Kyrgyzstan’s coup: U.S. interests in Central Asia

Kyrgyzstan, a nation of 5 million people that from 1936 to 1991 was a republic in the former Soviet Union, went through what the imperialist media first described as “a democratic revolution” on March 24.

It was a coup. Bands of people armed with clubs took over Kyrgyzstan’s capital of Bishkek, and chased out President Askar Akayev, whose party had just won legislative elections on March 13.

President Akayev fled to Russia at the end of March as violent protests erupted in his Central Asian country. He said that those who opposed him had international support. (AP, April 2)

Akayev said that outside forces, including the U.S. ambassador, helped fuel the revolt that drove him from power.

Akayev’s charges raise the question: what interests does the U.S. establishment have in this relatively small and oil-poor country in Asia?

Kyrgyzstan’s history

Kyrgyzstan borders the oil-rich Caspian Sea countries of Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan and the untapped oil reserves of Xinjiang, China. It is in the heart of the region U.S. government strategists call “Eurasia.” Kyrgyzstan has abundant hydro-electric power; significant deposits of gold and rare earth metals; and locally exploitable coal, oil and natural gas.

Kyrgyzstan is about the size of South Dakota. At the time of the Russian Revo lution in 1917, many of the Kyrgyz people were nomadic. While it was a Soviet Republic, Kyrgyz’s people flowed into modern cities where workers built factories, hospitals, schools and universities.

On Aug. 30, 1991, Akayev and the republic’s Supreme Soviet declared Kyrgyzstan an independent nation. At that time the Kyrgyz president was a darling of U.S. imperialism.

When Kyrgyzstan broke away from the USSR, a campaign of privatization of state-owned enterprises took place. This stripped away the social and economic wellbeing of the majority of the population. It also exacerbated ethnic conflicts as capitalist competition replaced socialist cooperation.

In 2003, some 12 years after the split from the USSR, 50 percent of the Kyrgyz population lived below the poverty line. The switch from state to privately owned business left many people unemployed as jobs were lost and pensions and savings were devalued.

One city’s history makes this clear. During the Soviet era, Balikchy was a Kyrgyz city bustling with shipbuilding and fishing industries. Goods from the city were sent to all parts of the Soviet Union. After privatization, Balikchy’s industries and factories were sold off and left to rot.

“The Soviet time was much better. Everything was strong and in order,” said Sadko Satarov, a former factory worker. (Swissinfo, Dec. 25, 2003)

Post-Soviet poverty

Kyrgyzstan’s gross domestic product had fallen 47 percent between 1991 and 1996, when a slow growth resumed. The Carnegie Endowment for International Peace applauded this in an article called “Reforms in Kyrgyzstan Go Well.” (Anders Åslund, March 3, 2000) Kyrgyzstan is the largest recipient of U.S. aid in Central Asia—Washington has spent $746 million there since 1992. Yet service on the national debt now accounts for 40 percent of Kyrgyzstan’s national budget.

A UN report on the Rights of the Child in 2000 noted that in Kyrgyzstan a huge rise in tuberculosis, diphtheria and other infectious diseases followed the collapse of the former Soviet Union and the dismantling of the Soviet health-care system.

The Soviet system had eradicated many communicable diseases; its comprehensive health-care services made mandatory immunization and periodic health checks available to the entire population.

Today in Kyrgyzstan, the number of doctors is declining. The “market reforms” mandated by capitalists in the former socialist countries aim to privatize health care as well as education. People must now buy health insurance and medical students must pay for their studies.

The Orange and Rose “revolutions” which recently overpowered legally elected governments in the Ukraine and Georgia were products of U.S.-sponsored destabilization campaigns, with U.S.-backed non-governmental organizations (NGOs) supporting the opposition.

U.S. and NATO troops are stationed not only in Kyrgyzstan, but throughout Central Asia to promote the interests of U.S-based transnational corporations and U.S. geopolitical interests, including military advantages against China and Russia.

In 1997, Jimmy Carter’s former national security advisor, Zbigniew Brzezinski, wrote “The Grand Chess board.” In it he asserted the U.S. right to establish “global hegemony,” and warned that there were only 10 to 20 years to take control “before the door is closed.” Brzezinski wrote of controlling the Eurasian corridor, from the Balkans to Xinjiang and Tibet.

Freedom House, a U.S.-backed NGO, gave Akayev’s opposition a printing press and provided them with a professional propagandist to supervise the only print-media outlet.

This press published articles on “how to defeat dictators,” including tips on hunger strikes and civil disobedience. When the Kyrgyz government denied the press electricity, the U.S. Embassy stepped in with emergency generators. (Wall Street Journal, Feb. 25)

The Bush administration would call the changes in Kyrgyzstan the first successful “spread of freedom and democracy” in Central Asia, a product of efforts by the National Endowment for Democracy, the International Republican Institute and the Eurasia Foundation. (Asia Times, March 26)