Key U.S. base in Central Asia threatened

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MANAS AIR BASE, Kyrgyzstan — When Defense Secretary Robert Gates visits next week, he’ll find pressure from Russia and China, as well as some Kyrgyz officials, to close this Central Asian outpost of American military might.

The Manas Air Base was set up to support U.S. operations in nearby Afghanistan, but it is part of high-stakes contest for political influence being played out across a region with vast natural gas and oil reserves.

Small, poor and politically unstable, Kyrgyzstan is nevertheless being aggressively courted by the United States, Russia and China because of its strategic location. Russia also has an air base in this former Soviet republic of 5 million, part of a regional security treaty.

But tensions surrounding the air base have hurt Washington’s efforts to gain favor here. There have been disputes over payments, a fatal shooting and the mysterious reported kidnapping of an American.

http://www.armytimes.com/news/2007/06/ap_kyrgyzstanbase_070602/

[bemildred]

1. Kyrgyz opposition calls for forming confederation with Russia

BISHKEK, Kyrgyzstan: A main Kyrgyz opposition party on Saturday proposed forming a confederation with Russia, a move local and Russian politicians dismissed as political campaigning.

The United Front for a Decent Future for Kyrgyzstan, headed by former prime minister and fierce presidential critic Felix Kulov, said it wants to hold a referendum on forming an inter-government union between Russia and Kyrgyzstan.

Kulov did not specify how the union would work, saying only that it would have the same currency and customs zone with Russia, at the same time allowing Kyrgyzstan to maintain its sovereignty.

"In order to overcome the crisis and discord, Kyrgyzstan must turn to its past experience — strengthening ties with the Russian people, with Russia," Kulov said at the party's congress. He said in July, the party would begin collecting the 300,000 signatures needed to hold a plebiscite.

http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2007/06/02/asia/AS-GEN-Kyrgyzstan-Russia.php

[donsu]

2. kick

nt

[juno jones]

3. k&r