UZBEKISTAN: Regimes in former Soviet republics have veered towards crony capitalism, writes Chris Stephen
The immediate cause of the riots in Uzbekistan is the coming trial of 23 men accused of terrorist offences, but the riots come amid bubbling tensions both here and across central Asia.
Uzbekistan's government hit the headlines two years ago when Britain's ambassador Craig Murray went public with claims the regime was holding 7,000 political prisoners and that some had been boiled alive.
Last March the country prevented the visit of the British Foreign Office minister Bill Rammell, citing Murray's criticism. But Uzbekistan's role as a base for US forces engaged in the war on terror meant the criticism from the White House was muted, and London later recalled its ambassador.
The regime has been run as a virtual dictatorship by Islam Karimov, president since the country gained independence with the demise of the Soviet Union in 1991. Last year fundamentalists were blamed for bomb blasts in the capital Tashkent, and unrest has continued across the region.
The other four former Soviet republics of central Asia have experienced similar unrest. All have seen their early promise of democracy quickly swamped by authoritarian governments.
In place of genuine democracy the regimes have tended towards crony capitalism: a small minority growing rich with the majority trapped in poverty.
In March Kyrgyzstan became the first to break ranks, with a popular uprising following a rigged election that saw president Askar Akayev flee to Moscow and his government fall.
The surprise for opponents across the region was the speed at which Akayev's regime crumbled. He had assembled police and army units to guard against such uprisings, but when protests broke out many among the security forces simply changed sides.
These riots have had a knock-on effect across the region. There have been demonstrations in the largest republic, Kazakhstan, whose leader Nursultan Naszarbayev is, like Karimov, a former communist regional leader.
These upheavals were encouraged by the sight of the so-called Orange Revolution which saw pro-democracy protesters triumph in another former Soviet republic, Ukraine.
Kyrgyzstan's centre of resistance last March was Osht, just across the border from the present rioting, and it is likely there was co-operation between radicals in both countries.
Less affected is another neighbour, Tajikistan. As with the other republics, the leader Emomali Rahmonov, president since 1994, is accused by opponents and human rights groups of oppression and of cronyism.
But Tajikistan's opponents were left shattered by a five-year civil war that ended in 1997.
Most secure of all is probably Turkmenistan's Saparmyrat Niyazoc, an ex-Communist Party boss elected president in 1991.
He has crushed opposition in part with cash, spreading the profits of his oil and gas fields. In 1999 he appointed himself president for life, renaming himself Turkmenbashi, or Father of the Turkmens.
The US has an increasing presence in the region, using it as a staging post for operations in Afghanistan to the south. The paradox for Washington is that encouragement of the opposition may see Islamic radicals sympathetic to al-Qaeda grab power.