The New York Sun has a good article on the Tulip Revolution in the Central Asian republic of Kyrgyzstan. While the MSM has presented the revolution as a dangerous event, It's been a relativly quiet revolution compared to others that have occurred throughout the region and Russia. Though the US has been focused on promoting democracy in the Middle East, the State Department seems to have continued its promotion of such values in the region well after the Soviets met their demise in 1991. Just see for yourself:
While the message from Washington yesterday may have been one of caution with an emphasis on keeping order, behind the scenes, successive Democratic and Republican administrations have been making an investment in democracy throughout Central Asia since the collapse of the Soviet Union.I'd have to say that this small investment seems to have caught on and worked out in a good way, especially after Akayev skipped out of town. Congrats to the Tulip Revolutionaries in their fight.
"When a society is moving towards a point of protest, it takes years of preparation to acquire the information, to develop networks of informal associations and civil society organizations. It is not just the result of one group to bring the people to the streets," the director for Europe and Eurasia programs at the National Endowment for Democracy, Nadia Diuk, said yesterday in an interview.
Ms. Diuk oversaw slightly more than $600,000 of grants to projects in the Kyrgyz Republic for 2004, including the establishment of the American Center for International Labor Solidarity. Other projects include training for human rights programs, legal aid, and a project to publish a Kyrgyz guide to press freedoms.
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