What is happening in Kazakhstan?

[Siberian]

The Kremlin has never officially announced interference in the internal affairs of Ukraine in the east, has never recognized any official military presence there, has never questioned the status of Donbass as an integral part of Ukraine.

Just today or yesterday, I forgot, was it Lukashevich or Lavrov himself who said that Ukraine should not fear intervention if it fulfills Minsk agreements

and if it doesn't?

Now we are at the turning point, you should not refer to what has been stated by Russian officials long ago.

 

[rupol2000]

officially?

Yes, yes, and I also heard that Putin unofficially runs the country from the basement of the Lubyanka, collecting "bratva" there at night. That is why he is considered Emperor, despite his modest constitutional powers.

 

[Donald H]

I may be saying because I have to say?
What does it mean? .

Russian victim countries? which ones? besides, lol, look who is talking....

Did I say Russian victim countries? I don't know of any recently at least. I must have meant US victims.

Russian troops are leaving Kazakhstan, it is a simple fact which cannot be denied or interpreted in any other way..

We'll see.

 

[Decus]

China and Russia are forming a cooperation alliance.

It's all in the meaning of external forces. Russia is an invited peacekeeping guest.

There are China's footprints throughout the world but not as an invading force.

China will use Russia but there is no partnership. China has already stolen many of Russia's military patents and is now selling Russian military hardware after small modifications as Chinese.

China takes what it wants and all Russia can do is say thank you to China. Siberia, Central Asia, Russian military patents, Russia is running out of things China can take.

.

 

[Decus]

I am pretty much fed up with this matra beind said in every post of every Western poster, including you, Tom.

It is very frequent in Western press, is taken for granted and copypasted by all of you without really thinking.

People very easily tolerate corription if their level of life keeps getting better, and Russia is a perfect example.
Navalny made a bet on it in his CIA-manufactured film about the palace of Putin and failed.

Of course it irritates and makes people angry, but in countries like Ukraine or Central Asia or Caucasus republics corruption is as much a part of life of everybody as breathing.

I bought a piece of land in Crimea and am going to live there when I retire, so I have to deal with local beaurocrats while I build my house. There is nothing more awful on Earth, population of Crimea is predominantly Russian but 30 years of Ukrainian yoke/influence has spoiled them so much that I get shocked every time I have to deal with local administration. Nothing works properly and without bribe, contrarily to Russia. I imagine what they have in proper Ukraine....

Anyway, it is not corruption which matters much, it is rather greed and lack of civilization. Rural Kazakhs mentally live in 18th century and view both Russians and Russified urban Kazakhs as rich targets, they envy the very urban way of living, culture. It is a complex factor.

With corruption playing a minor role...

Russians tolerate corruption because that's all they've known. People in other parts of the world however are less inclined to accept corruption.

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[ESay]

Not Kazakhstand specifically, but not a new expert in the sense of the ME and countries bordering on Russia or close to bordering.
But I've always been aware of Kazakhstan being the ultimate prize for America, but not envisioned by America to be considering possible.

Fwiw, I became interested and more informed in March 99 with the Kosovo war, which settled the point of America's intention to infringe on Russia's borders, instead of honouring an agreement.

I doubt the US views Kazakhstan as a prize at all. Though, I don't rule out that American intelligence services view this region as a tool to instigate conflicts on Russian and China borders to draw their attention from more important parts of the world.

But the starting point of these conflicts won't be Kazakhstan, but rather Uzbekistan or Tajikistan.

 

[rupol2000]

Just today or yesterday, I forgot, was it Lukashevich or Lavrov himself who said that Ukraine should not fear intervention if it fulfills Minsk agreements

and if it doesn't?

Now we are at the turning point, you should not refer to what has been stated by Russian officials long ago.

The Minsk Agreements have been violated more than once, on both sides, and Moscow does not solve these issues on its own, this is a deliberative procedure.

In general, the left wing of Moscow benefits from the current Ukrainian policy. The Nazism of the Banderites corresponds to the Bolshevik aspirations to destroy the Ukrainian-Polish unity. And in general, the Bolsheviks always loved when Ukrainians died, shooting at each other or from the Glodomors. Apparently it amuses them.

 

[The Sage of Main Street]

Russia carefully avoided contact with Kazakh protestors and were only there to pretend they still had some role to play in Kazakhstan. China is now the dominant player in Kazakhstan; buying oil companies there and investing billions of dollars in infrastructure projects that are all designed to allow China's dominant control of Kazakhstan's energy and mineral resources.

Should Russia try to assert itself in Kazakhstan the Chinese will send them packing.

"The Chinese foreign minister said that China is willing to increase cooperation with Kazakhstan in law enforcement and security departments, boost bilateral cooperation in anti-interference, safeguard the security of the political systems and governments of the two countries, prevent and oppose any attempt of "color revolution," and jointly oppose the interference of any external forces."

China firmly supports Kazakhstan in maintaining stability, stopping violence: FM

Tracing the Chinese Footprints in Kazakhstan’s Oil and Gas Industry

In Beijing’s pursuit of shifting its trade and energy dependencies from sea to land, Nur-Sultan is a necessary partner.

thediplomat.com

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Our Foreign Policy Doesn't Need a Chinese Fire Drill

Have you never bought the shoddy Chinese products? These Confused Confucians can't walk and chew chop suey at the same time. Maybe as the result of Communism or maybe it's genetic, but they are an inferior race that will never expand their influence beyond their totalitarian wok pot.

