Kanawha Health Officials Warn Residents to Be Safe in the Heat
A heat wave is expected to really start cranking this week and health officials are warning people to be safe.

It is often amazing how events around the globe affect us here at home. Sometimes it pays to do nothing, and at other times we cannot turn a blind's eye. How we handle such affairs says a lot about who we are, what we stand for, and our primary focus and objectives in those areas of the world; the US cannot be all things to all people. Sometimes it may seem cruel to do nothing, but often that is the best course of action, even if it hurts our hearts to watch things unfold.

The Kyrgyzstan Revolution and civil unrest is half a world away, but it still affects us here in the United States. Not long ago, I was discussing this Geo-Political issue with a post cold war scholar on Russian-US Relations, and I asked Mr. Jesse Giraldo point blank; What do you think about the latest challenges in Kyrgyzstan, that does throw a loop in the fire? Here is his reply;

Where to start. Well It's certainly made things quite a bit more complicated. Kyrgyzstan has been the geopolitical battleground for competing military intrests between the U.S and the Russians since the 90's. Kyrgyzstan has been politically unstable since the tulip revolt but now things have descended from bad to worse. At least before Bakiyev had a functioning albeit authoritarian government that was capable of running the countries affairs, what's happening in Kyrgyzstan now is nothing short of mob rule anarchy.

Kyrgyzstan is experiencing the pent up frustration of over 5 years of bureaucratic abuse at the hands of its own government. This is Bakiyev's just deserts for implementing authoritarian doctrines while failing to weed out the corruption he claimed to stand against. In the end he was little better than his predecessor and like so many he ended up becoming the very thing he fought to destroy. He drove his own people to the brink of poverty with ridiculous tax hikes and laws and now people are dying.

The real tragedy of the whole crisis isn't even Bakiyevs failure as a president, but what happens now that the opposition has taken over? The opposition party that ran out the current administration is poorly organized and ridiculously ill prepared to serve the needs of its new constituents. These people haven't even agreed to who will lead their new government much less what they will do to correct the failures of the past. I find this to be a recurring tragedy of the armed revolution throughout military history.

People with seemingly pure intentions cannot see the big picture and simply think removing the current regime is all that is required. They fail to follow through and implement corrective policies and fall to the same vices. I do not fault the opposition leaders for seeking for standing up to an authoritarian regime however. A planned, well thought out Coup d'état can actually be a very sound and efficient instrument in bringing about change and has done so for many countries.

However this debacle was far from an organized military move, it was a knee jerk reaction that resulted in dozens of deaths and has left the people without a leader and a crippled infrastructure. Matters could even be made worse by opposition leaders if they are incompetent enough to begin a power struggle amongst themselves for leadership positions within the new party. In fighting and division right now would only delay the chaos and looting that is taking place in their own streets further destabilizing and destroying their economic infrastructure.

In my analysis this party has only two realistic choices, they can continue to attempt an effort at establishing a new government under their administration or they can reach out to Russia for assistance in re-establishing order in the region. However the latter may be a pipe dream since Moscow will be hesitant to send troops in to quell the violence as they are already under suspicion of inciting the violence against Bakiyevs government by a number of groups including most notably Uzbekistan. And Russia doesn't seem to feel it's worth it to jeopardize relations with its valued natural gas supplier. Bottom line it's a madhouse and the country is in a state of free fall while the U.S and Russia are keeping a safe distance but still watching very intently.

All great points made by Jesse Giraldo, and so I asked some more questions, namely; "Do you think that many of those in Kyrgyzstan look down on the US for their ties with the fallen government, as we made deals with them to allow a base there for aerial logistics? Or do you believe that suspicion will blow over, as we didn't stop the overthrow and stayed for the most part neutral?"

Jesse went on to explain; I have no doubt Kyrgyzstan's citizens looked unfavorably upon our inaction towards the former authoritarian regime of Bakiyev. How could they not? The U.S displayed clear indifference to the suffering of an entire nation so long as our airbase was operational.

Indeed, I suppose this criticism is deserved, as we are indifferent lots of places in the world. We can't be everything to everyone, and that government wasn't nearly as bad, as some of the African nations, or their leaders we have to deal with in order to have our bases there, nevertheless these are all issue we ought to be considering.

Lance Winslow is the Founder of the Online Think Tank, a diverse group of achievers, experts, innovators, entrepreneurs, thinkers, futurists, academics, dreamers, leaders, and general all around brilliant minds. Lance Winslow hopes you've enjoyed today's discussion and topic. http://www.WorldThinkTank.net. Have an important subject to discuss, contact Lance Winslow.