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| Caucasus/Russia/Central Asia |
| Kyrgyz crisis tops Russian headlines for four days, rest of world couldn't care less |
| 2010-06-14 |
| Given the Kyrgyz Republic's status as a former Soviet state, as well as the presence of several hundred thousand ethnic Russians there, Russian media sources have been reporting intensively on the violence in the south of the country. For example, the website of Russia's most widely-read paper, Komsomol'skaya Pravda, has devoted virtually the entire first screen of its main page to Kyrgyz events for several days running. Interestingly, the epic violence has generated little interest in the USA, even less in Europe or the Muslim countries, and none at all in so-called "international diplomatic circles". With unofficial death toll estimates standing at over 500, two major towns half-destroyed by arson, and more than 100,000 refugees--judging by photographs, almost all of them women and very young children--having already crossed into neighboring Uzbekistan, one would think that the last week's most intense episode of ethnic cleansing and butchery would merit an emergency session of the United Nations and eager calls for a peacekeeping intervention and a massive humanitarian airlift--especially as the Kyrgyz government is begging for both. But of course, none of that is happening. In an interview posted on the respected, Russia-based, pan-Central Asian news website Fergana.ru, Danish journalist Michael Andersen laments the lack of interest on the part of his fellow EU residents (partial translation follows): "I am ashamed that in Europe, neither the media nor the politicians are reacting to events in Kyrgyzstan... If you compare this with Georgia (in August 2008), that episode involved flashy television footage, that involved "our enemy", Putin, and "our friend", Saakashvili. But as for what is happening in Osh, Europeans don't understand. Who are these "Uzbeks" and "Kyrgyz"? 99 percent of Europeans don't even imagine that such people exist. Even if a Western politician started reacting to the events in Osh, that would not make him more popular." Of particular irony is that Mr. Andersen most likely does not even have a venue to convey these thoughts in his native Denmark. Instead, he must turn to a Russia-based news source, which will print his comments in Russian. Of course, if the ethno-national identity of the victims in this drama began with "Pal" and ended with "estinian", this would the world's top headline from the get-go, and governments would be lining up around the block to send peacekeepers and/or large-scale humanitarian assistance (which is desperately needed, as little bitty babies are starving to death in Kyrgyzstan even as I write this). Perhaps there would even be protests outside some embassy or other, and flags would be burned by angry bearded men shouting "death to so-and-so". Sure makes you wonder what else might be going on in our complex world that is flying under the radar of the naive, self-righteous, selectively-attentive, "Save Gaza/Palestine/Tibet/Chiapas/the whales" crowd. |
| Posted by:tipper |