Comments on: Still time to bargain in Bishkek

By: flashoverride

flashoverride — Fri, 06 Mar 2009 08:21:24 +0000

Couple things to look at: Kyrgyzstan thought it would maybe move up in the CTSO or the SCO in terms of stature if they kissed Russia’s boot. One thing to remember about that $2 billion that Russia offered: part was debt forgiveness, very little was actual, you know, real money, and the bulk was a .75% loan.

I hate Bakiyev with a white hot heat, after he took power and slit Kulov’s throat – very effectively I might add – but he has a point. If we can throw out $900 mil for *Gaza*, which holds extraordinarily little strategic value for us, why should he settle for a measly $65 mil rent payment and $90 mil services contract per year? He knows he holds the aces, and his little loyalty test for his parliament passed without trouble.

Of course, loss of the base would have led to civil war in Kyrgyzstan within two years – the decimation of the middle class would have been tremedous, as an awful lot of businesses have the Air Base as their main client. Bakiyev may be positioning to look like the big guy here, which is pretty bold.. you know, for an asshole.

By: trigon

trigon — Fri, 06 Mar 2009 05:39:36 +0000

I’ll chip in a hundred rubles…

profitsbeard on March 5, 2009 at 8:18 PM

How much is that in Quatloo’s?

By: profitsbeard

profitsbeard — Fri, 06 Mar 2009 01:18:28 +0000

I’ll chip in a hundred rubles…

By: Speakup

Speakup — Thu, 05 Mar 2009 20:52:44 +0000

I’ll bet HillyBilly jumped right on it.

How does a Russian base in Kyrgyzstan help Michelle’s children?

By: Disasterous Foreign Policy « The Autopsy

Disasterous Foreign Policy « The Autopsy — Thu, 05 Mar 2009 20:42:17 +0000

[...] he’s going to ignore Kyrgyzstan’s offers to wait on a Russian deal in case something better comes from the Americans. (Hey, President Obama, Kyrgyzstan is how we [...]

By: cthulhu

cthulhu — Thu, 05 Mar 2009 19:28:06 +0000

Why shouldn’t they get some “Stimulus”? — everybody else is.

By: logis

logis — Thu, 05 Mar 2009 18:18:15 +0000

This is about the money, but now at least we have some entertainment value in the controversy. Bakiyev wants us to treat him with more respect now that he’s sold us out to the Russians, while making clear that his loyalty to Moscow can also be reversed with a bigger cash drop. Only in international diplomacy would this kind of brazen whoring increase respect.

Hehe. Very well said.

By: crosspatch

crosspatch — Thu, 05 Mar 2009 18:12:12 +0000

Maybe Obama should invite him over and give him some DVDs. That ought to be enough to spawn a “special relationship” … depending, of course, on the nature of the DVDs.

By: DrSteve

DrSteve — Thu, 05 Mar 2009 17:38:01 +0000

Why wait out the entire Bush administration, only to snub its successor, which explicitly promised to treat allies with greater respect and deference on policy decisions?

They might have seen our new d**k-move diplomacy coming. There are allies and there are allies, Ed. Anyone think the Kyrgyz had a chance at the cool kids' table?

By: Mike D.

Mike D. — Thu, 05 Mar 2009 17:28:14 +0000

The Samantha Power battle cry: $1 billion for ~~Gaza~~ Hamas, not one Red cent for Manas!!!!!!

By: the_nile

the_nile — Thu, 05 Mar 2009 17:18:39 +0000

Pay for Play. Should be right up Bambi’s alley.

BrianA on March 5, 2009 at 11:35 AM

“This is f**#ing Golden , an air force base is a f*’#ing valuable thing” Overheard somewhere in Kyrgyzstan .

By: radiofreevillage

radiofreevillage — Thu, 05 Mar 2009 17:12:26 +0000

If it is true that Afghanistan is the forefront of the war with terrorists then paying more for the base is a worthwhile investment. Protection of the United States costs money.

By: CP

CP — Thu, 05 Mar 2009 17:10:15 +0000

We better fix this.

By: liquidflorian

liquidflorian — Thu, 05 Mar 2009 17:03:30 +0000

You following this Camera guy?

By: albill

albill — Thu, 05 Mar 2009 17:03:04 +0000

And the trouble with signing a deal with Russia is before you know it they are behind-the-scenes overthrowing your govt. and installing a pro-Russian guy in office.

Putin longs for the days of the USSR…

By: WashJeff

WashJeff — Thu, 05 Mar 2009 17:02:37 +0000

Putin’s Russia is in danger of financial collapse (See today’s WSJ piece by Kasparov.)

China is bailing out Russia so far. Imo, China will have a lot to say as to whether “Russia” comes up with the money.

JiangxiDad on March 5, 2009 at 11:19 AM

So if we pay them, we will be giving them Chinese money.

By: kelley in virginia

kelley in virginia — Thu, 05 Mar 2009 16:59:02 +0000

its not as if bambi is like Bush. (or cheney)

By: kelley in virginia

kelley in virginia — Thu, 05 Mar 2009 16:58:15 +0000

we always knew bambi didn’t have the fortitude to sustain the criticism he would certainly draw if he actually tried to do anything in afghanistan. if he wants to retreat from afghanistan, i just hope he doesn’t let anymore of our soldiers die there.

By: Skandia Recluse

Skandia Recluse — Thu, 05 Mar 2009 16:55:05 +0000

So they’re trying to pressure The Obama into a better deal (for them) not understanding that The Obama doesn’t want the base to begin with.

They just handed The Obama the perfect excuse to walk away from Afghanistan, and The Obama says………”ok, bye”.

By: JamesB

JamesB — Thu, 05 Mar 2009 16:47:00 +0000

We paid President-for-Life Karimov over $500 million to rent K2 for a couple of years, and he still kicked us out. These Central Asian dictatorships are high maintenence.

By: Seven Percent Solution

Seven Percent Solution — Thu, 05 Mar 2009 16:43:24 +0000

“Only in international diplomacy would this kind of brazen whoring increase respect.”

You forget who our Secretary of State is……….

……….. and her husband to boot.

By: Still time to bargain in Bishkek — But As For Me

Still time to bargain in Bishkek — But As For Me — Thu, 05 Mar 2009 16:39:52 +0000

[...] Read this post » [...]

By: BrianA

BrianA — Thu, 05 Mar 2009 16:35:16 +0000

Pay for Play. Should be right up Bambi’s alley.

By: txaggie

txaggie — Thu, 05 Mar 2009 16:34:39 +0000

a Snuggie for Michelle.

Only if it comes without sleeves. Poor taste but my wife noticed the other day that she never wears sleeves.

By: loudmouth883

loudmouth883 — Thu, 05 Mar 2009 16:33:33 +0000

Sorry, all our extra cash is tied up paying for other peoples home improvement projects andn sending money to the palestinians to rebuild terrorist’s houses.

Priorities sir.