we are officially home alone. although we are hanging out at the apartment of some embassy friends... they are gone. the embassy is in the process of evacuating all it's staff to the base. american citizens have been told to fend for themselves at this point. nice.
the worry is that in the next couple of days when the supporters of the ex prez get their act together they will motor pool (yes... motor pool) from the south to bishkek. not army types. worse. thugs with guns. that is when the really problems are going to start. people fighting people in the streets with no way to really tell who is on who's side.
things are calm and quiet today. people are cleaning up from the looting but there are no shops, no banks, no stores open. just some folks selling bread and fruit on street corners. a lot of traffic police out and about but that is the only sign of government.
the word i am hearing from local friends is that all that was planned was a protest. not a revolution. but a protest. police got nervous. someone fired a shot and full fledged fighting broke out. all of the opposition leaders where either locked up already or in hiding so no one was expecting an overthrow to happen and no one was ready to step into the power void. the police and militia for the most part here aren't armed so they had no way to really stop people. by the time they armed themselves... it was too late to stop the craziness. opposition people start holding press conferences saying they are in charge but are they really?
all the violence and looting that has happened since then is a result of the typical mob mentality that takes place when stuff like this happens. not politically or religiously motivated. the anti-american sentiment that is being spewed by both sides at this point is just rhetoric. the people and the region tend to be pro whoever gives money... and we have a policy of giving alot of money to the country because of our military base here.
as far as us... we are hanging low until 300pm or so when we are suppose to have our visas for kazhakstan. we are going to motor pool (that word again) with some other americans and try to cross the border and get to almaty where we have some warm beds and running water waiting for us. a bit stressed about the border crossing as we hear that it is crazy there right now. they are not letting krygzs cross over - just third country nationals like us. so it could get ugly and we might have to bail on our car (which would be painful) and walk across and then catch a ride with the other folks on the other side.
the last note on this long post... bishkek is a really great place and it is really a great country. what has happened this past three days is not indicative of what a chill, safe, family friendly country kyrgyzstan has been up to this point. sigh.
The anti-American sentiment is all in regard to Manas AFB. Putin wants to sway the Krygyz to not allow us to use that base. As does China. The Krygyz think the Americans are in bed with the now ousted President as our Pres. recently praised him when they accepted 60 Mill to continue to lease the base to the US so we can get supplies to Afghanistan. The Krygyzs believe that the former government there may also allow the US to gain more control there, which is one thing they don't want either. We need that base or getting supplies to our military will become an even more expense proposition than it already is. Not only that, they fear we will put them in a bad situation with Iran. All valid concerns for them,I am sure. The long and short of this whole revolt is more than just high price utilities and gas. These people are the same people who voted for this Pres. and now they want to get rid of him for being deceptive and greedy. Most of their lives will never change for the good, regardless of who is in control.
ReplyDeleteBy the way, all opposition leaders that were locked up were released by the protesters the other night. Hard to know who will prevail. I am afraid a lot of those innocent people will indiscriminately be killed before this is all over with.
I think your school year could well be over as it may take a while for all this mess to sort out. Possibly years...
Remember how helpful the school has been in assisting you in this situation the next time they place you somewhere. I think I would have some serious questions for them when this has passed or when they decide to send you back to Kyrgyzstan. The future there will be hard to predict for some time.
Thanks for keeping us posted and let us hear from you as often as you can. I love you all and hope you make it safely to Almaty.