By empty (1/28/2005 issue of the CACI Analyst)
The leader of ex-Soviet Uzbekistan on Friday bluntly told the West not to try to foment Ukraine-style revolution in his country and declared he had the \"necessary force\" to stamp out any upheaval. Referring to successive revolutions in two other ex-Soviet States, Georgia and Ukraine, that have brought pro-Western leaders to power, President Islam Karimov said: \"We will rein in those who move outside the framework of the law. We have the necessary force for that.
The leader of ex-Soviet Uzbekistan on Friday bluntly told the West not to try to foment Ukraine-style revolution in his country and declared he had the \"necessary force\" to stamp out any upheaval. Referring to successive revolutions in two other ex-Soviet States, Georgia and Ukraine, that have brought pro-Western leaders to power, President Islam Karimov said: \"We will rein in those who move outside the framework of the law. We have the necessary force for that.\" Looking directly to Western ambassadors who were listening to his speech in parliament, Karimov added: \"I don\'t want to delve too deeply into this matter. But those sitting up there in the balcony ought to understand that better.\" The tough comment by Karimov was the latest sign from the five Central Asian republics, all of which operate one-man-rule political systems, that the authorities feared there could be attempts at protests to topple their rulers. Earlier on Friday Askar Akayev, president of Kyrgyzstan that borders Uzbekistan, was quoted as saying he also feared such a move by the opposition and warned, in a Russian newspaper, that this could lead to civil war. Karimov said there were clear attempts in Kyrgyzstan to stage \"a flower revolution\" there. \"Maybe, we will manage to get away without yellow flowers in Kyrgyzstan,\" he said. Yellow has been adopted as the color of the Kyrgyz opposition. (Reuters)