Kyrgyzstan: No Base For You!

Lawmakers in the nation of Kyrgyzstan voted 80-1 yesterday to rescind an agreement with the US and eleven other nations to allow coalition forces to deploy at the Manas air base. The air base provides a vital transport link for troops and supplies engaged in the Afghan campaign. The Kyrgyz parliament denied reports that the $17.4 million rent paid by the coalition wasn’t enough to fund the purchase of additional vowels for the tiny impoverished country's name, requiring repeated use of the letter “y”.

Additionally, a spokesperson for Kyrgyzstan’s President, Kurmanbek Bakiyev, said that the base closure announcement had nothing to do with a recent Russian pledge of $2.15 billion in aid and loans. Sure it didn’t.