The revolution has a name, even though it hasn't happened.
Ahead of tomorrow's parliamentary elections in Kyrgyzstan, speculation is high that this remote, mountainous ex-Soviet republic is on the verge of an uprising like those in Georgia and Ukraine that were sparked by election fraud.
PHOTO: AP
News media, drawing stylistically on Georgia's "Rose Revolution" and Ukraine's "Orange Revolution," have begun calling Kyrgyzstan's national uprising the "Tulip Revolution."
There isn't a trace of Kyrgyzstan's favorite flower to be seen amid February's snows, but signs of discontent are rising.
The vote is a key test for Kyrgyzstan, once seen as an "island of democracy" in former Soviet Central Asia but now troubled by increasing complaints of repression. It will be closely watched by international observers and domestic politicians not only for its own importance, but as a harbinger of how the October presidential election is likely to be conducted.
The vote also is likely to be watched closely by Washington and the Kremlin, which have strategic interests in stability in Kyrgyzstan, where both Russia and the US have military bases.
Ahead of the vote, the most volatile issue has not been the prospect of vote fraud, as was the case in Ukraine and Georgia, but the blocking of prominent politicians from running at all. Demonstrators backing two disqualified candidates blocked key roads this week, shutting down a main trade corridor to China and slowing production at the Kumtor gold mine, a key piece of the economy of the country of 5 million.
Another leading opposition figure, Roza Otunbayeva, was denied registration as a candidate on the grounds that she did not meet the requirement of having been a resident for the last five years -- but the reason she couldn't meet it was because she had been one of Kyrgyzstan's top diplomats, posted to Britain and the US as well as working as a UN envoy for Abkhazia.
Otunbayeva wanted to run for a seat in the same district where Akayev's daughter, Bermet, is a candidate. That added to concerns the government was using legal hairsplitting to marginalize Otunbayeva and she now is seen as likely a central figure if protests break out.
But Otunbayeva denies that she and her colleagues in the Ata-Jurt political movement are preparing to take to the streets.
"We in the opposition isn't talking about a revolution of any kind," she said recently during a trip to Moscow. "We're talking about a peaceful, constitutional change of power."
Such a transition once seemed likely in Kyrgyzstan. Akayev, who has led the country since independence from the Soviet Union, was regarded as the most reform-minded of the Central Asian leaders and the country won praise for its comparative openness.
But Akayev in recent years has shown increasing signs of cracking down. In 2002, his reputation was tarnished after police killed six demonstrators who were protesting the arrest of an opposition lawmaker.
A humanoid robot that won a half-marathon race for robots in Beijing on Sunday ran faster than the human world record in a show of China’s technological leaps. The winner from Honor, a Chinese smartphone maker, completed the 21km race in 50 minutes and 26 seconds, said a WeChat post by the Beijing Economic-Technological Development Area, also known as Beijing E-Town, where the race began. That was faster than the human world record holder, Ugandan Jacob Kiplimo, who finished the same distance in about 57 minutes in March at the Lisbon road race. The performance by the robot marked a significant step forward
Four contenders are squaring up to succeed Antonio Guterres as secretary-general of the UN, which faces unprecedented global instability, wars and its own crushing budget crisis. Chile’s Michelle Bachelet, Argentina’s Rafael Grossi, Costa Rica’s Rebeca Grynspan and Senegal’s Macky Sall are each to face grillings by 193 member states and non-governmental organizations for three hours today and tomorrow. It is only the second time the UN has held a public question-and-answer, a format created in 2016 to boost transparency. Ultimately the five permanent members of the UN’s top body, the Security Council, hold the power, wielding vetoes over who leads the
South Korea’s air force yesterday apologized for a 2021 midair collision involving two fighter jets, a day after auditors said the pilots were taking selfies and filming during the flight and held them responsible for the accident. “We sincerely apologize to the public for the concern caused by the accident that occurred in 2021,” an air force spokesman told a news conference, adding that one of the pilots involved had been suspended from flying duties, received severe disciplinary action and has since left the military. The apology followed a report released on Wednesday by the South Korean Board of Audit and Inspection,
An earthquake registering a preliminary magnitude of 7.7 off northern Japan on Monday prompted a short-lived tsunami alert and the advisory of a higher risk of a possible mega-quake for coastal areas there. The Cabinet Office and the Japan Meteorological Agency said there was a 1% chance for a mega-quake, compared to a 0.1% chance during normal times, in the next week or so following the powerful quake near the Chishima and Japan trenches. Officials said the advisory was not a quake prediction but urged residents in 182 towns along the northeastern coasts to raise their preparedness while continuing their daily lives. Prime
RSS