BISHKEK: Russian ally Kyrgyzstan on Saturday quietly dismantled Central Asia’s tallest monument to Vladimir Lenin, the revolutionary founder of the Soviet Union.
Ex-Soviet states across the region are seeking to strengthen their national identities, renaming cities that have Russian-sounding names and replacing statues to Soviet figures with local and national heroes.
Russia, which has military bases in Kyrgyzstan, is striving to maintain its influence there in the face of competition from China and the West and amid its invasion of Ukraine.
Officials in the city of Osh — where the 23-meter (75 foot) high monument stood on the central square — warned against “politicizing” the decision to “relocate” it.
Osh is the second largest city in the landlocked mountainous country.
The figure was quietly taken down overnight and is set to be “relocated,” Osh officials said.
The decision “should not be politicized,” city hall said, pointing to several other instances in Russia “where Lenin monuments have also been dismantled or relocated.”
“This is a common practice aimed at improving the architectural and aesthetic appearance of cities,” it said in a statement.
Despite some attempts to de-Sovietise the region, memorials and statues to Soviet figures are common across the region, with monuments to Lenin prevalent in the vast majority of cities in Kyrgyzstan.
Kyrgyzstan was annexed and incorporated into the Russian Empire in the 19th century and then became part of the Soviet Union following the 1917 Bolshevik revolution.
It gained independence with the collapse of the USSR in 1991.
Kyrgyzstan dismantles Central Asia’s tallest Lenin statue
https://arab.news/ba4dp
Kyrgyzstan dismantles Central Asia’s tallest Lenin statue
- Officials said the statue was quietly taken down overnight and is set to be relocated
New York is set to legalize medically assisted suicide with ‘guardrails,’ governor says
- Hochul also said the bill will include a mandatory five-day waiting period as well as a written and recorded oral request to “confirm free will is present.”
ALBANY, N.Y.: New York is set to become the latest state to legalize medically assisted suicide for the terminally ill under a deal reached between the governor and state legislative leaders announced Wednesday.
Democratic Gov. Kathy Hochul plans to sign the proposal next year after pushing to add a series of “guardrails” in the bill, she announced in an op-ed in the Albany Times Union.
Hochul, a Catholic, said she came to the decision after hearing from New Yorkers in the “throes of pain and suffering,” as well as their children, while also considering opposition from “individuals of many faiths who believe that deliberately shortening one’s life violates the sanctity of life.”
“I was taught that God is merciful and compassionate, and so must we be,” she wrote. “This includes permitting a merciful option to those facing the unimaginable and searching for comfort in their final months in this life.”
A dozen other states and the District of Columbia have laws to allow medically assisted suicide, according to advocates, including a law in Illinois signed last week that goes into effect next year.
New York’s Medical Aid in Dying Act requires that a terminally ill person who is expected to die within six month make a written request for life-ending drugs. Two witnesses would have to sign the request to ensure that the patient is not being coerced. The request would then have to be approved by the person’s attending physician as well as a consulting physician.
The governor said the bill’s sponsors and legislative leaders have agreed to add provisions to require confirmation from a medical doctor that the person “truly had less than six months to live,” along with confirmation from a psychologist or psychiatrist that the patient is capable of making the decision and is not under duress.
Hochul also said the bill will include a mandatory five-day waiting period as well as a written and recorded oral request to “confirm free will is present.” Outpatient facilities associated with religious hospitals may elect not to offer the option.
She added that she wants the bill to apply only to New York residents. Earlier this month, a federal appeals court ruled that a similar law in New Jersey applies only to residents of that state and not those from beyond its borders.
Hochul said she will sign the bill into law next year, with her changes weaved into the proposal. It will go into effect six months after it is signed.
Later on Wednesday, Hochul said supporting the bill was one of the toughest decisions she has made as governor.
“Who am I to deny you or your loved one what they’re begging for at the end of their life?” she said. “I couldn’t do that any longer.”
The legislation was first introduced in 2016 but stalled for years amid opposition from New York State Catholic Conference and other groups. The Catholic organization argued the measure would devalue human life and undermine the physician’s role as a healer.
In a statement after the governor’s announcement, Cardinal Timothy Dolan and the New York’s bishops said Hochul’s position “signals our government’s abandonment of its most vulnerable citizens, telling people who are sick or disabled that suicide in their case is not only acceptable, but is encouraged by our elected leaders.”
New York lawmakers approved the legislation during their regulation session earlier this year. Supporters said it would reduce suffering for terminally ill people and let them die on their own terms.
