Kyrgyzstan erupts in protests.
This news is pretty alarming:
An opposition member in Kyrgyzstan says a mob of angry protesters beat up the Central Asian nation's interior minister, who died shortly afterward.
The AP reports that protests are underway against the authoritarian rule of the country's President, Kurmanbek Bakiyev. Opposition leaders have reportedly been arrested and protesters have been killed. Kyrgyzstan is home to a U.S. military base currently supporting U.S. operations in Afghanistan. Eurasianet has more.
It's not clear what impact if any the protests will have on the U.S. position in the country. (Russia has a military base inside the country as well and they're reportedly standing pat and calling for calm on all sides.) Nor have any democracy promoters blasted the Obama administration for failing to support the Krygyz opposition in their struggle against tyranny. But it's early still.
