CENTRAL ASIA: The effects of the uprising in Kyrgyzstan go far beyond the confines of this small mountain state, affecting nations across oil-rich central Asia, writes Chris Stephen
This region is already bubbling with discontent against authoritarian regimes, with many opposition forces wondering if they can "do a Kyrgyzstan". All these states are locked into similar histories: in 1991 they broke away from the Soviet Union and adopted democratic constitutions, but all have been accused of eroding civil liberties, corruption and cronyism.
Biggest and most crucial is Kazakhstan, larger than the four other Central Asian states put together and sitting on the map like a great bird, its wings spread around its southern neighbours.
The country pumps almost as much oil each day as Saudi Arabia, but the opposition says most of the money is kept by a minority of businessmen and high officials.
The opposition has finally mended its differences to form the umbrella group For a Fair Kazakhstan, but elections are not due until December next year. A rally held in the capital was addressed by one of the leaders of Ukraine's "Orange Revolution", but was later broken up by police.
Across the border, Uzbekistan has also seen protests, this time by farmers evicted when more than 1,000 homes were destroyed to create a "free-fire zone" on the Kazakh border. The protesters draped themselves in the orange flags of Ukraine and demanded the resignation of President Islam Karimov.
The president was stung by criticism from Britain's then ambassador Craig Murry in 2003 that up to 10,000 political prisoners were rotting in Uzbek jails. But Britain, keen not to lose what it sees as an ally in its war on terror, hastily recalled the ambassador and criticism died.
Meanwhile Tajikistan, on the Afghan border, has also seen opposition rallies after claims that its parliamentary elections, held on the same day as Kyrgyzstan's last month, were rigged by the authorities. The opposition claim is backed by international monitors, but President Imomali Rakhmonov has so far refused to consider a recount.
Only Turkmenistan seems safe from rebellion: its leader, Saparmurat Niyazov, has been in power since 1991 but though he runs a one-party state, the country's small population has shared in the oil wealth.
Niyazov is the region's most colourful leader, renaming himself Turkman-bashi - "Turkmen Father" - and building a giant gold-plated statue of himself in the capital, Ashgabat, which rotates so that it is always facing the sun. Opponents accuse him of autocracy bordering on megalomania, but the people are relatively comfortable and discontent is muffled.
The big question for the region is whether seeds from the democratic revolutions that swept despots from office in Georgia, Ukraine and Romania have now been blown eastwards.
Central Asia is thousands of miles from eastern Europe, but in one way it is similar - what drives all these revolutions is not poverty, but the arrival of a bit of prosperity.
After more than a decade in the doldrums, states in the former Soviet block are starting to taste progress. Small business, phone companies, transport forms and IT enterprises are starting work. The entrepreneurs who are setting them up and those working for them are forming the first middle-class these states have known.
This middle-class is finding its way upwards blocked by the ruling elites who keep power and prosperity to themselves through monopolies and red tape. Anger is growing and so is confidence - with many central Asians thinking that if the Ukrainians could do it, so can they.
The stakes are high. Already the competition for vast oil and gas wealth between US oil companies and Russia has been christened the "New Great Game", a revival of the war for influence waged by Britain and Russia in the 19th century.
The West and Russia are conscious not just of what they might win in Central Asia, but what they stand to lose. Revolution in this part of the world may see not democracy but Islamic fundamentalists take charge. All eyes are now on central Asia.