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Benton D Struckcheon

(2,347 posts) Sun Aug 31, 2014, 07:40 PM Aug 2014

Putin Starts Up on Kazakhstan

So Putin has cast his acquisitive eye on Kazakhstan. For background, here’s a nice primer from Al Jazeera: http://america.aljazeera.com/articles/2014/6/19/north-kazakhstanisntthenextcrimeaayet.html

The northern part of Kazakhstan has a lot of Russians, and Russia is part of his hilarious Eurasian Economic Union, his oddball imitation of the EU (why anyone would want to imitate it at this point, with that entity going into its collective sixth year of depression, is beyond me. Putin appears to be too stupid to count, a failing he may have contracted from his Argentine fellow travelers). Nazarbayev, Kazakhstan’s strongman leader, has become concerned, and rightly so, as it has become obvious that Putin is willing to sacrifice his partners in the union on the altar of his revanchist imperialism:

"If the rules set forth in the agreement are not followed, Kazakhstan has a right to withdraw from the Eurasian Economic Union. I have said this before and I am saying this again. Kazakhstan will not be part of organizations that pose a threat to our independence. Our independence is our dearest treasure, which our grandfathers fought for. First of all, we will never surrender it to someone, and secondly, we will do our best to protect it," the President said.

In classic fashion, just after Nazarbayev asserted Kazakhstan’s right to withdraw from the EEU, a student “asked Putin a question” concerning increasing Kazakh nationalism, and how that might affect the Russian speaking population of Kazakhstan. Amazing how that works, isn’t it?
The question itself is a study in imperialist thinking:

There are concerns over growing nationalist sentiments in Kazakhstan's south. And the incumbent president Nursultan Nazarbayev seem to be the only deferring factor. Should we expect a Ukraine-like scenario if the President steps down? Has Russia got a strategy to deal with this possible scenario? And what are the prospects of Eurasian integration (and joining of the two countries together)?

In other words, who are these wogs to think they can do whatever they want in their own country, and why don't we just make them part of ours again, as G-d so obviously intended?
Putin’s answer to this amazingly offensive question was a truly extraordinary display of condescending ethnocentrism, even for him:

“He has done a unique thing. He created a state in a territory that had never had a state before. The Kazakhs had no statehood. From this perspective, he is a unique figure both in the post-Soviet space and in Kazakhstan.
"And I would like to emphasise it once again, this (friendship with Russia) is not only about him, this is about the sentiment of a majority of the population.
"Efforts we have been taking to launch the Customs Union, the Single Economic Space and the Eurasian Union, with the latter being his idea, by the way. It was he, not me, who came up with the idea of the Eurasian Union. He did. We all joined in and have been following it through.
"Philosophers (historically) track the development of the Eurasianism idea in Russia. The Kazakhs have picked it up. It is good for development of their economy and for staying part of the large Russian world that is part of the global civilization in terms of industry and advanced technologies. I am confident that that's the way things are going to be in the mid and long run”

So, basically, he damned Kazakhstan with praise for Nazarbayev, by saying he had created a state for people who'd never had one before (obviously, they're yurt dwelling shiftless nomads who can't settle down long enough to work out what a state is, eh?) and therefore sets it up so that if his successor isn't nearly as successful in whatever way Putin measures that, he can go in and teach them a thing or two about statehood and all that.
It's vomitacious on its own, of course, but is also a primer on just where he might decide to send his cannon fodder next.

6 replies

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Highlight:

Putin Starts Up on Kazakhstan (Original Post) Benton D Struckcheon Aug 2014 OP

The guy is, flat out, a neo-Stalinist. roamer65 Aug 2014 #1

That fuckwad is just itching sharp_stick Aug 2014 #2

He doesn't see it that way. Igel Aug 2014 #6

Mahalo Benton.. Cha Aug 2014 #3

Hey! Thanks! Benton D Struckcheon Aug 2014 #4

We were ready but we dodged Two! Thank you! Cha Aug 2014 #5

roamer65

(36,745 posts)

1. The guy is, flat out, a neo-Stalinist.

Reply to Benton D Struckcheon (Original post)

Sun Aug 31, 2014, 07:45 PM

Aug 2014

Uncle Joe would be proud.

sharp_stick

(14,400 posts)

2. That fuckwad is just itching

Reply to Benton D Struckcheon (Original post)

Sun Aug 31, 2014, 08:27 PM

Aug 2014

to drive Ukraine to NATO. My guess is that's going to be the endgame, NATO has been kind of secretly hoping Ukraine might be interested now the KGB is about to hand it over.

Igel

(35,320 posts)

6. He doesn't see it that way.

Reply to sharp_stick (Reply #2)

Sun Aug 31, 2014, 09:24 PM

Aug 2014

He's rebuking a younger brother in order to keep him on the True Path.

I've known many parents that drove away their children and siblings that drove away their brothers and sisters, so convinced that they knew what was right and wrong for the other person.

I really don't think NATO as a whole has been itching for much of anything; I don't want to commit a whole/part fallacy here. It has enough problems of its own to worry about Ukraine, to worry about Georgia. Members don't want to invest in military technology unless it brings them profit, and they over-rely on the US even as they demand that the US have no greater role than other countries (this is the UN problem--equal power and rights with drastically unequal duties and obligations). Many of the countries see little reason for violence, convinced that violence is not only ever the solution but can never really be part of the solution. NATO is just a way for them to keep their militaries cooperating in sync with the way they are trying to keep their economies cooperating. If NATO didn't exist, they'd have to form a European Military Union to coordinate standards, facilitate communication among members, stage joint drills, etc. The European militaries aren't completely parallel to the US military: In the absence of a national guard, in case of disaster their militaries are called upon to clean up messes, and NATO provides the mechanism for making sure that the Italian military can offer support and equipment to the Dutch military in case of natural disaster.

As with Moldova, a frozen conflict is a poison pill for NATO accession. Bluntly put, if Moldova wanted to be part of NATO NATO would have said no--such were discussions in the early '90s. The presence of the Russian troops on officially Moldovan soil, the risk of further outbreak of violence between Moldova and not just Transnistria but between Moldova and the Russian Army that is the official protector of Transnistria compelled Moldova to be neutral and to make that part of its constitution. It didn't want to be pro-Russian. It could not be pro-NATO. When that little skirmish was over, dozens of tons of munitions that were never supplied to Transnistria were returned to Russia. A lot remained.

Some might just see a similarity there with Ukraine, if not for the complication that Russia has a supply problem for Crimea--it can't get all the military hardware it wants as part of a military build-up, with enhanced air power, sea power, land power, and nuclear weapons, while providing the necessary food and consumer goods and also allowing tourists to get to and fro. That means it needs a land route, and Putin's view is that what Russia needs it has a right to. Russia's happy with a 30% Russian minority in Transnistria being in a landlocked hellhole to serve its ends. It is faced with another Kaliningrad in the Crimea, and that's a difficult thing to handle. (Similar to Kaliningrad even in making some cities "closed", meaning that unless you live there or have permission, you can't travel there legally. It's a Soviet thing.)