Posted on 06/16/2005 2:47:58 PM PDT by Lukasz
Yesterday it was learned that U.S. Air Force planes stationed in Uzbekistan were moved from the Karshi-Khanabal military base to bases in neighboring Kyrgyzstan and Afghanistan. The move was made after the Uzbek authorities prohibited the Americans from making night flights. This is Tashkent's way of responding to intensifying pressure from the West for an independent investigation of the events in Andijan.
On Tuesday evening, the foreign ministers of the 25 EU member countries, who were gathered in Brussels for an EU summit, commissioned the EU Council of Ministers to follow the situation in Uzbekistan and, if necessary, recommend measures to limit cooperation with this country. Jean Asselborm, Luxembourg's foreign minister and chairman of the Council of Ministers, said the EU might suspend cooperation with Uzbekistan. Having said this, Asselborn added that possible restrictions would probably not include an embargo or similar sanctions, since ordinary citizens suffered the most from this type of measure. The Council of Ministers gave the republic's leaders two weeks to make the necessary changes in their actions and reminded them of the obligations to respect the principles of democracy, human rights, and the rule of law Uzbekistan had taken upon itself when it signed the Partnership and Cooperation Agreement with the EU, and which were also contained in the founding documents of the OSCE.
The Bush administration also reiterated its previous position on the Andijan tragedy. U.S. State Department spokesman Sean McCormack referred to a letter U.S. Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice sent to President of Uzbekistan Islam Karimov, in which she spoke of the need to conduct an international investigation of the events in Andijan. “We believe the Uzbek people and the whole world must learn the truth,” McCormack said. In his words, Washington was actively working to consolidate the West's position regarding an investigation of the Andjian tragedy.
Meanwhile, information appeared yesterday on the redeployment of U.S. Air Force NS-130 military aircraft (used as airborne refuellers) from the base at Karshi-Khanabal to Bagram in Afghanistan. There were also reports that refueling stops of S-17 military transport planes had been shifted from Khanabal to Manas in Kyrgyzstan. According to the Washington Post, the Bush administration's actions were connected with President Karimov's recent imposition of restrictions on the operations of Karshi-Khanabal because of Washington's criticism of the Uzbek authorities.
Throughout the day, the U.S. embassies in Moscow, Tashkent, and Bishkek could neither confirm nor deny this information. The foreign ministries of Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan also refused to comment on the newspaper's report. It was only towards evening that Kommersant managed to obtain confirmation of the removal of American planes from the military base in Uzbekistan. Nicholas Bellis, the head of the U.S. Army Central Command's press service, told the Kommersant correspondent that some of the planes had been moved to air bases in neighboring countries due to the fact that several days before, the government of Uzbekistan had prohibited the U.S. Air Force from making night flights. According to Bellis, daytime flights from the base in Uzbekistan were continuing, and the ban on night flights had no effect on the Air Force's capabilities in this region. A Kommersant source in the U.S. Department of Defense added that the Uzbek government's decision was unexpected for the Pentagon.
The move by the Uzbek leadership could turn into a serious diplomatic row between the two countries. According to information from the Pentagon, this is a purely political issue. Kommersant has learned that the U.S. State Department and the U.S. Army Central Command are preparing a statement for the press. At the time this issue of Kommersant went to press, the two departments had agreed on their positions.
Meanwhile, the international investigation of the events in Andijan, which was the cause of the row between the United States and Uzbekistan, has already started. Granted, for the time being, it will be conducted in a neighboring country. The proposal to carry out an independent investigation of the Andijan tragedy was advanced by Louise Arbor, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights; and yesterday, representatives of Arbor's department arrived in Kyrgyzstan. They plan to meet with refugees from Uzbekistan who were witnesses to the events in Andijan.
Where is it that the U.S. has done something disgraceful?
That's the actual headline.
"American Planes Fly out of Uzbekistan in Disgrace"
?
Doesn't sound like that to me.
"...the events in Andijan.
?
?
?
It's a head scratcher.
Headline is of course to draw attention but I think that this is a little humiliation for US, to be kicked out by some dirty nobody .
In disgrace? What?
Maybe the writer should have said disguise, not disgrace.
And that's the problem. Something happened there that the EU thinks we should all know about, and yet the US Press Corps hasn't seen fit to tell us.
That's what I want to know, too. It looks like they prohibited us from making night flights, so we sent some planes elsewhere. Also, the article totally screwed up our aircraft designations. "NS-130" and "S-17"? Not the best reporting I've seen.
Mis-translation???
A month after hundreds of men, women and children were massacred on Andijan’s main square, getting into the city is only a little easier than it was in the days after the killings. Andijan remains ringed off from the rest of Uzbekistan and the journey into the city is interrupted by numerous, heavily armored checkpoints. The center of this city of over 400,000 is quiet, with soldiers the most conspicuous sign of life near the square where most of the victims died. Finding evidence of the violence is becoming harder. Buildings are being repaired, and their bullet-pocked facades refaced. And so, in late May, President Islam Karimov was able to claim to visiting ambassadors that there had in fact only been limited violence in Andijan.
Maybe he think about humiliation? I agree that disgrace sounds strange.
In Russian, the letter 'C' corresponds to our 'S', erego, a C-130 becomes an S-130. Our 'H' looks the same as their 'N', so HC-130 becomes NS-130 for some reason.
Good to know. Thanks.
Have you seen any similar articles in Russian? Maybe a better translation is needed...
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