Unrest

As most of the world news agencies are reporting, Kyrgyzstan is in civil unrest. There is a long history for this recent conflict dating back to before 2005. Apparently people have become fed up with the corruption of the new government and when it tried to raise energy prices, protests began. These were angry mobs and quickly over powered the police forces and turned violent. You can probably find a lot more on NYTIMES, BBC news, or Christian Science Monitor. They have all been covering the events and most websites have some pretty intense videos.

The base has effectively shut down. All the planes except one C-17 have left to other bases. Our fuel supply has apparently been cut off (we have enough for the one jet though). We are all on curfew to our rooms and so its getting pretty boring. Luckily, the chow hall is still open, and the internet still works so its not really bad here.

Bishkek is about 20min from here and because this didnt have a whole lot to do with us, it hasnt been dangerous here on base. Although, there are a lot of Kyrgies that work on base in the chow hall and what not, and I wonder how it has affected them. This morning for breakfast, there were a lot more locals in the chow hall that I had never seen. It makes me wonder if we are letting people bring their families on base to get food. I'm not sure what the impact is on commerce outside the base, but I dont think its good. Even though the Russians are supposedly supporting the new opposition gov't, I would bet its been difficult to find normal supplies in the downtown area.

There's no word yet on what they will do with the last of us flyers who are left, or the ground personnel still here. But for now it is safe on the base and we have all the provisions we need, even if it is becoming exceedingly boring.