Kyrgyzstan on NPR and Facebook

Click here and listen to a short segment from NPR's All Things Considered on the current situation in Kyrgyzstan. The referendum on Kyrgyzstan's new constitution went off without a hitch (unless you consider all the Uzbeks who couldn't/didn't participate). Below is a facebook conversation my friends and I had on this subject:

That house on Margaret Street...

Back in 2006, my mom bought a rather run-down house on Margaret Street here in Waycross. Her goal was to fix it up and sell it at a profit. Of course, we haven't exactly been efficient at working on the house, and in the interim, the housing market collapsed. Not that it was ever booming in Waycross, but... Anyhow, the video below is what the house looked like back in October 2007. When you're done watching the video, click here to see how it looks now. (And no, we're still not finished.)

Macon - Massee - Pitts

We said goodbye to Twitter on Wednesday - Mom and I got up bright and early to take Twitter to Macon, GA to meet her new foster mom! She is now in a foster home just outside of Atlanta with a bunch of other little dogs like her, and hopefully she will soon be adopted :-)

After leaving Macon, we drove to Massee Lane Gardens, located approximately 20 miles west of Warner Robbins. After touring the gardens, we took the scenic route (ie, not I-75) home to Waycross. We drove through numerous small Georgia towns... and found one that we thought was particularly photogenic: Pitts, GA. This place is the Pitts jokes would never get old there. To see the photos from Massee Lane Gardens and Pitts, GA, simply click on the pictures below. Enjoy!

Referendum Sunday in Kyrgyzstan

While I think it's great that Kyrgyzstan is having a referendum to determine whether or not the new government and new constitution are legitimate... having said referendum while unrest continues in the south, while tens of thousands of Uzbek citizens of Kyrgyzstan are still in refugee camps across the border in Uzbekistan, and while the remaining Uzbeks in the south fear to leave their homes doesn't really do much to scream "legitimacy!" - but the referendum is, nonetheless, scheduled for tomorrow. Read more:

Kyrgyzstan prepares for referendum despite warnings
Kyrgyzstan Prepares For Referendum Amid Ongoing Instability
Kyrgyzstan readies for referendum

Also, you might find this interesting: The pogroms of southern Kyrgyzstan

Osh: before the (most recent) violence

I didn't have the opportunity to spend as much time as I would've liked in Osh, although I did enjoy my time there back in 2008 (which you can read about by clicking here). If you click on the photograph below, it will take you to my set of photos from my short time in Osh. I look at the photographs and wonder about the people in them. Are they alive? Injured? In refugee camps just across the Uzbek border?

To see the photos, click the picture above or click here.

This just makes me cry.

This week in Kyrgyzstan...

I haven't followed the events in Southern Kyrgyzstan at all since last Monday, as I have been very, very sick. Was in the ER on Tuesday and at my doctor's office on Friday, and still don't feel so hot. Some kind of less than pleasant viral infection. Blech.

I'm just now sitting down at my laptop in an attempt to figure out what's happened since I last read the news. It seems that the rioting has stopped. Some ethnic Uzbeks are returning to what remains of their former lives - while many ethnic Uzbeks refuse to leave Uzbekistan or the Uzbek/Kyrgyz border.

Allegations continue to spread that former President Bakiyev and his son, Maksim, were responsible for instigating the violence in Southern Kyrgyzstan - including a telephone call in which Maksim allegedly instructs someone to round up 500 Kyrgyz men willing to commit atrocities. Additionally, Maksim has fled to the UK and is seeking assylum. Boooo.

Kyrgyz violence – allegations of genocide
Cases of cash paid for Kyrgyz unrest
Desperately needed humanitarian aid comes in Kyrgyzstan
Kyrgyzstan: Stalin's deadly legacy
Son of former Kyrgyz president seeks asylum in the UK
Kyrgyzstan bloodshed: Princeling Maxim Bakiyev and the alleged phone conversation
Uzbeks return amid Kyrgyzstan fears
Barriers Removed in Kyrgyzstan Despite Uzbek Protests
Foreign Policy: Why Kyrgyzstan Matters
Uzbek slaughter in Kyrgyzstan 'organised by outsiders'
Why Isn't Russia Intervening in Kyrgyzstan?
Victims recount horrors of ethnic violence in Kyrgyzstan
Saving Central Asia

Good coverage and analysis on the Kyrgyzstan situation from RT

This morning's Kyrgyzstan links

Things are looking pretty terrible for the ethnic Uzbeks in the south of Kyrgyzstan right about now. There are reports of Kyrgyz military turning a blind eye to attacks against Uzbeks... and even more distressing: reports of the Kyrgyz military joining in. Here are some recent links:

