Whoever is in charge will get the money, if they are willing to take it. It would be an exaggeration to either call this a particularly terrible tragedy or to say that it is more than a small side note in domestic US politics (as of yet at least). Germany admits its crimes, Russia and Eastern European countries deny theirs, and the US mostly just ostracizes its crimes when it is easy to do so or when they are ongoing. Medvedev, incidentally, tried to bribe Kyrgyzstan into ousting the US with $2 billion, so a holier than thou routine may be disingenuous in this situation. We could have an interesting discussion about how seemingly inherently dysfunctional countries of critical international importance, like Saudi Arabia and other present and former Middle East dictatorships, should be handled (we can't afford to ignore them, and the only other options are to work through existing governments or else go to war), but Kyrgyzstan isn't likewise important, and I doubt more than a few people in the US ever put much thought into the ethics involved in paying for the airbase. Ignorance is no excuse, what should the US do now? We should pay back whatever rent money we gave that wasn't spent on the people of Kyrgyzstan, and we should pay restitution to the whichever families had members who were killed in the violence. That would be the ethical thing to do, and it would also be good politics.

With over 770 military bases worldwide (that they tell us about), the US has repeatedly proven to be unruly, meddling and hypocritical guests. In Canada alone they left behind a disgusting toxic wasteland for us to deal with after the closure of the Distant Early Warning outposts. I will spare you the examples from around the world. I hope that Kyrgyzstan (and Japan) do have the balls to throw them out and focus on their own sovereignty and stability. Perhaps if this trend can gain some momentum then the Yanks will start to reconsider their foreign policy. Besides, the US dollar is heading for the shitter so take the $60 million hit- it's nothing to them anyway. Your self respect is worth it! Until the US can show a correction in their domestic policy and some respect for the citizens (ie civil liberties, fiscal responsibility), then don't expect any better treatment in your respective countries. They have a history of lying to the public and executing 'false-flag' stunts (Bay of Ton kin, Bay of Pigs(Cuba), 9-11, Iraq) to trigger military reactions. So I ask- 'How bad do you really want these guys living in your backyard with un-godly amounts of weapons??'. TRUST ME- living just north of them can be a little un-settling much of the time. Call it- Capitalism, Corruption or Corporate Fascism I wonder- Over 60 years after WW11, I wonder if anybody has learned ANYTHING! > peace

The U.S spreads chaos wherever it goes: just look at Latin America and the wreckage the U.S had left behind; take a look in the ME. The Horn of Africa and elsewhere. What is most disquieting is the U.S lack of self-reflexivity; the U.S utter lack to learn from its past mistakes in international relations. The U.S is a sinking ship and the more and more nations, big and small, can see that and can now say no U.S bases. I do agree with peace that the toxic nature of the U.S domestic politics reflects the toxic nature of the U.S foreign policies and global militarism.

There is no space for both Russian and US boots on Kirghiz soil. One should leave.

Hillary Clinton came to South Africa looking for a military base and we showed her the door. Because we know that America wants bases to spy on people. Even Manas, it's used more for training Jundullah terrorists from Iran, and it's also used to stoke tensions with the ethnic groups in China's Xinjiang (spelling?) province. These are facts, and they are the real reasons why Kyrgyzstan must shut down Manas. Medvedev actually has to live next door to the Kyrgyz people, perhaps his loan was really a loan.

"waging peace" sounds like a hippy living in the wood too long to know any better. Sorry for your sentiment about the USA, but your comment about 9-11 is not only stupid, it is outright dangerous. Let me remind you that Russia also suffers from Muslim extremists and so does your fellow Canadians who are helping NATO fighting the Talibans in Afghanistan.