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...Although Manas is "very essential" to U.S. operations in Afghanistan, "we obviously have other options," Air Force General Duncan McNabb, chief of the U.S. Transportation Command, said last December. While most U.S. troops arrive in Afghanistan via Manas, only about 20% of their cargo does; roughly half travels overland through Pakistan, and the rest arrives from the north via rail and truck lines, largely through Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. If the U.S. were to lose Manas, U.S. officials would likely seek a replacement base in the vicinity and explore options in Azerbaijan, Georgia or Uzbekistan. But U.S. officials believe that Kyrgyzstan...
...Maxim Bakiyev was on his way to the U.S. for consultations.) The opposition had also accused the Bakiyev government of taking an increasingly anti-Russian stance on various issues. Russian-language websites were recently blocked or shut down in Kyrgyzstan, prompting the Russian embassy to officially express its concerns last month. Russian businessmen in the country had complained of discrimination. And most infuriating of all for the Russians, President Bakiyev did not follow through with a pledge to shut down the U.S. air base last year after the Americans nearly quadrupled their yearly rental payments. (See Kyrgyzstan's role...
...lately, one thing has been missing from the trial: Olmert himself. He left the country last month, a few days before the trial entered an accelerated schedule. He has been out of the country ever since. The trial judge did not ask him to post bail. (Are Olmert's troubles divine retribution...
Despite his legal problems, Olmert still has robust business activities and business connections. After leaving office last year, Olmert opened a business-consulting firm in Tel Aviv, which has so far made hundreds of thousands of dollars, and the former Israeli leader continues to frequent the lucrative lecture circuit in the U.S. An arrest or new indictment, if either occurs, would likely be more of a public embarrassment than a political bombshell...
When Olmert left office last June, he already had rock-bottom approval ratings, thanks to his botched handling of the Lebanon war in 2006 and his ever accumulating scandals. In a poll conducted by Haifa University and released last month, he won the title of "most corrupt Prime Minister" in Israeli history by a landslide, with 52% of the vote. "I don't see any chance of him coming back into politics," says Raviv Drucker, a top political commentator on one of Israel's main television channels. Whatever the outcome of his legal problems, Olmert has already come to symbolize...