they were attacked?
Let’s hope we do not need to find out.
Chisum commented:
Who is playing whom?
President Obama’s “reset” of relations with Russia does not appear to have translated into Russian support for strong sanctions against Iran. According to the Washington Post, Russian President Medvedev has told Obama that there are limits to his country’s support for sanctions.
[..]
: A skeptic might almost say that Obama’s “reset” consists of bringing our foreign policy goals more in line with Russia’s.
http://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2010/04/026041.php
sliderblaze commented:
Warren, really? you dont see a diff between the USA and Russia… really? US is in Kstan and/or Poland to keep the peace, really the only thing standing in the way of Russia claiming those nations is us. Why dont you read history and find out why and how the US came to be in eastern europe and why we stay there.. just like south korea. a week ago we had a clown in here saying that we (conservatives) see things in black and white… We dont need Russia in our back yard to keep the peace, now do we? Your logic is irrational in itself. I dont recall the US trying to kill the Ukrainian president with nuclear material…. why dont you get a clue, see that there is evil in the world and some of these evil people run nations… good grief “you people” are morons
bill-tb commented:
WOW who didn’t see this coming … And Obozo says ?
Dave commented:
This would have never happened if we followed the US Constitution. The solution is to start following the Constitution. The result is Pudd’n Head would be thrown out of office and tried for treason, And all of the new law’s are unconstitutional and are void and null.
The only problem we have is the Huge Debt! For that every one who voted for all the bills should be held accountable. No way should they be let off the hook
especially because they are the ones who voted for them without knowing what was in the bill!
Dipso Facto commented:
Having a US military base in Poland or Kyrgyzstan places those nations under our political and military control, doesn’t it? Just as we do with Korea, Japan and The Philippines.
Boy, you’re a funny guy. The Koreans are under our control? Is that why they’ve been reaching out to the North against our will, reducing the size of their military, refusing to renew treaties with us, and pulled out of Iraq even when we begged them not to?
The Japanese are under our control? Is that why they stopped refueling our ships patrolling the Horn of Africa, even though we begged them not to? Is that why they’re demanding we leave Okinawa?
The Philippines are under our control? Is that why in 1992 the Philippine Senate and Corazon Aquino forced us to close Subic Bay, the largest U.S. overseas base?
Why don’t people ever do some research before they form an opinion? That big blob of jelly inside your head actually serves a purpose, you know.
Smarty commented:
This is what affirmative action brings you. A complete incompetent.
Yay, yay, we are so enlightened we elected a black man!!! Look at how cool and hip and progressive we are!!!
Joanne commented:
The Americans who voted for Obama wanted change, any change would do, and that is exactly what they are getting – a change for the worse.
Russia is making its move, know full well, an idiot leads America.
Joanne commented:
“….know’ing’ full well…..”
ahem commented:
Russia is not suspected of backing the coup, Russia did, indeed, back the coup. Vladimir is having a great week.
Jon commented:
Putin’s not letting a good crisis go to waste either. He know’s Obama’s inexperienced and weak and Russia’s taking advantage of that.
It’s a very smart move by Putin…but one that’s bad for our government.
Just_Saying commented:
“Washington has been more guarded”
Washington is voting present.
.
Sliderblaze commented:
Just saw some tool on fox saying what Obama is doin with regards to not calling this a war on terror and eliminating islamic extremism started under the bush admin. Uh. What? When? Nobody has any doubts where bush stood. Tons of doubts where nobama stands. Been get. A lot of honks sporting my nobama sticker
Andreas K. commented:
Dipso Facto
April 10th, 2010 | 1:41 pm | #22
“The Japanese are under our control? Is that why they stopped refueling our ships patrolling the Horn of Africa, even though we begged them not to? Is that why they’re demanding we leave Okinawa?”
Thank Hatoyama for the end of the refueling mission. He and the DPJ have been screaming murder against it from the very beginning. Instead Hatoyama now wants to send Japanese troops into UN missions for “peace keeping”, which is totally working. Not. And, this is the funny part, he’s totally tanking in Japan. Support is down to 30%, disapproval rate is up to 50%.
The Japanese want a man like Koizumi in charge. A reformer who didn’t pussyfoot around. Koizumi made his calls. Sure some were very controversial, but he sat down, worked and made his decision. And he went in front of the public and said “This is how we do it. Period.”
Remember, since Koizumi stepped back as leader of the LDP in 2006 Japan had four prime ministers. One PM per year. There is nobody to fill his shoes. All four so far have sucked. Abe (had no leadership abilities at all and finally weaseled out of his position), Fukuda (top ranking bureaucrat, but hopelessly unfit for leading), Aso (an idiot, who’s family chronic claims that the Japanese attack on Pearl broke the back of the US Navy in the Pacific and who also seems to have problems with properly reading kanji, something the media grilled him over a few times; on the good side, he once told some French politician to sod off when she complained that manga are only sex and violence) and now Hatoyama (hopey-changey.)
Side note: Abe, Aso, Fukuda and Hatoyama all come from political dynasities. They ended up in their positions because of their family, not because of their skills.
Okinawa is a difficult issue. The Okinawans have been occupied for decades, not only by the US. They really got the sh*tty end of the stick. First occupied by the Japanese empire and treated like crap (Okinawans were considered to be not “true” Japanese, the fascists from Tokyo looked down upon them) and then ending up with a huge load of US troops on those small islands. Of course they’re unhappy.
And this looking down upon the Okinawans still exists today. Otherwise Hatoyama and his team of idiots would have found a solution already. But they’re postponing decisions and playing on time. And the Okinawans are getting more angry every day.
Kevin commented:
The Soviet Bear is coming out of hibernation.
Opaobie commented:
Warren Bonesteel #15, besides the clear rebukes already posted to your nonsense, look up the “Monroe Doctrine” and then come up out of your mother’s basement and look at all the places the Russians, the Chinese, and the Iranians are meddling in our hemisphere. If we have any hope of preserving any semblance of world peace, if we have any hope of retaining our Super Power status, the only Western Super Power left to face all the tyrants aligning against us, we need to stop unilaterally disarming and backstabbing our allies. Reagan said it best when asked about his “exit strategy” for dealing with the Soviets (applies to any enemy): “We win, you lose”.
Dipso Facto commented:
Andreas, I forgot to mention that the Japanese also pulled out of Iraq even though we begged them not to. They’re so deeply under our political and military control that they do pretty much whatever they want, regardless of how it affects the U.S.
Japan, South Korea, and the Philippines are like every other country on the face of the earth. They act in their own self-interest.
Acting in your own self-interest is only wrong when the U.S. and Israel do it.