Refugee Crisis Looms as Uzbeks Flee Kyrgyzstan
Ethnic Violence in Kyrgyzstan Kills Hundreds
Uzbek refugees say Kyrgyzstan forces aided ethnic attacks

75,000 Ethnic Uzbeks flee Kyrgyzstan

Emergency declared in 2nd Kyrgyz town, as crowd raids local military base
Russia, Uzbekistan and Osh
Kyrgyzstan violence: British and US governments prepare evacuation of citizens
In pictures: Violence in Kyrgyzstan
Kyrgyzstan to Send Troops, Volunteers to South in Effort to Quell Violence

Megistan - blog of an American woman in Bishkek

More Kyrgyzstan Links

I call it a massacre! is a distressing English language post by Kyrgyz blogger Tolkun Umaraliev, analyzing the Kyrgyz/Uzbek ethnic violence in the south of Kyrgyzstan over the past few days. Includes numerous photos and links to quite a few distressing YouTube videos.

Tons of photos of the scene at the Kyrgyz/Uzbek border taken by Dalton Bennett can be seen here. Also, I am very jealous of Dalton Bennet.

Even more photos by newseurasia.net author "murzaki" can be seen here.

Kyrgyzstan asks for Russia to send troops...

That's a headline that certainly doesn't bode well for Kyrgyzstan's future, but that's how things stand over there these days. Interim President Roza Otunbayaeva has asked Russia to send in peacekeepers:

The situation is spinning out of control. We need foreign military help and we have asked Russia to send it. We must do our utmost to save people's lives. There are reports that armaments and weapons have fallen into the hands of raging gangs in Osh. The security forces in the capital Bishkek are on high alert following the events of yesterday, when mobs demanded guns and buses to go to the south. Roza Otunbayeva, from here.

I'm not sure whether it's fortunate or unfortunate, but thus far, Russia has declined to send in military assistance.

Meanwhile, thousands of ethnic Uzbeks (mostly women and children) seem to be making for Uzbekistan, while at the same time begging for help from Uzbek troops:

Another (and in my opinion, better) video can be seen here, I just can't embed it.

Ugh, Kyrgyzstan's at it again :-(

New Violence in Kyrgyzstan Leads to Troop Deployment
At Least 37 Dead As State Of Emergency Declared in Southern Kyrgyzstan
Kyrgyzstan imposes curfew after clashes kill 23
Fresh ethnic clashes hit Kyrgyz southern city of Osh
Dozens killed and injured after violent clashes in turbulent Kyrgyzstan

Harris Neck National Wildlife Refuge

Mom and I went to the Harris Neck National Wildlife Refuge on the Georgia coast yesterday. The place has quite an interesting history - first it was a Southern plantation, complete with slaves, then after the Civil War, it was subdivided and the land was sold to the former slaves. Later, during WWII, the US government decided that this was the perfect spot for a military base. The land was purchased from the descendents of the former slaves for much less than comparable land plots were purchased from white families. After the war, the land was turned into a National Wildlife Refuge. To this day, descendents of the former slaves struggle to get their land back. I have to admit, I see both sides. On the one hand, had that land been all but stolen from *my* ancestors, I would totally want it back. On the other hand, this place was literally crawling with wildlife. Click here or on the image below to see my photos. To learn more about Harris Neck, click here, and to listen to a segment on Harris Neck from Georgia Public Broadcasting, click here.

Seriously, Waycross?

The City of Waycross is using my photos on its website without my permission. When I contacted their webmaster, the response I received was laughable. Read all about this absurdity by clicking here. Sigh.

UPDATE: They've removed my photos and replaced them with someone else's... and that someone else is also not receiving credit. Read more here.

UPDATE 2: I received this email this morning:

Good Morning Ms. Keeler, My name is Vance Roberts, IT director for the Southern Georgia Regional Commission. I read your E-Mail yesterday and agree with you -------- we should have obtained your permission for the photos. We downloaded from the web and were not aware of their copyright requirement. We apologize for using without permission. As of yesterday afternoon your photos have been replaced with our own photos. Hopefully this will take care of the problem! If you have any other questions, please let me know. Have a good day --------- Vance Roberts

Does it seem to anyone else that they just don't get it? Sigh.

Hmmmm....

This was out at the land this evening. Water Moccasin?

New post at BSG: Retrospective

My post about Season One, Episode Two
is online here!