Postcard from Bishkek

On March 3rd, 1847, a boy was born in Edinburgh, Scotland, who was later to be called “one of the most influential figures in Human history.” The boy was called Alexander Bell.

Throughout his life he was known to his relatives as simply as Aleck, but ,at the age of 10, pleaded with his father to be given a middle name just like his two brothers, (and his father, Alexander Melville Bell), and so he was allowed to adopt Graham in honour of a family friend.

His first venture into “inventing” came a couple of years later when he made a simple device for removing the husks from wheat for a flour mill which was owned by his best friend’s father. Of course, he is better known for another invention: the telephone. As is usual in science and technology, Bell wasn’t working in vacuum; other people had been working on the idea of creating an apparatus for transmitting vocal or other sounds telegraphically, (a “speaking telegraph”), for some time and there was already the credit for the invention is sometimes hotly disputed with several potential claimants for the distinction. It is usually agreed, however, that it was Bell that made the first practical device – however, there some controversy even over that.

Speaking Tubes and the Tin can telephone had been around for some time but the invention of the electric telegraph was to provide an important stimulus to people like Innocenzo Manzetti,Antonio Meucci, Charles Bourseul, Johann Philipp Reis, Elisha Gray and Alexander Graham Bell. There had been several devices which could transmit sounds, but nothing as clear as a intelligible “articulate speech” … not until 10th March, 1876, that is, when Bell uttered those historical words, “Mr. Watson, come here! I want to see you!”, and Mr. Watson, listening in an adjoining room, distinctly heard the words, loud and clear.

Shortly afterwards, Bell and his partners apparently offered the patent to Western Union for USD100,000, but they baulked at the price, saying that the telephone was just a toy(!). It didn’t take them long to realize their mistake. Two years later, according to one source, they would have been happy to pay twenty five million, but Bell and the others were no longer interested in selling.

Well, we all make mistakes, but I suspect that few proved to be so expensive and such a missed opportunity. That must be a bit of a record, but it made me wonder what other expensive mistakes people have made that have led people to regret a decision they have made.

I suspect, for example, that Kurmanbek Bakiev may well be regretting several of his decisions: to raise tariffs for electricity and heating; to impose surcharges on mobile telephone calls; to say he was going to close the US Ganci air base and then backtrack, transforming it into the Manas Transit Center, (thus antagonizing his Russian allies), to name just a few.

Actually, the situation over the airbase is proving to be quite interesting. President Atambaev is adamant that it will go in 2014 when the Americans pull out of Afghanistan … and it will no longer have a purpose. He has now said that the Russian military base in Kant may also go. He pointed out that they don’t even pay rent, adding, “Do we need this base?” It seems that his Russian counterpart was “in shock” when he was told and gave a command to pay up within 10 days. He also seems to have said that he doesn’t exclude the possibility of the withdrawal of all foreign military bases from Kyrgyzstan – and as there are only two, (the Americans at Manas and the Russians in Kant – they have a number of other small military objects in the country as well), that would include the Russians. The opposition has already begun pointing out that they consider that the Russians always have been, are and always will key allies of Kyrgyzstan – and the base should be kept. Meanwhile, Atambaev has been explaining his stance in the local media. Well, we’ll have to wait and see what happens and let’s hope and trust that this doesn’t turn out to be an expensive mistake. One interesting sideline on this is that, now, other Central Asian states are looking to increase their rental income from hosting Russian military bases.

Whilst he was in Moscow, meeting with Dmitry Medvedev and Vladimir Putin, he also said that Kyrgyzstan is ready to enter the Customs Union – even though there is still concern and opposition over the move. Well, the officials are now considering Kyrgyzstan’s application – and we’ll have to see what conditions they impose and hope and trust that this doesn’t turn out to be an expensive mistake.

If Atambaev is asking if we need the Russian base in Kant, one brave journalist asked if his Russia was necessary – well, they asked why the countries didn’t use the occasion to sign any agreements. In answer, the president pointed out that over the past fifteen years there have been hundreds of agreements signed, “but most of them are not implemented …”; hmmmm …. am I mistaken or do I detect a little hint of criticism there?

The journalist went on to ask some pointed questions about various investments, (the Dastan Torpedo plant, KyrgyzGaz, the Kambarata hydro electric power station and Megacom), and I am not sure if the Russians would like the answers they got.

A visiting Nobel Prizewinning Economist has said that Kyrgyzstan is a very risky investment environment. I am not sure that surprised many people. He seems to have been worried about the level of trade, (which he thinks will fall for less developed countries like Kyrgyzstan), and the impact of the global financial crisis, (which, although it has had a limited impact on less developed economies so far, he thinks might start to have an impact). He seeme3d p[articularly troubled by banks charging interest at rates like 20%; if there are investment projects with a rate of return higher than 20%, he said, that is good. The implication being that most projects don’t have that sort of return.

Back to the Moscow interview – When it came to the question of Aid, Atambaev basically said that Kyrgyzstan is no longer a country that “needs to beg for money”. That may be so, (if you put the emphasis on the word “beg”), but it is hard to see how the country will survive if the aid tap is turned off. There is a lot of criticism in the press at the moment about the effectiveness and cost of aid projects.

Someone, however, needs aid … the finance Minister said that there are 123,000 families that are currently living below the poverty line and 66% of the population live in housing which is “seismic unresistant” – i.e. will not survive a severe earthquake. There has been a lot of attention paid to the possibility of a severe earthquake in the near future.

