Let nobody say South Korea’s close ties with the Stalinist thug who runs Uzbekistan aren’t useful:
With a helping hand from South Korea, the United States has reestablished a strategic presence in Uzbekistan – sort of. The development provides a boost for US efforts to press an offensive against Islamic militants in Afghanistan, and offers evidence that Russia’s influence in Central Asia is waning.
Uzbek President Islam Karimov revealed on May 11 that a cargo airport in the city of Navoi is already being used for the airborne transport of NATO non-lethal supplies destined for coalition forces in Afghanistan. The announcement coincided with a state visit by South Korean President Lee Myung-Bak. South Korea is overseeing a major renovation at Navoi airport that will turn the facility into a world-class air freight hub.
South Korea’s involvement in the project provides a face-saving way for the resumption of US-Uzbek strategic cooperation, capping over a year of US diplomatic efforts to bridge the rift that opened amid the fallout from the 2005 Andijan massacre. [For background see the Eurasia Insight archive].
Karimov evicted US forces from an air base in Karshi Khanabad in late 2005 as a response to US protests over his administration’s handling of the Andijan events.
The Uzbek-South Korean agreement regarding Navoi airport gives Karimov the ability to deny to Moscow that he has cut a deal with the United States. But at the same time, Washington stands to get what it needs – a transit base that can take over much of the load from the American base in Kyrgyzstan, which is scheduled to close this summer.
I’m not a huge fan of the current NATO mission in Afghanistan, so I can’t really celebrate this, per se. That said, what I think of Afghanistan doesn’t really matter — as long as the US and its NATO partners are going to prosecute this war, this is good news.
Read the rest of the article on your own.
(Big tip of the hat to Korea Economic Reader)
{ 18 comments… read them below or add one }
Thanks, Korea!
I realized that I am in the minority on this point but I do think that Korea generally pulls its weight in the alliance given the huge differences in capabilities and needs between the USA and ROK. The main difference between the Lee and Roh administrations is that we are spared all the “we have no choice but to help” bellyaching now.
Both Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan have special relation with Koreans, there are even Uzbeks and Kazaks politicians with Korean ethnicity. Both central asian countries are seeking deeper diplomatic relationship with Korea.
Vladimir Kim is of Kazak citizenship and ranked 142 by Forbes as richest man in the world with net worth of $5.5 billion.
That’ll come in handy the next time I’m playing Trivial Pursuit – Gyopo Edition.
Lemme jot this down. Vladimir Kim…142…$5.5 billion. Got it.
Thanks!
Here’s a little known fact, Wangk On is our Cliff Clavin of the Hole.
My goodness, I’m pulling a someguyinkorea. A correction; the previous link has an superfluous character in it.
Cliff Claven
Let me do you one better — Uzbekistan once made a Korean national a deputy minister, despite local laws barring ferners from official positions:
http://www.rferl.org/content/article/1067201.html
I believe the Daewoo Bank in Tashkent used to own the country, too. Nice headquarters, BTW:
http://weecheng.com/silk/uz-tashkent/daewoobk.gif
#8
I believe the Daewoo Bank in Tashkent used to own the country, too. Nice headquarters, BTW.
The Daewoo Group was shaping up to be a nice, modern day Korean version of the East India Company until Kim Woo Choong fucked it all up. I wonder what has become of Daewoo Logistic’s Operation Maize in Madagascar.
seouldout,
Don’t hate me cuz I’m smart.
NK,
Deal was canceled.
Afghanistan’s not our top priority?
If the Taliban hadn’t cooperated with someone to blow up the World Trade Ctr I might agree with you. But that made them our problem. And we have been putting them off, to our disadvantage. They get a few breaks, topple the shaky civilian regime in Pakistan, and they become a much worse nuclear threat than N Korea. Not a pleasant scenario at all, Islamic fundamentalists with nukes, having already shown a willingness to undertake suicide attacks on our major population centers…
Yuna’s right. This place is like Cheers. It’s pretty obvious who Sam Malone is. IHBB can be Norm. We’ve never seen his wife but we’re pretty sure she exists. Sonagi can fill us in on whether she has the hips of Rebecca or Diane. Carla, who wants to be Carla?
Could I be Woody? I want to be Woody. Who wants to be my Coach?
You’d have to misunderstand all the jokes. Maybe dda would be more suited? I have Linkd typecast for a Frasier Crane like role. I’m sure he’ll soon be spinning off his own blog in some far flung place a long way away.
Kind of funny, considering that Sam was an alcoholic…
I do believe that Sam Malone had slept with most of the women in his city. And “Sam continued to harbor insecurity about his brother Derek, who he feared was superior to him in every way.”
Why thank you, Eujin. I’ll take it. Let me pump myself up a little more and I’ll be back to sharing my pomposity in a few more days, after I get Grandma Linkd, Baby Linkd and Mrs Linkd safely enplaned for the True North, leaving me a month or so of bachelorhood here in the ‘gook to share more sterling insights, in between bouts of binge drinking throughout the finer habitats of 해방촌. But do consider another Frasier nominee, for the incumbent is soon to spin off and begin work on a new, more family-focused project. I see a big fireplace and a sunken living room in the future, but probably not a blog.
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