We’ve covered this Kyrgyzstan double-dipping story a couple of times here, but Alexander Golts latest piece over at RealClearWorld sums it up nicely – including the tale of the embarrassing trip made by Igor Sechin and Anatoly Serdyukov to go collect.  Golts lists the Kyrgyzstan folly as just one of Russia’s many recent conflicts with neighbors

In February, the Kremlin gave Kyrgyz President Kurmanbek Bakiyev $500 million for a promise to close America’s base in his country. Then the Americans offered Bakiyev $160 million a year, and now there may be no official base, but a “transit center” that serves the same functions. So the Kremlin paid out several hundred million dollars just to replace some signs.