So much for the Tulip Revolution

By Michael J.W. Stickings

In case you were wondering, things aren't good in Kyrgyzstan:

Escalating ethnic violence in Kyrgyzstan has prompted tens of thousands of ethnic Uzbeks to flee the country.

A third day of fighting in the south of the country has claimed nearly 100 lives, officials say.

Witnesses speak of Kyrgyz men shooting ethnic Uzbeks and setting property alight; a BBC correspondent in the city of Osh has heard heavy gunfire.

On Saturday the interim government gave security forces shoot-to-kill powers.

If, like me, you don't know much about the place, check out the BBC's Q&A on the political unrest earlier this year -- though it does not yet seem to be clear how, or if, the current ethnic violence in the south is connected to the larger political situation.