revolution - my first thought

thanks for the comments and the great commentary. i find the former soviet union pretty fascinating and everything you are saying is right on. these are people who have never "known" freedom. so for them to say "we are a democracy" for them to know what that means and how it works - is pretty unrealistic. we are fortunate as a nation to be protected by two oceans and we face minimal outside influence from our neighbors to the north and the south (the whole mexican gun/drug thing is another topic). kyrgyzstan is pretty much a country that was made up by the soviets and now that the former soviet republic has broken up - the financial support and guidance they received is all gone. china, kazakhstan, uzbekistan, iran, turkey, russia, the us - we all have our hands in the pot stirring things up. it makes for a dizzying situation for the locals who are just trying to figure out self rule and how not to get screwed. it is interesting to be here and see the growth and development of a country/democracy. it isn't always pretty (see revolution of last wednesday) - but very interesting exciting at the same time.

 

thanks for your comments and concerns. i love being an ex-pat. i feel like i have a responsibility to see the world and raise my daughter to have a world view. one that incorporates (hopefully) the best of everything from socialism to capitalism to islam to christianity to nba basketball rules to fiba basketball rules!

we returned back to bishkek last night from almaty. the school decided to open back up (premature i think as only about 40% of the kids showed up). the trip home was uneventful minus getting pulled over three times by the militia in kazakhstan (i played dumb, pretending to not speak russian, refused to get out of the car, and acted like a tourist... got out of paying a "ticket" each time).

if you showed up to bishkek for the first time not knowing what had happened you would never know there was a violent revolution just one week ago. i will try to go and get some photos tomorrow. i didn't get any on day one or two as i was too busy ****ting my pants and avoiding angry mobs/looters/machine gun fire. a big memorial is set up in the city center to honor the 80 plus folks who were gunned down by the president's men. there is no police or military present anywhere on the streets which is disconcerting. makes one wonder just how much control the new government has. the ousted president is still running free in the south claim "bloodshed" if he isn't returned to power. i have the feeling that more damage can be done by listening to battier sing karaoke but the idea of a civil war is scary. some land mines were found placed around town. some facebook friends posted rumors of the land mines. the UN checked it out and found them. like my own personal hurt locker going on. we are staying at a friends (our place is too close to the center) apartment. staying in at night. avoiding crowds.