One Down, Four to Go?

Published March 30, 2005

Askar Akayev was the nicest of the Central Asian strongmen. Dissidents did not get immersed in boiling water in Kyrgyzstan; statues of Mr. Akayev and his family did not litter Bishkek and the country's other cities; he hadn't been the local Communist Party leader in Soviet times, as most other Central Asian leaders were. During the '90s, Mr. Akayev was even seen as a man with a commitment to democracy and civil rights....