Posted yesterday at Jamestown, an intriguing response from US Embassy officials to three Eurasia Daily monitor articles about recent Kyrgyz opposition to the Ganci base in Bishkek. If you’re reading this site, chances are you’ve read the articles concerned (here, here and here) by Jamestown analysts John C.K. Daly, Erica Marat, and Roger McDermott. In reply to the accusations from US Ambassador to Kyrgyzstan, Marie Yovanovitch of “significant factual inaccuracies, misleading statements, and false conclusions,” the three analysts post some impressive rejoinders, including:

As authors deal with materials available at the time of writing, it is most disingenuous for government officials to subsequently request revisions based on materials that were not available when writing, but rather, to acknowledge such an effort at post-publication revisionism compromises the Jamestown Foundation’s commitment to true scholarship on important contemporary issues.

I’m not going to try recap all the details but the exchange is well-worth reading for anyone with an interest in recent issues and details surrounding the airbase. One detail I found I had missed was that Zachary Hatfield, the US soldier involved in the airbase shooting, was convicted of deliberate homicide by the Kyrgyz Prosecutor-General and Ministry of Interior on May 7, 2007. Ambassador Yovanovitch apparently missed that too. Another thing I learnt is the word – aspersion : a sharp critical remark, designed to damage sb’s reputation.

Local media sources in Central Asia are often unsourced and contradictory to begin with, whether or not they’re influenced by external or internal interests. Given that, I’m regularly impressed at the fine balancing job (or crude, depending on how you view it ) that Eurasianet and EDM pull off in compiling sources. For anyone who’s charged that most English news writing in Central Asia is heavily (indirectly) influenced by the US State department, this would seem proof to the contrary.

I’m sure there are readers out there that have plenty of opinions to hash out on related issues. Get your aspersion on!

Aynagul Saparbek kyzy, Chief Editor of the powerful opposition daily “Agym” gave a short interview on the Bishkek Press Club website on the new owner of the newspaper, which was recently sold by opposition Parliament member Melis Eshimkanov. Saparbek assured concerned readers that the new owner is a Kyrgyz citizen and not someone with any relations or favor towards Bakiyev’s network.

Agym was originally founded by Eshimkanov, originally a journalist. In response to the rumors that Agym (Kyrgyz translation for ‘Current’ or ‘Trend’) was to change its slant, Saparbek declared, “This is not so and never will be! Agym will live!” The paper will maintain its widespread circulation, its opposition slant and apparently, even one of the paper’s main editors – Eshimkanov’s brother. The only change is relocation to a new office. He also noted that Eshimakanov has no plans to start a new paper.

Along with Kyrgyz Ruhu, another opposition paper, printruns of Agym were forcibly confiscated by armed government forces on the night of the government crackdown on opposition protests on April 19. Last week, Eshimkanov announced in Parliament that he was going to sell the newspaper because he felt he was getting in the way of the newspaper. A slight change of Agym’s ownership with Eshimkanov’s apparent continuing involvement is hardly likely ease pressure on the opposition paper, or on journalist harrassment.

Meanwhile:
Eshimkanov is holding out on deciding whether or not to accept an offer to be the ambassador to Switzerland, but judging from the title of this Akipress report, he’s leaning towards joining taking Bakiyev’s offer. Just as these comments on Akipress(“Down with the traitor”), Kyrgyz blogger Azamat doubts his general credibility, given his dealings with Akayev in the past. If he does sell-out, IWPR’s recent reference to the Kyrgyz opposition’s ‘implosion’ may be more apt than it sounded at first.

Photo caption : Published two days before the government crackdown, Agym’s cover article depicted the Kyrgyz government as a seven headed dinosaur mowing down the Kyrgyz public. Prime Minister Atambayev is second head on the left, Bakiyev fourth on the left.

In an open Kabar interview, online readers posted questions for Nurlana Akhmetova, the Dean of Journalism at Kyrgyz National University. She shared some dismal commentary translated the best I can below. In the ongoing information war, “lies and slander” in print and on the air all come to naught:

All of this doesn’t bring credibility to not one of the warring parties in the eyes of the people and is the result of the indiscriminate use techniques and methods of political struggle. As a result, society is in disappointment and dismay. There has been [both] an inflation and devaluation of ideas, attitudes, public utterances – all increasingly distancing itself from reality.