Kyrgyzstan: Revolution

I'm stunned.

Akayev's government has fallen, even though reports of his fleeing Kyrgyzstan remain unverified. (Interfax, via Xinhua, however, says Akayev landed in Kazakhstan. It's significant that Russia isn't taking him in.) What was a localized rebellion has turned into a country-wide revolution. The opposition seized the capital Bishkek in developments so rapid that my commentary can't be worthy. The utter collapse of police resistance has left me stunned. While there has been a lot of chaotic violence, there seems to have been no organized defense of the government by any state agency and there seems to be no guns involved.

The Kyrzyg Supreme Court, following Ukraine, refused to validate the election, giving the revolution some legitimacy (Guardian). By annuling the election results, the old parliament (which had a greater opposition representation) was still the legitimate legislature, according to the court.

Parliament has elected former opposition member (an ex-communist) Ishenbai Kadyrbekov as Interim President. Jailed opposition leader Felix Kulov has been freed.

To keep abreast of developments, see Registan's Kyrzyg category. I'm visiting it constantly.

Also, pictures from Registan.

The big deal would be Russia's response, but events are evolving so quickly that it seems impossible for Putin to come up with even a pine needle fig leaf to make any "peacekeeping" intervention at all tenable.

Wanderlustress reports that Osh, the opposition stronghold, is returning to normal life, with local police recognizing the authority of the opposition government.

Hopefully the US government is actively engaged with the new government, so that this situation doesn't turn into a "meet the new boss, same as the old boss" scenario.

Past Kyrgyzstan posts:

• Kyrgyzstan on the brink?
• Kyrgyzstan: Joint police-opposition patrols
• Kyrgyzstan revolution?

Comments

[Convex]

Why do you say *ex* communist? From what I've read, unless I'm mistaken because it doesn't seem to be important to media here, the "opposition party" is communist. Please, correct me if I'm wrong and I'll feel a little more optimism for the end result of this. Communists are notoriously hard to get out of offices once entrenched.