Moscow Pushing New Kyrgyz Government to Evict U.S.; Obama Rendered Impotent By Dreams of Nuclear Legacy

While President Obama makes calf eyes at Dmitry Medvedev, Moscow is trying to push the U.S. out of central Asia:

Russia has long dreamed of evicting the United States from Central Asia and a Russian official said on Thursday that Moscow would urge the interim Kyrgyz government to shut the U.S. base.

Suspicions of the Kremlin's hand in the unrest were raised when Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin became the first world leader to recognize the authority of the self-proclaimed government, just hours after it took power.

Washington has been more guarded, refusing to endorse either President Kurmanbek Bakiyev or the self-proclaimed government leaders, some of whom have already raised the specter of shutting the base.

"Russia was very quick to act. Both China and the U.S., by comparison, were caught on the hop," said Nick Day, chief executive of business intelligence firm Diligence LLC.

"Russia is going to dominate Kyrgyzstan and that means problems for the U.S," he said. "Russia will use this as a lever in negotiations with America."

Let's see: Georgia and Ukraine slipping from us. Now Kyrgyzstan is in Moscow's sights and Obama's hands are tied if he wants his precious nuclear legacy to last longer than a week.

No wonder Obama is trying to reassure ex-Soviet bloc NATO allies that he's not abandoning them.

posted by Gabriel Malor at 11:31 AM

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