Uzbekistan kicks US out of base - alternative views

This is what Smash writes on the matter; a somewhat idiosyncratic analysis, I'd say, but useful to read what an American with military experience has to say.

A rather more believable analysis of the background to this rather dramatic development (let's face it, it's not often you hear of the most important economic and military power on the planet being unceremoniously ejected by a tinpot dictator) is given by Craig Murray, former British ambassador to Uzbekistan, here.

Both Smash's article, and another post in Craig Murray's blog, link to the same Washington Post article - it's startling how different people can draw rather different conclusions from the same facts, although this is not really a criticism, so much as an observation; I doubt if many British commentators had particularly objective analyses of the developments in Egypt over Suez in 1956 after all, so I think one can forgive Smash on this one.