tulip revolution?

Things changed quite a bit in one day in Kyrgyzstan. Akayev has fled and the new leadership has been named. It is now being called the 'tulip revolution'. Last night things descended into lawlessness. Gangs of young men were out looting the stores of Bishkek. A friend tells me that Beta Stores, Tsum, Narodnee and the Plaza were all looted. One (non-Kyrgyz) friend was attacked last night and beaten. He has cuts and bruises and now lacks a passport, but is alright none the less.

Things have calmed down considerably today. From what I am told, the streets of Bishkek are quiet and it is like nothing happened. In Osh, the people are feeling good about the changes and things are operating as normal.

People here in Uzbekistan have finally started to really talk about it. It has moved from a passive interest to an active interest. The are paying close attention to the Russian news outlets for the latest information. Comments have varied. One person said, "It would not be so easy here in Uzbekistan." Another remarked, "I wish they would throw some rocks at our police." It is interesting to read about how the Kyrgyz turmoil is being reported in the regional press.

kyrgyz unrest part 2

The situation in Kyrgyzstan appears to be deteriorating rapidly. The main government building in the capital of Bishkek was overrun today by protestors and there are running street battles with sticks and stones. People are fearful things will quickly turn to bloodshed. I got a message last night from a friend in Bishkek who said things got bad really fast. He said that Bishkek had been totally militarized and the militia had been armed with orders to fire on civilians. At the time of the message he was preparing to evacuate north to Kazakhstan. Another friend in Bishkek just wrote saying that the opposition took over the White House and the Defense Ministry today.

Last summer you could tell the Kyrgyz people were angry. They were unemployed and unhappy with what was going on around them. At the time, a lot of their anger seemed focused on foreigners because they were all perceived to have money. It now seems like they have focused their anger on the internal causes of their problems.

People here in Uzbekistan don't really seem interested in or willing to talk about what is going on with their next door neighbors. Some say it will just calm down eventually. Some think there will be bloodshed before things go back to normal. Others just said that Kyrgyzstan has always been a very dangerous place.

kyrgyz unrest

The West seems to finally be taking notice of Central Asia again for the first time since the United States went into Afghanistan in 2001. This time the focus is on the unrest in Kyrgyzstan following the February parliamentary elections. The opposition claims that the government of Kyrgyz President Askar Akayev is corrupt and rigged the elections. They say that the election of two of his children to parliament is an attempt to secure his legacy. People have taken to the streets and it appears that they have taken control in the southern cities of Jalal-Abad and Osh. In the capital of Bishkek, protests where violently put to an end after Akayev appointed a hardliner as the head of security.

In the BBC's article on why Kyrgyzstan matters, author Leonid Ragozin states accurately that:

The outside world has been watching events unfolding in Kyrgyzstan with a mixture of excitement and fear. Excitement because this could be the beginning of another "velvet revolution" in a former Soviet country. Fear because in such a poor and volatile region as Central Asia, it may not be as non-violent or democratic as those in Ukraine or Georgia.

Kyrgyzstan's Central Asian neighbors have all taken notice. The authoritarian leaders fear the Kyrgyz contagion will spill across their borders and threaten their regimes. The Uzbek Foreign Ministry in Bishkek issued a statement on the events taking place in Kyrgyzstan that expressed their 'concern' and called for a 'peaceful' solution without 'external interference'.

In this part of the Ferghana Valley, things are calm. People are starting to talk about what is taking place across the border in Osh (where the majority are ethnic Uzbek). One person did ask me jokingly if I felt like taking a trip to Osh. Security was no different than usual at the Tashkent and Ferghana airports this morning.

misc

a few things:

• No more oversized house. I moved a week ago to a new apartment in the center of town. It is basically across the street from work so I can just roll out of bed and into the office now. It is a lot smaller than the house, but still more than I really need. It isn't as nice as the house, but is a quarter of the price. I was impressed by my new landlord though. Not because she did anything special, but because she did what she said she would do. Most landlords in this part of the world ignore your every request once you have paid and moved in. She fixed all the problems and more so I think this apartment will work out well. The only thing I really miss? Having a washing machine.
• One of my few expat friends in Ferghana has been sent home. She helped the local community to put on the Vagina Monologues and Peace Corps didn't approve. Without so much as a written warning, they sent her home. It is sad because she had the local community behind her and was doing some great work getting people to talk about women's issues (something that is definitely needed in this society). She will be missed by all. Hopefully her appeal will be successful and we will see her back here shortly.

you go daddy

Let me take a second to talk about a company I really like called Go Daddy. For those who don't know about Go Daddy, they are primarily a domain name registrar. They are the people you go to when you want to buy a .com, .net, etc. domain name. If you want to get your business on the internet quickly and cheaply I recommend you check them out. Domain names are about $8 per year if you register with them and the whole process takes about 5 minutes.

Why do I like them (aside from there quality service and competitive prices)? Well, they have personality and generally seem to care about their customers. It seems to me that it starts at the top with their founder and president, Bob Parsons. Take a second to read his bio; he's an interesting guy. One thing he says really stands out:

'Since 1997 when I started Go Daddy, there was only one principle that I used to build the company. It's a simple one. Do the right thing for the customers and provide them with as good a deal as possible.'

In my opinion he has done a great job of following this principle. This past week Go Daddy once again demonstrated this principle in action when the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (part of the Department of Commerce) decided that the First Amendment rights to anonymous free speech didn't matter. They essentially decided that .us domain owners have no right to privacy. Go Daddy took an immediate stand against NTIA and thier invasive new policy. Their general counsel Christine Jones went as far as to say:

'This has nothing to do with them clarifying an existing contract. We've been selling proxy registrations for three years; they knew it but never said anything against it. They established a new policy, and for them to say otherwise is pure crap.'

I admire a company that isn't afraid to take a stand and fight for its customers. If you ever need to register a domain name, I highly recommend you give them your business.