Posted on 09/01/2014 10:30:52 PM PDT by Zhang Fei
President Vladimir Putin has said Kazakhstan's history of independent statehood is scant and its people's desire for closer ties with Russia is profound — a rhetoric reminiscent of Moscow's stance on Ukraine — and inhabitants of Kazakhstan are worried.
Kazakhs have taken to social networks to call for supporters to "send a history textbook to Putin" in response to the Russian leader's remarks last week that the Central Asian nation had never held any independence worth speaking of until very recently.
Kazakhstan's President Nursultan Nazarbayev has "created a state on a territory that never had a state," Putin told a pro-Kremlin youth camp at Lake Seliger near Moscow. "Kazakhs never had any statehood, he has created it."
One history chapter of which Kazakhs may like to remind Putin is the independent Kazakh Khanate state, which lasted from the 15th to the 19th century before it was weakened by invasions, taken over by the Russian Empire, and later became part of the Soviet Union.
(Excerpt) Read more at themoscowtimes.com ...
Putin has a truly Soviet penchant for rewriting history.
“Putin has a truly Soviet penchant for rewriting history.”
This is in the fine tradition of ALL Soviet leaders since Lenin.
USSR had structural changes when it fell not cultural ones. Many key Russian officials today were part of the old structure. Putin too. Russian expansionism always there, czarist or soviet. Sadly, i think putin has much support among ordinary russians.
Be interesting to see how we stop Putin from moving on the Kazakhs, if he wants to.
He want this back: Baikonur Cosmodrome, Baikonur, Kazakhstan.
Why would the Kazakhs want to remind Putin of this?
Maybe while the Kazakhs are lecturing Putin, he can remind them that northern Kazakhstan used to be part of Russia. Like the Crimea, it was "given away" by Khrushchev. What was given as a gift can easily be taken back.
Kazakhstan is 4 times larger than France with a population of 17 million people. Ethnic Kazakh population is about 12 million. Kazakhs have priority over minority groups for jobs and other benefits.
Russia could take over Kazakhstan in a matter of days if it wished to, and nobody can do anything about it. Especially if Russia offers up a chunk of Kazakhstan to China as a friendship gesture.
“Russia could take over Kazakhstan in a matter of days if it wished to, and nobody can do anything about it.”
Nigga, Russia could conquer the whole world with 24h.
Russia strong !!!!!!!!1111111111111111111111111
Probably not.
It would take at least two weeks to drive SP Artillery, Tanks and APC's from border to border.
At least.
You write this, but you fly the Polish flag.
Major disconnection, if you ask me.
Kazakhstan is increasing its defense spendings. They will made over 1 trillion tenge ($8.6 billion) in 2013-2015. The increase is related to procurement of modern armament, Tengrinews.kz reports citing Kazakhstan Finance Minister Bolat Zhamishev.$3b a year is a long way from matching Russia's ~$100b. Still, Saddam spent a fraction of the US defense budget; yet Iraq was able to kill about 5,000 GI's. Odds are that any Russian occupation of Kazakhstan would be accompanied by jihadist attacks on Russia itself that will inflict a much higher death toll on Russia. The US obviously has the option of supplying the Kazakhs with the kind of weaponry used by Afghans to bleed the Russians dry. It will be nice to get yet another bite at the Russian apple. We did lose 100K GI's, thanks to Russian sponsorship of North Korea and North Vietnam. That debt was never fully repaid.
“Emergency situations prevention defense spendings will make 1.3 trillion tenge ($8.6 billion) in 2013-2015. 425.8 billion ($2.8 billion) of them will be spent in 2013, which is 71.9 billion ($479 million) and is 23.3 percent more than in 2012. The increase is mainly related to a raise in the expenditure for procurement of modern armament for military vehicles, enhancement of the material-and-technical base of the military forces, stepping up of the system of prevention and elimination of the emergency situations, as well as introduction of a target compensation for rental of housing for militarymen in relation to adoption of the law on military service and militarymen status,” Bolat Zhamishev said at the government meeting.
Spendings of Kazakhstan's security forces will increase next year as well. One of the reasons for the increasing costs is salaries raise. “The expenditure of the law-enforcement authorities and special forces for protection of the public order and ensuring security for the three-year period will make 1.4 trillion tenge ($9.6 billion). 481 billion ($3.2 billion) of them will be spent in 2013. The significant growth of in expenses of the law-enforcement authorities is related to increase of bonuses for special titles up to the level of salaries for military titles,” Minister said.
One quarter of the defense budget of the country was spent on re-armament in 2012.
That was sarcasm, applied with a bucket.
Russian Orthodox 15-20%, Muslim 10-15%, other Christian 2% (2006 est.) note: estimates are of practicing worshipers; Russia has large populations of non-practicing believers and non-believers, a legacy of over seven decades of Soviet rule
Muslim 70.2%, Christian 26.2% (Russian Orthodox 23.9%, other Christian 2.3%), Buddhist 0.1%, other 0.2%, atheist 2.8%, unspecified 0.5% (2009 Census)
Muslim 75%, Russian Orthodox 20%, other 5%
Sunni Muslim 85%, Shia Muslim 5%, other 10% (2003 est.)
Eastern Orthodox 80%, other (including Roman Catholic, Protestant, Jewish, and Muslim) 20% (1997 est.)
Armenian Apostolic 92.6%, Evangelical 1%, other 2.4%, none 1.1%, unspecified 2.9% (2011 est.)
“Russia could take over Kazakhstan in a matter of days if it wished to”
Why would they want to......
The people you'd have contact with are probably secular. The jihadist cannon fodder won't be. Heck - Turkey is just about the most secular Muslim country in the world. And they elected Erdogan the Islamist. Would Nazarbayev have won a free election? Or some Islamist? If you had gone to Iran during the Shah's reign, you'd probably swear that it was the most secular place in the world.
Putin does not think those are real countries those are all really just a part of Russia.
Obama’s being more flexible.
Putin does not think those there are real countries those they are all really just a part of Russia.
What’s amusing is that Nazarbayev moved the capital from Almaty (near the Chinese border) to Astana after contentious border negotiations with the Chinese. It wouldn’t surprise me if he moved it again so it’s a little further from the Russian border.
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