Posted on 06/17/2010 11:28:57 AM PDT by nickcarraway
With hundreds dead and tens of thousands of refugees, ethnic violence has brought chaos to Kyrgyzstan. Central Asia policy expert Andrea Schmitz told SPIEGEL ONLINE about the history behind the attacks on the Uzbek minority and the wobbly transitional government.
SPIEGEL ONLINE: The news from Kyrgyzstan is deeply disturbing. Officially, 170 people have been killed during the angry unrest over the last week and other sources put the death toll above 700. What is the current situation?
Schmitz: Official figures probably understate the number of dead, which is likely to be considerably higher. I do not have the exact numbers. The situation at present is so chaotic no one can reliably count the dead.
SPIEGEL ONLINE: Reports say almost all the dead belong to the Uzbek minority.
Schmitz: That appears to be correct. However, it's also said that those behind the unrest have tried to turn Kyrgyz and Uzbeks against each other. But the violence has clearly focused on the Uzbek minority.
SPIEGEL ONLINE: Some speculate that the ex-President Kurmanbek Bakiyev, who was toppled in April, is behind the unrest. Do you consider this plausible?
Schmitz: I do not think that Bakiyev, from the distance of his exile in Minsk, is in a position to pull the strings. But I am firmly of the belief that parts of his network and his followers -- possibly in conjunction with protagonists from organized-crime circles -- may have instigated the violence. It has become clear that supporters of the former president are not prepared to let anyone take either power or resources. In addition, there is some evidence that revenge has played a role. Some of the Uzbek "strong men" said to have drug trafficking connections have made the mistake of positioning
(Excerpt) Read more at spiegel.de ...
Muslims killing Muslims. Turkey jockying for political position with ethnic turks vs. the Russians
the more things change, the more they stay the same.
Sunni Muslims killing other Sunni Muslims. Not enough Christians or Jews there, I guess.
Maybe the Russians should stop in and provide stability?
Uzbeks are in Kyrgystan. Chechens are in Afghanistan. Who the hell is in Uzbekistan?
Who is on First.
The Article linked stated that the Russian don’t want to get involved due to possibility of another Afghanistan-type war.
My wife’s family.
Uzbeks are only about 15%. Kyrgyz are the majority.
BUMP.
The meaty parts:
Schmitz: Russia plays a very sorry part in this conflict. Right now one has the impression that Russian crisis-management exists as a pretense, not as reality. This is also evident from the debate within the regional security body, the Collective Security Treaty Organization. It’s dominated by Russia, and it could not agree to send a peacekeeping mission. I can explain this only by saying there is a lack of deployable forces, a lack of political will and lack of responsibility. It’s becoming more and more clear that in emergencies, you can’t rely on Russia as a crisis manager. Moscow wants power and influence, but it’s not prepared to accept responsibility.
SPIEGEL ONLINE: What are possible reasons for Russia’s restraint?
Schmitz: Resistance to an intervention looks equally strong in the parliament, the leadership and the public at large. Part of the reason is fear of a second Afghanistan. Another part is the complexity of Kyrgyzstan’s predicament. The risks are considered too large to take on.
This is unsettling.
Uzbeks and lots of Koreans put there by Stalin.
The whole area is made up of nomads. There were not any real borders till the Soviets showed up.
They are muslim in name only. In the month I spent there I don’t even rember ever hearing any mention of religion.
‘Maybe the Russians should stop in and provide stability?’
There is no need for both US or Russia to get involved.
Both American-Vietnamese and Russian-Afghanistan wars were started that way. Both US and Russia has picked a ‘good side’ just to help them out a bit and it turned to a total war. A few people knows now it was initially a civil wars but everyone blames US or Russia as a brutal agressors.
In contrast with Vietman people in that region do have no ideology to fight for. All they want is killing people who are at least a bit more fortunate than they are.
Any foreign power will be defined as ‘infidel occupation force’ in months and both opposing sides will be united attacking their saviors came to set peace between them.
That is that interim government wants is to distract people from government itself, to make dirty job done with other hands since they were busy to condemn previous government for being too tough on pro-their riots and to unite people. I’m sure at the end they will call their people to attack ‘infidels’ who were so kind to give them a hand.
I bet they have to deal with it themself.
I was kidding, as I heard/read that Russia had helped in some way(s) to kick this off.
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