Hundreds may already be dead and thousands fleeing as ethnic Kyrgyz attack ethnic Uzbeks in scenes reminiscent of the former Yugoslavia in the 1990s. Or perhaps the better analogy is Rwanda, where nearly a million died while the world dithered in collective apathy.
A lack of pre-existing ideological scripts to put in play has led to a reaction that is muted at best. Even while nine deaths on a ship trying to break the Gaza blockade has led to global outrage and raging debate, this thousand-fold greater assault has received little attention.
Another problem is a lack of general knowledge about the region and its conflicts. While the former Soviet republic does host a key U.S. military logistics base, the base is far removed from the violence. And the remote location and repressive Kyrgyz government make the region relatively inaccessible to western media outlets. There is, however, no evidence that any of those western media outlets are putting forth much effort.
It is also unclear what, if anything, could be done even if attention were given. But as long as the world remains fixated solely on the staged kabuki dance of conflict in Gaza and the self-indulgent pseudo-controversies of domestic politics, we’ll probably never know, at least until it is far too late.