Gas to Kyrgyz Capital Cut off Over Debt The Associated Press

MOSCOW (AP) - Nearly all homes in Kyrgyzstan's capital and surrounding areas were without gas Saturday because of the Central Asian nation's debts to gas suppliers, a news report said. Neighboring Uzbekistan slashed gas supplies to Kyrgyzstan over $400,000 in debts, the ITAR-Tass news agency reported, citing Kyrgyz officials.

The cutoff has crippled electrical power stations, as consumers switch to electric heaters, the report said. Other residents of the capital of Bishkek and nearby cities have been building bonfires to keep warm in weather that hit 16 degrees on Saturday.

-- Puddintame (achillesg@hotmail.com), January 15, 2000

Answers

How terrible. Feel bad for families with small children:(

-- Hokie (Hokie_@hotmail.com), January 15, 2000.

Gawd Hokie - Another, "What about the children?!! comments.

As if nobody else matters.

-- Guy Daley (guydaley@bwn.net), January 15, 2000.

"Bishkek, capital city of Kyrgyzstan. The population is 625,000 (1990 estimate). Bishkek is a transportation and industrial center. Manufactures include farm machinery, processed food, textiles, and construction materials. Russians gained control of the site in 1862 and named it Pishpek. In 1926 the city was renamed Frunze. Its name was changed to Bishkek in early 1991, before the country's declaration of independence." Copyright Microsoft

-- Puddintame (achillesg@hotmail.com), January 15, 2000.

I thank The Almighty God that someone in this country cares about children.

Thank you Hokie. If there were more people like you, the world would be a much better place.

-- Cin (Cinlooo@aol.com), January 15, 2000.

Does this story seem strange to anyone else? If a measley $400K in debt were the real problem, wouldn't people in an area of a population approaching one million pony up their 50 cents before they started building bonfires? If it were $40 million in debt, the story would make more sense. Of course maybe this is just a one night outage.

-- Puddintame (achillesg@hotmail.com), January 15, 2000.

Someone better tell Herr Klinton about this so he can send in planes to bomb Uzbekistan until they turn the gas back on.

I mean, isn't that how it's done these days?

-TECH32-

-- TECH32 (TECH32@NOMAIL.COM), January 15, 2000.

With the current crop of clowns in charge they probably will think to use force before any concept of real diplomatic activity enters their head.

WW

-- Wildweasel (vtmldm@epix.net), January 16, 2000.