Only 40 Tribes and one Gold Mine: No Wealth for a Democracy

Kyrgyzstan has been very much in the news lately. The Bush democracy machine has been eagerly passing out prepackaged news about the popular uprising in the Central Asian country. It was marketed as another example of democracy flowering because of the nurturing of America's democratic gardener George W. Bush. The U S has been pouring millions into this country so that democratic institutions could supplant the semiauthoritarian state government -which was elected. The fertilizer for democracy was millions of dollars passed out to activists by U S organizations like the National Endowment For Democracy. This organization has the democratic template that all" successful societies" must adopt according to the Bush Doctrine. But the fertilizer of money had a shallow penetration. The roots of the uprising could not penetrate into the soul of the Kyrgystan's people. After two weeks, the net result seems to indicate that the former leaders have been merely replaced by new leaders who have similar policies. The word "Kyrgyz" means forty clans. The new government reflects a new combination of those original clans. Also, and probably more importantly for a future democratic state, there still is only one gold mine that is the principle source of wealth.

Democracy needs wealth for it to take root. If there is no wealth then there is no wealth to pass around as per the voters of special interests that comprise all democracies.

As America is finding out in Afghanistan and Iraq the tribes are the basis of their cultures also. The West enjoys democracy because of its wealth. The East has gone through its wealth thousands of years ago.The Fertile Crescent has become largely a desert. So people do what they can with the soil that is left. And by extension their culture , religion and government reflect the realities of their soil. Soil is the basis of all wealth.

And this is the main difference between East and West.