Why the US won't admit it was jilted (Uzbekistan)

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President Karimov of Uzbekistan has served notice to quit on the US base in his country. This completes a process of diplomatic revolution as Karimov turns away from the west and back into the embrace of Russia, with coy sideways glances at China. The US is trying to cover its retreat behind a smokescreen of belated concern for human-rights abuse in Uzbekistan. Suddenly one of their most intensively courted allies has been discovered - shock horror - to be an evil dictator. (Remember Saddam?) But the reality is much more complex.

The first and most obvious point is that the US didn't jump, it was pushed. The Andijan massacre of May 13, in which at least 600 demonstrators were killed, was carried out by Uzbek forces that in 2002 alone received $120m in US aid for the army and $82m for the security services. Prior to Karimov kicking it out, there was no indication at all that the US was going to review its military links with Uzbekistan - in fact General Richard Myers had specifically stated that they would continue.

In March this year the British army sent a team to Samarkand to teach the Uzbek military marksmanship. We have not said we will stop either. Nor has there been any indication that we will stop the practice whereby the Uzbek security services share with the CIA and MI6 the so-called intelligence extracted from Karimov's torture chambers. So much for the pretence of moral repugnance.

At Termez in southern Uzbekistan there is another, less noticed, western airbase. It is leased by Germany. The Germans are not seeking to withdraw. Of all western ministers, the most frequent guest in Uzbekistan, who most uncritically praises the regime, is Joschka Fischer, the trendy German foreign minister.

Guardian UK

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1. U.S. exit from Uzbekistan will mean more U.S. military flights over Tajik

DUSHANBE, August 3 (RIA Novosti) - Tajikistan is predicting a substantial rise in the number of U.S. Air Force flights through its territory after the withdrawal of the U.S. air base at Khanabad in Uzbekistan, Tajik Airlines CEO Mirzo Anvarov said.

"We expect a tenfold increase in the number of flights through our territory," Anvarov said. But this "will not cause overloading or disruptions to air traffic or technical control at Dushbane Airport."

Speaking on the possible exit of the U.S. military from the Khanabad base, Tajik Foreign Ministry Officer Igor Satarov said Wednesday that the presence of the U.S. anti-terrorism coalition in neighboring countries is a domestic affair for those governments and bears no direct relation to Tajikistan.

At the end of June, at a press conference here after a meeting with U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, Tajik Foreign Minister Talbak Nazarov said "Tajikistan has assumed responsibility for providing member countries of the anti-terrorism coalition with its airspace and infrastructure for use in operations in Afghanistan, and will continue to do this.

http://en.rian.ru/world/20050803/41084206.html

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2. Bush wants 'fair poll' in Kazakhstan

George Bush has written to the authoritarian president of oil-rich Kazakhstan, Nursultan Nazarbayev, to urge him to allow fair elections when the central Asian leader seeks a third term later this year.

"The latest events in the region have stressed the importance of a balanced economic growth, responsible governance and democratic development. I urge you to make sure that economic reforms are backed up with bold democratic reforms," said Mr Bush, according to an edited version of the letter.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,3604,1541240,00.html