RENT INCREASE

STORY FROM CNN

BISHKEK, Kyrgyzstan – Kyrgyzstan is still in talks with the United States over a key U.S. air base that the Kyrgyz president wants closed, the country's prime minister said Thursday.

Lawmakers earlier decided to delay until next week a vote on a plan to close the Manas air base, which is an important element in the U.S. and NATO military campaign in Afghanistan.

The delay appeared to give the United States additional time to persuade Kyrgyzstan to back off from the closure decision announced Tuesday by President Kurmanbek Bakiyev. Kyrgyz officials previously had said the closure decision was irreversible.

Prime Minister Igor Chudinov did not give details, but said "We are in the process of negotiations with the Americans."

Bakiyev announced this week his country had decided to close the base, shortly after securing billions of dollars in loans and aid from Russia. Moscow resents the American presence in a country that it regards as part of its traditional sphere of influence.

Kyrgyzstan has repeatedly complained the United States is paying too little to lease the base. But Chudinov ruled out suggestions that the closure decision was connected to Russia's $2 billion assistance package.

"Talks on Russian aid have been going on for two years, and they were in no way related to the issue of the removal of the air base from Kyrgyzstan," Chudinov said.

Chudinov also said that his government has repeatedly raised the issue of the amount of rent paid for the air base. The sums being offered for the base were not economically realistic, he said.

In a visit to the base last month, Gen. David Petraeus, commander of U.S. operations in Afghanistan and Iraq, said the U.S. currently pumps $150 million annually into Kyrgyzstan's economy, including $63 million in rent for Manas.

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SO...WHEN YOUR RENT IS BEING RAISED FROM $63 MILLION TO...LET'S JUST SAY $200 MILLION...THEN MAYBE IT'S TIME TO FIND A NEW LOCATION.

I REALIZE THE PROBLEMS INVOLVED WITH MOVING AN AIR BASE...BUT WOW...IT WOULD SEEM THAT ONE OF THE OTHER COUNTRIES IN VICINITY WOULD BE HAPPY TO COLLECT THAT AMOUNT OF RENT.

LOOK AT THE MAP

DO WE HAVE FRIENDS AND ALLIES OR DO WE NOT?

KEEP IN MIND THAT OUR MAIN OBJECTIVE IN THIS ISSUE IS ACCESS TO AFGHANISTAN

LOOK AT THE MAP AGAIN!

I UNDERSTAND THAT INDIA WOULD BE HARD BECAUSE OF TRAVELING THROUGH PAKISTANI AIR SPACE....

BUT THAT BRINGS ME TO MY REAL POINT

IS PAKISTAN OUR FRIEND....OR NOT?

SEEMS LIKE IT WOULD BE TIME TO EXPAND THAT FRIENDSHIP...IF THERE IS A FRIENDSHIP....AND SO WHAT IF THAT INCREASE IN FRIENDSHIP PISSES OFF INDIA.

WE'VE MADE SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE A HOUSEHOLD PHRASE AND MORE PEOPLE ARE TALKING ABOUT INDIA IN AMERICA THAN SINCE GANDHI DID THE EARLY FOREST GUMP WALKING DEALIO ACROSS THE COUNTRY.

IF THE UNITED STATES WANTS TO SETTLE TALIBAN ISSUES IN AFGHANISTAN THEN IT WOULD APPEAR THAT SUCCESS WILL ONLY BE ACHIEVED BY INCREASING PRESENCE IN PAKISTAN

I'M NOT A BRAIN SURGEON.....which you've already figured out...BUT THIS SEEMS LIKE A RATHER SIMPLE EQUATION.

RUSSIAN HAS ALREADY PROVED THAT FULL OUT INTRUSION DOES NOT WORK....

IN FACT.... IT MIGHT BE WHAT ACTUALLY BROKE UP THE SOVIET UNION EVEN THOUGH YOU STILL BELIEVE IT WAS RONALD REAGAN.

IF BARACK OBAMA PLANS ON TRYING TO WIN THE WAR ON TERROR IN AFGHANISTAN AND DEFEAT THE TALIBAN...THEN IT CAN ONLY HAPPEN WITH TOTAL COOPERATION FROM PAKISTAN.

IF THAT'S NOT ON THE AGENDA....then we learned nothing from the last 50 years.

RUSSIA IS PROBABLY LAUGHING THEIR ASSES OFF AND HOPING THAT WE SPEND ALL OF OUR MONEY TRYING TO DEFEAT RELIGIOUS ZEALOTS IN MOUNTAINS THAT MAKE THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS LOOK LIKE MT. CALVARY....which in reality is actually a little hill.

AND MOST LIKELY THEY HAVE SOMETHING TO DO WITH THE RENT INCREASE AT THE BASE IN KYRGYZSTAN

which by the way....isn't that the country where Doonesbury has Duke doing his lobby thing?

THE TRUTH IS.....PAKISTAN MIGHT NOT BE OUR FRIEND....SO THAT LEAVES INDIA AND TAJIKISTAN HAS OUR LOCATION LOCATION LOCATION SITES....

CUZ THE OTHER SIDE OF AFGHANISTAN IS NEVER GOING TO HELP US....UNLESS THE SHAH OF IRAN'S DAUGHTER CAN OVERTHROW THE AYATOLLAH...and that will probably happen when a monkey flies out of my ass.

President Obama should just resign and let JOE deal with all this crap.

Could you imagine that morning news as JOE was having his first cup of joe and reading the Washington Post.

One day you have the best and softest job in the world....and VP of the United States ranks right near the top....and the next day you inherit all this bulls..t.

Oh well...Barack asked for it....and now he's got it....and he better start with having a few beers with Pakistan....oh yeah I forgot....they don't drink. But they do do heroin so there's always that angle.

Maybe that horrible drug addict Michael Phelps can get involved.

HONESTLY...the press is treating this guy like he got drunk and drove through a grammar school at lunch.

A BONG HIT!

Relax!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

A LITTLE POT SMOKING.....

....and by the way if he was high during the Olympics then all of America should be required to smoke pot every morning before going to work.

OH YEAH....I forgot there's no more jobs.

But the press really seems to enjoy when a SPORTS HERO can be dethroned....and I'm sure it has something to do with personal inadequacies within their own physical makeup.

LET'S ALL JUST SETTLE DOWN AND START WRITING E-MAILS TO PAKISTAN ASKING FOR COOPERATION IN DEALING WITH THE TALIBAN PROBLEM....

Oh you say that the Taliban actually operates out of the mountains in Pakistan?

WELL....THAT LOOKS LIKE A DEAL BREAKER ON THE FRIENDSHIP CHART.

so.....here's our other option.....

DEAR SLUMDOGS,

WE NEED TO TRAVEL THROUGH YOUR COUNTRY AND STEP OVER PAKISTAN...DO YOU HAVE A PROBLEM WITH THAT? I THOUGHT NOT.

BEST REGARDS

BARACK, HILLARY and JOE.

PS. we will be sending Michael Phelps over to train anyone who wants to learn to swim. Do you guys have any pools? Oh yeah...you do have those rivers. Could you clean them up a little bit.....Michael's a stoner not a slob.

Michael Timothy McAlevey