Huh. Kazakhstan was supposed to be a Central Asian success story.
At the main square, vodka was being distributed and some people were discussing whether to head towards the city bazaar or a wealthy residential area for possible looting, the resident said.
At one point, Europeans (mostly Russians, Germans, Ukrainians) were more than half the population of Kazakhstan.
I believe that after the fall of the Soviet Union the population was well more than 40% European. That percentage has shrunk every year.
Additionally, "radical" Islam has traditionally not been very big in Kazakhstan and Russian atheism was a bigger deal than in some of the neighboring countries.
Across Central Asia (Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistanm Kyrgyzstan, and Kazakhstan), political Islam has been growing for many years, often as a reaction against the Soviet-aligned, the corrupt leaders, etc.
They are all pretty much led by authoritarian strongman types, there's a lot of corruption, and political Islam is becoming a bigger deal. Kazakhstan, I think, has generally been in better shape, but who knows what happens next.
Side note, say what you will about the Soviet Union, and there's a lot to say, it's very interesting how many of their leaders, and the leaders in the post-Soviet Republics, were trained engineers.
Huh. Kazakhstan was supposed to be a Central Asian success story.
lol
At one point, Europeans (mostly Russians, Germans, Ukrainians) were more than half the population of Kazakhstan.
I believe that after the fall of the Soviet Union the population was well more than 40% European. That percentage has shrunk every year.
Additionally, "radical" Islam has traditionally not been very big in Kazakhstan and Russian atheism was a bigger deal than in some of the neighboring countries.
Across Central Asia (Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistanm Kyrgyzstan, and Kazakhstan), political Islam has been growing for many years, often as a reaction against the Soviet-aligned, the corrupt leaders, etc.
They are all pretty much led by authoritarian strongman types, there's a lot of corruption, and political Islam is becoming a bigger deal. Kazakhstan, I think, has generally been in better shape, but who knows what happens next.
Side note, say what you will about the Soviet Union, and there's a lot to say, it's very interesting how many of their leaders, and the leaders in the post-Soviet Republics, were trained engineers.
Had you trained them in the 90’s on their home turf like some of us did, you would know there’s zero truth to that theory.
Elaborate?
I don’t see them as any kind of central Asian success story