Recently, Kyrgyzstan hosted the meeting of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) heads of state. The CIS is composed of all of the former Soviet Republics, except for Georgia, which withdrew after the election of Sakashvili (sp?). I happened to be looking for my visa support company near the center of Bishkek the day of the arrival of the various heads of state. In the center of Bishkek is located the Belii Dom or White House, the capital building of Kyrgyzstan.
Traffic was blocked on the main thoroughfare through the center. Police and army privates spaced about 10m apart lined both sides of the street. A couple of officers or sergeants monitored the area and occasionally yelled orders or reprimands to soldiers but overall, discipline seemed pretty lax. It was a cool day. Too cool to be comfortable with only the light jackets they had on but not cold enough to warrant a winter coat. The soldiers slouched, paced at their post and generally looked listless and bored. A few people greeted them, asked questions about directions or what was going on, younger men cracked lighthearted jokes about the soldiers’ unenviable duty. The soldiers chuckled and took part in the levity. Some who were stationed out of the line of sight of the officers wanders a few meters to one side or another to chat with their neighbor. Many ate sunflower seeds. Much to the irritation of the officers, civilians J-walked right toward the Belii Dom right between soldiers, unimpeded.
I watched news coverage of the summit in Naryn. The production quality of the state television news is not outstanding. For this occasion they brought up the seal of the CIS, a welcome to the leaders of the not-quite free world, and an image of Kyrgyzstan and Russia’s flags next to each other and a little blurb about friendship. Each image was displayed in Kyrgyz as well as Russian. The peak was that each time they changed images they played a garish military/state orchestra crescendo. The effect was akin to watching the “We’re back from commercial effect” for the Olympics or Monday Night Football again and again. They went through the rotation in both languages at least 3 times.
What followed was video snippets of Bakaev, the President of the Kyrgyz Republic, shaking hands with each leader as they disembarked off the plane. There are 10 states in the CIS and each hand shake was accompanied by the music. The most important leader is, of course, Russia’s head of state. This time Medvedev attended. Bakaev shook Medvedev’s hand with exuberance while Medvedev smiled meekly and looked a little bored and a little uncomfortable.
The day of the summit, I met a couple of soldiers in taxis. The first was the taxi driver that took me to the bus/share-taxi station headed to Naryn. He was my age and had just quit the army last year. He had been in the army for a few years and even completed the military academy. He would have stayed with the army but the pay, even for low-ranking officers, was meager at the equivalent of $US 100/month. He now earns $US 1,000/month driving a taxi. He works most everyday but on his own schedule and can take the days off that he wants. “I go where I want, when I want and take order from no one.”
The next soldier I met accompanied me to Naryn in the share taxi. He was a special forces captain. He had been with the army for almost a decade. He’s trained with Turks and had some contact with the Americans and Russians stationed at their bases in Kyrgyzstan. He even went to Iraq with some anti-Kurd Turkish operation in 2003. Many of his comrades have been trained at some special forces officer school of the US army, apparently in Texas. His English was quite good and he was clearly a straight-shooting clear thinker. We spoke about the US election, language policies in Kyrgyzstan (moving away from Russian in official settings), and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. He was more sympathetic and supportive of US “peacekeeping” (to use his term) in Afghanistan than most people that bring up the subject. He was not much of a fan of the US Iraq War, but he thought that it was not just a oil grab. Kyrgyzstan has received a lot of support for its special forces since the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan’s incursion into the South of the country in 2001-2. There have been no incidents since that time, but anti-terrorist/insurgent operations remain the focus of their training.
Outside the Belii Dom, one of the bored privates looked around with disinterest. His eyes came to rest on a poster with tear away tabs. WORK! It read. He glanced around to see who was watching, took a couple steps to his left and tore away a tab which he placed in his pocket
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