Feeding the Beast

I point you to this blog by a friend of mine, who spent a day at Manas Airbase in Kyrgyzstan.
The Kyrygz authorities have given the Americans 6 months to vacate. The US is now considering its options as Manas is the key logistical hub for operations in Afghanistan, and the only American base in Central Asia.
There are some who think there's still time for the US to bargain with the Kyrgyz over the lease, or at least try to work out an agreement with Russia. Most observers think the Russians are behind the decision. They don't want the Americans in their former backyard, although they back the transit of non-lethal goods through the region. It's a kind of payback for the proxy conflict America orchestrated against the Soviet Union during its own Afghan war in the 1980s.