Earthquakes & Elections, Reservoirs & Trouble in Kyrgyzstan
Bullet List of News Items regarding earthquake in Kyrgyzstan:
- New York Times: 70 Die in Kyrgyzstan Earthquake
- CNN: Dozens dead in Kyrgyzstan quake
- Gulf Daily News (Bahrain): Quakes kill 83 in Central Asia
- AP, c/o Minneapolis St. Paul Star Tribune: Quakes hit Tibet, Kyrgyzstan
- AP c/o AP Google: Earthquake kills at least 72 in Kyrgyzstan
- Press TV (Iran): Strong quake rocks southern Kyrgyzstan (with map of quake epicenter)
- Trend News Agency: 7 October named day of mourning for Kyrgyzstan Earthquake victims
- United Press International: Deadly quakes rock Kyrgyzstan, Tibet
- Voice of Russia: Russia sends humanitarian aid to Kyrgyzstan
- Foreign Policy Association:Kyrgyzstan Earthquake (with pictures & map)
Bullet List of News Items regarding elections in Kyrgyzstan:
- AP c/o AP Google: Kyrgyz opposition says ex-election chief in hiding [Sept 26]
- Business New Europe: Discontent grows in Kyrgyzstan as election chief flees
- International Herald Tribune [Int’l New York Times]: Kyrgyz opposition politician disappears
- Eurasia Daily Monitor: Scandal Erupts over Kyrgyz Central Elections Commission days before Local Elections
- Eurasianet: Local Elections Overshadowed by Election Controversy
Here’s one more link:
From the “Bad Timing” News Department
- United Press International: Kyrgyzstan faulted for human rights abuse
While it’s true that Kyrgyzstan, like the rest of Central Asia, is not a place for human rights activists to vacation away from their jobs, I’m afraid that the topic of the article may fall far below the top of the priorities list of most. Interestingly, the article calls for the protection of lesbians, bisexual women, and transgender men, focusing on women’s rights. Homosexual men face similar troubles in Central Asia, and I don’t think it’s because of Kyrgyz openness to gay men that they were left off the list. Not to make light of the plight of the LGBT community of Central Asia [which passes from serious to scary], but the Kyrgyz government momentarily has bigger fish to fry. It would seem that everyone’s going to be getting colder by and by.
Dry and Cold in Central Asia’s Switzerland
Winter is on the way, and if last year was any measure, it’s going to be a rough one in Central Asia. Rolling blackouts continue in Bishkek, and the level of water in reservoirs speaks to winter of low electric capacity. The water level relates to electricity as much of Bishkek’s electricity derives from hydroelectric plants. Some in Kyrgyzstan blame the low water levels on environmental causes, while others suspect political corruption and the black-market selling of electricity and water. Consider this monumental decision on the part of the Ministry of Education, namely to extend Winter Break between Dec 25th and March 1st.
The Kyrgyz prime minister said that there was currently 9.62bn cubic metres of water in the Toktogul reservoir, which generates as much as 50 per cent of the overall electricity in the country. He said that this was “by 4.1 per cent lower than in the similar period of last year”.
According to experts, the Toktogul reservoir may be replenished with another 2.5bn cubic metres of water in the next few months. However, this may prove to be insufficient to generate the necessary amount of electricity in the coming winter.
Kyrgyzstan’s Tulip Revolution of 2005 was brought about in far less duress than the country now finds itself. And yet, perhaps revolution will also have to wait for warmer weather?
Stumble it! |
Tags: Kyrgyzstan, Energy, Elections, Water Management, Tulip Revolution.
Posted by michaelhancock on October 6th, 2008
Permalink | Trackback | Comments: 3
Comments
Time: 10/7/2008, 5:11 pm
Marof: I agree that the Tulip Revolution was a pale shadow of the actual regime changes in Ukraine and Georgia. Pushing Akaev out of office just to replace him with Bakiev, a more extreme version of the same thing… Again, there’s no one to argue that Kyrgyzstan is better off today because of the Tulip Revolution. Things are actually worse than they have ever been.
However, this “taking to the streets” might reap different results than you hope for. Will it be another North vs South affair? How bad do things have to get before the people in Naryn, Talas, and Bishkek agree to work together with Osh and Jalalabad? And will the Uzbek minorities in the south and Slavic minorities in the north be included at the demonstrations?
Sorry to quote Lincoln, but a house divided unto itself cannot stand. Granted, it’s been standing since 1991’s independence, but equal representation under the law might bring about some of these changes.
Well, what do I know, anyway? Viva la revolution!
Time: 10/8/2008, 3:00 pm
MAROV, you have nothing to lose but your chains!
Time: 10/7/2008, 9:54 am
Kyrgyzstan is still waiting for it’s first real revolution. A true revolution is when the majority of citizens in a country stand up and say…..”We have had enough of the corruption, we have had enough of being treated like trash when we go to your government offices to get documents or visas. We have had enough of seeing members of parliment driving new luxury cars and living in very expensive new homes they build, while their salaries can hardly support this. All this, while the rest of us don’t even have electricity. We are tired of seeing politicans relatives get away with whatever crime they decide to commit! We are tired of unmet promises by the president. He told us all to buy coal and black oil for this winter. And then two weeks ago, the government shut down all the coal producing mining plants, citing enviormental issues. Could this not have waited until spring time, so elderly people would not die this winter from not being able to afford to buy coal? Shutting down the mines has resulted in their wanted result of driving up the price of coal for the second hand traders of coal. We are tired of your not caring for the elderly and the poor in our country. We are tired of the election process being so corrupt, that for the first time since 1991 the international observers didn’t even want to attend and monitor our election….the elections are considered a joke now with the current regime stacking the deck so they will be insulated from demonstrations. We are tired, but together we are going to put an end to your abuse of office and power. We will take to the streets in numbers you have never seen before. We will shut down your government and we will do it by peaceful means, because there are more of us than there is of your legalized gangsters!” This is a true revolution. What happened in the tulip revolution was, simply one regime hiring enough thugs from Osh to come to Bishkek and take over from the other regime. And in the process they looted and destroyed as many businesses as they could. Why wait until the spring time for the revolution? How many more people need to die for Kyrgyzstanis to finally WAKE UP and have a true revolution for the common people of Kyrgyzstan?