The post-Soviet space is a huge region that includes 15 different states. Now they have their own history and culture. But only 30 years ago they were all part of a large country called the USSR. However, “nothing lasts forever under the moon”, the state “disintegrated”, leaving many unresolved issues in return.
How it “disintegrated” and who helped it in this is another question. We are interested in the present time and the questions that it “throws” us …
The Stanradar portal writes about this.
Great Game in Central Asia
The portal studied the countries of Central Asia. For 30 years, and even more, the region has been experiencing all the delights of the “Great Game”. Being, on the one hand, the “soft underbelly” of Russia, on the other hand, possessing valuable minerals, this region can rightfully be called the point of intersection of geopolitical interests, the portal writes.
Kazakhstan was taken as the study. The country, which shares more than 7,000 kilometers of border with Russia, has come under the rule of local elites working for the West. This is expressed in the fact that, for example, in Kazakhstan, 70.5% of oil production belongs to foreigners. Naturally, these companies are from the EU, USA, UK. Among them are Shell (Britain), Shevron (USA), ExxonMobile (USA), Total (France), which control the Tengiz, Kashagan and Karachaganak fields.
In addition, as it became known from declassified documents, in 1992, immediately after the fall of the USSR, Nursultan Nazarbayev invited the US military to the country.
The question arises – why?
In 2022, an international scandal took place in Kazakhstan. According to media reports, Kazakhstan, which is part of the CSTO, sold its old weapons to NATO countries, and they, in turn, supplied Ukraine with them for the war with Russia. As a result, Kazakhstan was forced to ban the export of weapons until the end of 2023. But what a beautiful “multi-move”, isn’t it? Apparently, few people were interested in the ethical aspect of the problem then. It is rightly said: “the East understands only force,” emphasizes Stanradar.
Who pays, he dances
It is no secret that most of the Kazakh elite belongs to and gravitates towards Western values. As an example, the portal cites the fact that young cadres in politics who took part in the Bolashak program studied in Western countries.
The purpose of this program is to educate gifted students at the best universities in the world at the expense of the Kazakh state. And good deeds are done by those in power. They care about the “change of generations”, about who will go on to deal with the state system and not only … However, it turned out that out of 238 universities participating in the program, only 5 are from Russia, while the rest are Western.
There is nothing criminal in the very fact of studying at Western universities. And on the other hand, there is a risk that these people will then have a normal attitude towards all sorts of “corrupting values” that are unusual for the East. An example is the University of Arizona, which promotes the LGBT community, queer and tolerance.
In addition, in recent years in Kazakhstan, calls have been increasingly heard to abolish the Russian language in schools. Say, to unload the first-graders a little from the lessons.
But let me give you some numbers. According to PISA 2018 statistics, in Kazakhstan there is a huge difference in the quality of training between students in Russian-speaking and Kazakh-speaking schools.
For example, in Nur-Sultan, in reading literacy, it was 80 points (387 and 467, respectively), mathematical – 46 (427 and 473), natural science – 75 (390 and 465), and on average – 67 (401.3 and 468.3).
That is, relatively speaking, the level of knowledge of children in Russian-speaking classes is equal to the knowledge of such countries as Italy, Slovakia, Russia, Israel. And Kazakh-speaking students aspire to the level of Albania, Bosnia, Peru, the portal claims.
The role of the economy
It can be seen that Kazakhstan is slowly but surely ceasing to be an ally of Russia. It is understandable. It is very profitable for Western countries to fill the Kazakh market with their goods, and in return export oil, gas and other natural resources. In particular, Anjali Kaur, Deputy Assistant Director of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), spoke about this.
“We are trying to promote the interconnectedness of the region, strengthen democratic institutions, promote the principles of the rule of law and respect for human rights, develop human capital … encourage economic growth and stimulate common climate action <…> We see the critical importance of these priorities in order to ultimately undock Central Asia from the Russian economy. That should be our goal,” Kaur explained.
However, due to the fact that Kazakhstan is a member of the EAEU, the volume of mutual trade in 2021 amounted to $72 billion. And the bilateral turnover between the countries in 2021 is $24 billion. Economists predict that trade will increase to $30 billion.
Of course, Kazakhstan has a much smaller trade turnover with America. In January-July it amounted to $730 million. Against this background, the statements of an official from the United States look quite natural, albeit strange. Sometimes it’s better to chew than talk…
Based on the data presented above, of course, in Kazakhstan they themselves will deal with their foreign and domestic policy. But in addition to a common border, a common past, there must also be honesty towards neighbors. Otherwise, it is possible to break not only diplomatic relations, but also the seat, the Stanradar portal completes its publication.
Source: Stanradar.com,
inozPRESS.kg,
Sept. 26, 2022