Ted Rall: Who Lost Central Asia?
U.S. Again Sides with Dictatorship over Democracy
Alone among the Central Asian republics that emerged after the 1991 Soviet collapse, Kyrgyzstan was governed by a democratically elected president and genuine parliament. While his neighbors suppressed the news media, created ludicrous Stalinesque personality cults and presided over corrupt, violent police states, Askar Akayev created the "Switzerland of Central Asia," a calm and friendly mountain oasis in a region famous for its misery and obscurity. Absent were the ubiquitous checkpoints, political prisons and KGB-OVIR spies typical of Central Asian republics. The Kyrgyz didn't have oil or gas, but who knew? European mountaineers and whitewater rafting aficionados might trek in tourist money.
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