 

[Tom Paine 1949]

On corruption, I agree when standards of living are rising, it can often be tolerated. I also agree with Decius it is a matter of history, custom, knowledge of alternative ways of life. Not speaking just of Russia. Though you surely remember Russia under Gorbachev when even Russians were ready for change. Sometimes there are nearby examples of higher standards. Sometimes people even have hopes and dreams (call them illusions of you want). I am not just talking about corruption. There is also basic security of the individual, free speech rights and conscience, deadening cultural conformity (as in China). Also often there is a sense of basic identity and traditional rights being abused by kleptocrats (Kazakhstan). I’ve lived in China for eight years. I think I know what I’m talking about. Totalitarianism, authoritarianism, even just in culture … sucks.

 

[rupol2000]

You don't get it.
People tolerate corruption if their level of live improves.
While specifically in Russia almost every week some quite big representative of beaurocracy is being publicly arested and punished.
For example, today I read about arrest of the Head of radioengeneering service of Russian army, he took a bribe of $67 000.

I. e. Putin takes pains to denonstrate that fight against corruption is real. And it is real at least in small and medium level.
On higher lever it is not corruprion, it is lobbysm, which is absolutely legal in the USA, by the way..

I don't know if such arrests take place in Ukraine but corruption is not the primary concern in Russia.

But where is the decrease in the level of corruption that you are talking about? Even for wealthy America, this is an outrageous amount for a small town sheriff. And where is the reaction of the authorities? This should have been considered at a high level, but we only see articles in the media and the issue is not raised.
Arrests of corrupt officials are good, but some say that this is just a purge of objectionable ones, in and of themselves demonstrative arrests do not prove anything.

 

[The Sage of Main Street]

damn, Chinese are coming!
it's time to throw myself out of the window.
what was that American general's name?

Backing Down, Down, Down

Douglas McArthur. Truman threw America out the window when he fired our greatest general.

 

[Decus]

The American Eagle Flies High Over Ground-Grubbing Egalitarianism

We heard the same ignorant Muzziphile nonsense about the Arab Spring in Syria. Muslims are not like us at all, so what Americans would resent about the Kazak government is irrelevant and should not be a starting point in any discussion. If you compare us with these Mongoloid savages, you're comparing apples and orangutans.

What the hell are you talking about? Kazakhs have been expressing their frustration with Nursultan Nazarbayev and corruption:

"If the Nazarbayev political star is finally on the wane in Kazakhstan, then his relatives shoulder some of the blame."

"Oldest daughter Dariga Nazarbayeva’s political career, mainly in the rubber-stamp legislature, has been marked by a series of controversial statements and perceptions of an abrasive style."

"Offshore leaks and a high court challenge in London have revealed the extent of her family’s foreign property holdings — part of a capital flight trend Nazarbayev officially discouraged while president."

"His middle daughter Dinara and her husband Timur Kulibayev control Halyk, the largest commercial bank, and are among the richest people in the country."

‘Old man out!’: Anger in Kazakhstan focuses on ex-leader

ALMATY (Kazakhstan), Jan 9 — As protesters armed with sticks and discarded police shields prepared to storm the mayor’s office in Kazakhstan’s largest city Almaty, they...

www.malaymail.com

Nursultan Nazarbayev and family have stolen from Kazakhstan and Kazakhs are fed-up.

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[rupol2000]

Siberian By the way, I personally know the former chief of criminal investigation of a provincial town in Russia, and he says that he left because instead of doing deal, they began to cover their ass with paper and earn money instead of detective work. He himself left with a bare ass, he drives an old nine, so you can trust him. This happened just at the time when the level of official patriotism increased, from about 2015. Just when they fuck with pensions and so on.

 

[Decus]

Our Foreign Policy Doesn't Need a Chinese Fire Drill

Have you never bought the shoddy Chinese products? These Confused Confucians can't walk and chew chop suey at the same time. Maybe as the result of Communism or maybe it's genetic, but they are an inferior race that will never expand their influence beyond their totalitarian wok pot.

You should never post when you are drunk, and you seem to be "three sheets to the wind".

 

[rupol2000]

I wonder if there is another politician in the modern world who named the capital of the state after himself? He surpassed even the Bolsheviks of the 30s, Kirov, Stalin and Voroshilov did not pretend to rename Moscow in honor of themselves.

No, seriously, are there still such precedents in the world? This is complete bullshit comrades.

 

[The Sage of Main Street]

Will we continue to tell fairy tales or is it enough?

A Molested Generation Loses the Will to Survive

Once a country legalizes fairy marriage, its Liberal media's fairy tales spread like gangrene.

 

[The Sage of Main Street]

You should never post when you are drunk, and you seem to be "three sheets to the wind".

If Someone Can't Debate, He Makes Sophomoric Accusations

If the sheets are made in China, no wonder a few belches from a blowhard poster blows them away.

 

[Decus]

If Someone Can't Debate, He Makes Sophomoric Accusations

If the sheets are made in China, no wonder a few belches from a blowhard poster blows them away.

At least you are honest and admit you are a "blowhard poster"

.

 

[rupol2000]

People tolerate corruption if their level of live improves.

Actually, I wouldn't agree with that.

And it is not clear why you said it at all. You want to say that in Russia the standard of living has risen? Even avid patriots would have laughed at this. We are already talking about the fact that not everyone has enough to buy bread. Goods of average quality have almost completely disappeared from the stores, no one can afford it. For example, buy a German AEG drill for 40 thousand rubles, or Nike sneakers for 10 thousand, except perhaps in Moscow. Even in the 90s, such a product was available to ordinary citizens, now it is no longer there.

 

[Siberian]

Russians tolerate corruption because that's all they've known. People in other parts of the world however are less inclined to accept corruption.

.

people in the rest of the World have no less corruption, just in the US you are brainwashed into thinking you don't have it.

partially it's true because corruption was legalized as lobbying