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from the March 30, 2005 edition -
Revolution echoes around Russia
Kyrgyzstan's people-power revolt spurs others protests against corruption throughout the region.
By Fred Weir | Correspondent of The Christian Science Monitor
BISHKEK, KYRGYZSTAN - The shock waves from Kyrgyzstan's lightning revolution are spreading around the former Soviet Union - and into the heart of Russia - leading analysts to wonder which regimes might be next to face the peoples' wrath.
Recent days have seen a spate of copycat protests launched by opposition groups that were perhaps hoping their own local authorities might fold and flee under pressure, as did Kyrgyz President Askar Akayev when demonstrators stormed his Bishkek complex last week.
About 1,000 people rallied last Friday in the capital of Belarus, where President Alexander Lukashenko runs the last Soviet-style dictatorship in Europe, to demand his resignation. Police quickly dispersed the crowd and dispatched the ringleaders to prison.
Two Russian ethnic republics, Ingushetia and Bashkortostan, have seen mass street demonstrations this week directed against Kremlin-installed leaders. Even in remote Mongolia, the former USSR's Asian satellite, hundreds of protesters gathered last week to "congratulate our Kyrgyz brothers" and demand a rerun of last June's disputed parliamentary polls.
Some experts see a common thread among these upheavals that began 17 months ago when Georgians overthrew Eduard Shevardnadze in a peaceful revolt and continued with Ukraine's "Orange Revolution" late last year.
"Every situation is different, but a single process is unfolding," says Valentin Bogatyrov, a former Akayev adviser and director of the International Institute of Strategic Studies in Bishkek. "Kyrgyzstan is a kind of trigger that will spread this unrest to our neighbors, and beyond. We are witnessing the second breakup of the Soviet Union."
Allegedly fraudulent elections sparked the uprisings in Georgia, Ukraine, and Kyrgyzstan. Among the post-Soviet states that face elections in the next two years are Azerbaijan later this year, plus Belarus, Kazakhstan, and Tajikistan in 2006. Common features of the regimes potentially under siege include systemic corruption, nepotism, and political appointments based on personal fealty rather than professionalism...
NATO AIR said:Hopefully in most of the affected nations and regions, after the upheaval there will be some sort of working, free government
we shall see though. i agree with the analyst, this is the 2nd breakup of the Soviet Union, the finish to the fall of fear societies and the rise of free societies
I blame it all on Lil Jon's music... all these people getting crunk and screaming "fuck this shit!" (protestors in Togo demanding US intervention and support against the military junta government last month)
Kathianne said:They are breaking away and up so fast though, there is no way to get support to them. Obviously the UN has little control. In some of these areas you are not talking of 'free' as much as hunters and gatherers. Time will tell, seems to be no stopping it now.
NATO AIR said:What is heartening is that the Georgians, Ukrainians and Serbians are all sending people to help train and support the revolutionaries
That is a good sign
Kathianne said:Well, that is so true. Just would like to go two days in a row with no new revolutions.