In another interview, on his return to Bishkek, Atamabev was asked about the China-Kyrgyzstan-Uzbekistan railway and said that he won’t consider exchanging natural resources for investments. That’s not quite in line with several suggestions that have been aired in the past.

The question of relationships with the Chinese is quite a complex one. Several people have said, for example, that we need to be careful and shouldn’t introduce a visa free regime because we an influx of Chinese immigrants, (even though China’s not on the proposed list of countries to benefit from the measure), and this was heightened by the revelation from the Ministry of the interior that there are over 90,000 Chinese citizens living in Kyrgyzstan illegally.

Atambaev also faced questions on corruption. Its been reported that the number of investigations into cases of corruption has increased significantly over previous years. There seems to be a real effort to try and deal with the issue. The Prime Minister, Babanov, cited this as the reason for his decision to sack all the customs officials, border guards and police at the two international airports, (Bishkek and Osh – they seem to have forgotten Tamchi and Karakol).

It wasn’t addressed in the Moscow interview, but some of Atambaev’s comments at the unveiling of a new statue in Moscow of the legendary Kyrgyz hero, Manas, may also have served to raise a few hackles. He seems to have said that Manas was an ethnic Russian … because he, (and the Kyrgyz), hailed from the Yenesei region in Siberia, adding that Kyrgyzstan shared a common history and had “a common future”. One activist here in Bishkek commented that the peoples of Kyrgyzstan and Russia have common roots, “but their historical paths are different”.

It is said that he also refused to meet with Salizhan Shapirov, Kyrgyzstan’s only cosmonaut who has spent a total of almost seven months in space, whom he seems to think was involved in some way last June’s violence in Southern Kyrgyzstan. Although Shapirov was born in Kyrgyzstan, (in Uzgen), where his parents still live, he is an ethnic Uzbek, (and so also claimed by Uzbekistan), and has a Russian passport, (and sois also claimed by Russia).

As David Trilling said on the Eurasia website, it might well be that Atambaev brought back more scandals than support, (especially in terms of cash), from his visit to Moscow … but then again, as he said, the whole point of the trip wasn’t to sign agreements which wouldn’t be implemented.

It hasn’t stopped there. Atambaev is also saying that money from the special services of our neighbouring states has been dispersed in order to “stir up” the situation here in Kyrgyzstan. If they have money to spare and want to spend it in Kyrgyzstan, he said, then we would be happy to accept it as grants or loans. I presume he is right to consider that this doesn’t count as “begging for money”.

Back in Kyrgyzstan, he has also said the Russian Orthodox Church is of great importance to the Kyrgyz Republic, promising to support the church in Kyrgyzstan In a separate move, the Parliament has enacted amendments to the law on the freedom of belief and religious organizations in Kyrgyzstan that oblige any religious organization to assist in the fight against religious extremism, separatism, fundamentalism and in the interpretation of the contents of publications, (print, video, audio, etc.). I have to look at the wording to see the actual definition they have used, but I am not sure why “fundamentalism” is in there. It seems to me that this measure would face quite a few stumbling blocks in places like America and Europe if it was attempted to adopt it there. In return, (although I am not sure that the two are actually connected – the timing may simply be coincidental), they seem to have passed an amendment to the tax code which would exempt religious organizations from tax – well, some taxes, anyway. Meanwhile, in another move, the Orthodox Church and the Muftiyat have decided to join forces in the fight against “destructive” sects, (whatever that means), which they say lead to social destabilization.

 

I am a bit late with the postcard this week, (and it is also a bit shorter than usual), because I spent most of Friday, (when I would normally have written it), in a seminar with the staff of the new Department of Tourism in the Ministry of Culturte and Tourism. Then, I spent most of the morning in the dentists … not for me. Maxim walked in this morning complaining of a bad toothache which had kept him awake most of the night. His cheek was swollen and it seemed to me a classic case of an abscess, so I frog marched him off to the local stomotolog, (dentist). He is now walked in a stunned state waiting for the anesthetic to wear off, minus one tooth and an appointment for Wednesday to get some other problems sorted out.

It’s odd how doctors and dentists always seem to be able to find additional problems that need attention whenever we present them with one ailment. On this occasion however, I have sympathy with the dentist. Six months ago Maxim was complaining about tooth ache and I said that he should go to see a dentist. Apparently he went, but when they told him that the work would cost 8000 som, (just under two hundred dollars), and he balked at the price so never had the work done. Now, it’s going to cost more than twice that … another example of an expensive missed opportunity.

 

Postcard from Bishkek: the weekly postcard that I send out as an email also gets posted on the website ianbek.kg each week – and there are other postcards which don’t get sent out.  This week, for example, there were postcards about:

• Is That Wacker Or Vakker? – about my search for information about Kyrgyzstan’s champion cyclist
• A Bet On Kochkor - following my trip to Naryn last weekend, a note about the fact that you rarely ever see snow in Kochkor
• Dord –  about typographical errors …
• Tomris – Amazon Queen - Feburary 29th is supposed to be a special for ladies – traditionally it is when they can propose  to their beau.  Nobody proposed to me this year, but it seemed a good day to write about one particular Queen for whom the tradition wouldn’t have been necessary     
• Peace Corps – commemorating the anniversary of President Kennedy signing the order to establish the Peace Corps, which is active here in Kyrgyzstan
• An ABC Of Kyrgyzstan – which is basically what it says … an ABC about Kyrgyzstan – A is for … and so on

 

It is now possible to follow me on Facebook, (where I have specific pages for Celestial Mountains and ianbek … and also links.kg and Kyrgyz Diary), and on twitter, (@Bishkekpostcard and @celestialMTC ).

 

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