Salon
If you want to understand Kyrgyzstan, read this: Kyrgyzstan’s distinct developmental path owed something to Kyrgyz culture itself. One opposition leader told me that the Kyrgyz are “the most insubordinate, rebellious, and mutinous nation” in Central Asia. Another insisted — in a slight toward their neighbors — that it’s harder to govern three Kyrgyz than 300 Uzbeks. But Kyrgyzstan’s status as the darling of the West in the 1990s also reflected the pragmatism of President Akaev. Without the energy resources of other Central Asian countries, such as Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan, the leader of this remote mountainous country of 5 million people peddled to the West an image of Kyrgyzstan as the Switzerland of Asia. In return, he received hundreds of millions of dollars in grants and loans from Western governments and private donors.
