[Home] [Headlines] [Latest Articles] [Latest Comments] [Post] [Sign-in] [Mail] [Setup] [Help]
Status: Not Logged In; Sign In
|
Resistance See other Resistance Articles Title: Riots in western Kazakhstan could destabilise the country Riots in western Kazakhstan that have killed at least 14 people are a potential game changer for the former Soviet state. The authorities know that if they can contain the protests within the remote western region through a mix of military force and information manipulation then they should be able to pass off the violence as the work of rogue troublemakers. But if the plight of the former oil workers, who have formed the core of the rioters, resonates with the rest of the country and anti-government protests spread to cities outside western Kazakhstan, then they could be facing something far more serious and destabilising. Symbolism is important to Nursultan Nazarbayev, Kazakhstan’s 71-year-old leader, and to mark the country's 20th anniversary of independence from the Soviet Union on Dec 16 he unveiled a kitsch replica of Paris's Arc de Triumphe in his remote capital Astana. It was the culmination of months of celebrations centred on Mr Nazarbayev, who has ruled over Kazakhstan since independence. It was also almost exactly the same time that Kazakh police were battling the desperate former oil workers in Zhanaozen, a bleak town of 90,000 people in western Kazakhstan. Officially at least 13 people died in Zhanaozen when police fired on protesters. Independent sources have said the real death toll is higher. The symbolism was stark, indeed. While the political elite celebrated a new folly in the capital, blood spilt onto the streets of a provincial town. Kazakhstan is Central Asia's wealthiest country and it has aspirations to become one of the world's top five oil exporters by 2020 but not everybody has benefited from this boom. Although the western region of Mangistau is where most of the oil and gas is produced, most of the profit goes straight to central government. Predominantly ethnically Kazakh, Mangistau region is also probably the toughest, most joyless place to live in Kazakhstan. It is a desolate region which boils during the summer and freezes during the winter. Opportunities are few, unemployment high and, to add to the frustration, the oil and gas boom has attracted better paid foreign workers. There have been real signs of stress and it is also no coincidence that Mangistau is the main recruitment ground for Islamic militants, who have launched a series of attacks this year against the Kazakh security forces. The authorities have been unable or unwilling to soothe the growing frustrations of people in Mangistau which has begun to feel increasingly isolated from the rest of the country. There is also a suspicion that opponents of Mr Nazarbayev may be funding and exploiting the oil workers, who had occupied the main square in Zhanaozen since mid-May, ahead of a parliamentary election scheduled for Jan 15. Many people in Kazakhstan’s main cities also view Mangistau almost as a foreign land and although the riots in Zhanaozen have now spread to other towns nearby this disconnect with the rest of the country may give the authorities breathing space. To isolate western Kazakhstan even further, the authorities have imposed a state of emergency in Zhanaozen, flooded the region with soldiers and cut internet and phone communications. They now say that the situation is under control. Even if the death toll climbs towards 50, as some sources have suggested, people in Almaty, Kazakhstan’s biggest city, and other cities may prefer to ignore the killings rather than jeopardise their improving lifestyles. But whether the violence spreads or festers in the west, Dec 16 2011 will not now be remembered for the opening of the Kazakh version of the Arc de Triumphe but for the unprecedented riots that seriously challenged the authorities and Mr Nazarbayev for the first time in the country’s 20 years of independence. Poster Comment: Looks like Nazarbayev after 20 years hasn't learned that workers in the field are more important than bureaucrats in the capital. Post Comment Private Reply Ignore Thread Top • Page Up • Full Thread • Page Down • Bottom/Latest
#1. To: Tatarewicz (#0)
replica of Paris's Arc de Triumphe That's a fact. And, it also looks as if he does not know that the Nazis did their victory march under Paris's Arc de Triumphe. I hope he learns how to duck and cover. ;) "When bad men combine, the good must associate; else they will fall, one by one." Edmund Burke
|
||
|
[Home]
[Headlines]
[Latest Articles]
[Latest Comments]
[Post]
[Sign-in]
[Mail]
[Setup]
[Help]
|
||