In heading off a week of an unprecedented wave of protests in Kazakhstan, President Nursultan Nazarbayev has polished his reputation as his nation’s problem-solver-in-chief. But none of the underlying problems in this big Central Asian state have gone away.
The protests, ostensibly about extending the rights of foreigners to rent agricultural land after July 1st 2016, had led President Nazarbayev to revive warnings of a Ukrainian “scenario” for his country. On the same day that protestors in south-central Kyzylorda faced off with riot police, the long-serving leader said Ukraine’s economy is in tatters “because there is no unity, no sense of purpose, no tasks are being solved and [people] are busy with other things: fighting, killing, brawling”.
May 16, 2016 -
Deirdre Tynan