US has more bases in former Soviet states than Russia

[proldic]

Welcome to America's New El Salvador <br>The War on Terror and the War on Russia<br> <br>It's not about oil. It's not about Israel. It's obviously not about freedom, or Islam, and only remotely about terrorism. What it's all about is what it's always been about. It's about Russia... <br><br>Washington has drawn a big chalk circle around the largest nation on the earth, and ostensibly a friendly one, but it hasn't made a whisper in the headlines... <br><br>If you weren't paying attention, you wouldn't know that American troops are now stationed in nine of the fifteen post-Soviet states...<br><br>If not for...September 11, 2001, this wouldn't have had a prayer of happening....<br> <br>This is what you're not meant to see, and the mainstream press has for the most part utterly failed to cast light on this covert occupation of the former Soviet Union's borderlands. And so long as our distinguished colleagues at the Institute for War and Peace Reporting accept State Department grants for "promoting freedom" in former Soviet republics that also host American troops, you're not likely to read about the American encirclement of Russia there, either.... <br><br>Instead, we often read of countries like Armenia and Russia slouching toward dictatorship - if not of the proletariat, then of their bureaucratic managers....<br><br>Armenia, we're told, is still in the grip of a nationalistic frenzy...Quite illogical, those Armenian nationalists. If they saw the light, made peace and bowed to the superior wisdom of accepting a multinational peacekeeping force made up largely by Americans - everything would be much, much better.... <br><br>Russia, for its part, is constantly lambasted...for its "imperial ambitions." This has been repeated so often, for so long, that few bother to question the image of the sweaty, unibrowed Mishas and Nikolais scheming to subjugate whole continents to their will. <br><br>Here are the facts - the sobering facts - on Russia, America, and their respective "empires." America now has more than a hundred military bases and installations on foreign soil scattered throughout the world. Russia, on the other hand, has four - four - bases...More than a hundred over here, four over there. Judging by the paltry coverage of America's most ambitious deployment this side of Iraq, it's easy to be in the dark about it. <br><br>In fact - and this statement should be read twice so as to appreciate its gravity - the United States now has more bases in the other former Soviet states than Russia itself. <br><br>Since no one has thought the issue worthy of extended analysis (except, of course, malodorous Russian "nationalists"), a brief primer on the covert creation of this launching pad for World War III - which will be the true legacy of the Bush Administration in this part of the world - is long overdue.... <br><br><!--EZCODE AUTOLINK START--><a href="http://www.diacritica.com/sobaka/2004/lastwar.html">www.diacritica.com/sobaka...stwar.html</a><!--EZCODE AUTOLINK END--><br><br><br><br> <p></p><i></i>

[ZeroHaven]

Strange you mention this suddenly. When I was going through information for the Prince El Hassan guy, I found several articles which related him to the efforts of getting the US out of there. Some of his humanitarian work.<br>The premise is that many of these bases are being used as staging areas for the Iraq war, and recently the US has been given ultimatums to get their butts out.<br> <p><!--EZCODE IMAGE START--><img src="http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a239/ZeroHaven/tinhat.gif"/><!--EZCODE IMAGE END--></p><i></i>

[toscaveritas]

<!--EZCODE BOLD START--><strong>Uzbekistan evicts United States from air base</strong><!--EZCODE BOLD END--><br><br> By Joanne Morrison;<br><br>WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Uzbekistan has told the United States to quit a military base that has served as a hub for missions to Afghanistan since shortly after the September 11, 2001, attacks, a Pentagon spokesman said on Saturday.<br><br>A notice to leave Karshi-Khanabad air base, also known as K2, was delivered on Friday by a courier from the Uzbek Foreign Ministry to the U.S. Embassy in Tashkent, the Washington Post reported in its Saturday edition, citing an unnamed senior U.S. official involved in Central Asia policy.<br><br>Asked about the report, Pentagon spokesman Glenn Flood said early on Saturday, "We are aware of the diplomatic note to the U.S. Embassy on the issue of K2 air field and we are working with the State Department, evaluating the note to see exactly what it means."<br><br>State department officials could not be reached for comment.<br><br>Uzbekistan will give the United States 180 days to move aircraft, personnel and equipment, the newspaper said. It said the United States expects Uzbekistan to follow through on the eviction notice.<br><br>The action would create logistical problems for U.S. operations in Afghanistan, the newspaper said. Scores of flights have used the air field to transfer humanitarian goods that are then taken by road into northern Afghanistan, it said.<br><br>"The air field has been important to us and the U.S. allies in operations over there," Flood said.<br><br>The United States has regarded its bases in Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan as vital for operations in Afghanistan. However, the U.S. presence in Central Asia has caused tensions with Russia and China, which joined the five ex-Soviet Central Asian states earlier this month to demand a U.S. deadline for leaving the bases.<br><br>U.S. relations with authoritarian Uzbekistan also have been strained by the Uzbek government's bloody suppression in May of a rebellion in the eastern town of Andizhan, which drew U.S. criticism.<br><br>Just last Monday, however, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld responded to a question about maintaining the base in Uzbekistan by saying "We've had a good relationship. It's a good relationship now."<br><br>He was speaking during a visit to Kyrgyzstan, whose defense minister said the United States would not need a military presence in that country once stability had returned to Afghanistan.<br><br><br>© Reuters 2005. All Rights Reserved.<br><!--EZCODE LINK START--><a href="http://today.reuters.com/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=topNews&storyID=2005-07-30T055544Z_01_N30473208_RTRIDST_0_NEWS-UZBEKISTAN-USA-BASE-DC.XML">today.reuters.com/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=topNews&storyID=2005-07-30T055544Z_01_N30473208_RTRIDST_0_NEWS-UZBEKISTAN-USA-BASE-DC.XML</a><!--EZCODE LINK END--> <p></p><i></i>