Kazakhstan government resigns after mass protests over fuel prices

NBC ^ | 04 January 2022 | NBC/Reuters uncredited

[blueplum]

In a rare show of dissent, protests reached the authoritarian country’s biggest city, Almaty, after officials lifted price caps on liquefied petroleum gas.

ALMATY, Kazakhstan — Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev accepted the government’s resignation on Wednesday, his office said, after violent protests set off by a fuel price increase rocked the oil-rich Central Asian country.

Police used tear gas and stun grenades late on Tuesday to drive hundreds of protesters out of the main square in Almaty, the former Soviet republic’s biggest city, and clashes went on for hours in nearby areas.

The protests shook the former Soviet republic’s image as a politically stable...

[Larry Lucido]

So, “building back better” didn’t quite work out?

[NorseViking]

The price rose from 10 to 21 Russian rubles per liter or to about $1,10 per gallon and the government resigned over it.

This is something Biden should follow.

[period end of story]

How long before Biden threatens Putin
to keep his mitts off?

[Olog-hai]

     Kazakhstan, No. 1 producer of LPG!
     All other countries have inferior LPG …

[coloradan]

It’s nice of this gaslight media story to remind us that Kazakhstan is authoritarian. What, pray tell, are the criteria for getting this designation, and should the United States also qualify?

[AZJeep]

This is what you get when you start price controls. Eventually prices go out of whack, you need major subsidies and when you try to fix it, you get popular uprising.
So of the media are arguing for just that here!

[Steve Van Doorn]

"$1,10 per gallon and the government resigned over it"
More likely there is more to the story

[DannyTN]

The average wage in Kazakhstan is $339 a month.

I’m shocked that there is enough gasoline usage to riot over.

[Steve Van Doorn]

What about hunter biden?

[DannyTN]

Hunter isn’t included in the average.

That would bring the average wage up a lot.

[DannyTN]

I got curious about literacy rates.

“In 2018, adult literacy rate for Kazakhstan was 99.8 %. “
https://knoema.com/atlas/Kazakhstan/topics/Education/Literacy/Adult-illiteracy

By Comparison...
“Nationwide, on average, 79% of U.S. adults are literate in 2022. 21% of adults in the US are illiterate in 2022. 54% of adults have a literacy below 6th grade level.”
https://www.thinkimpact.com/literacy-statistics/#:~:text=Nationwide%2C%20on%20average%2C%2079%25,to%202.2%20trillion%20per%20year.

I don’t believe either of those numbers. But it would explain why Democrats ever win elections.

[Political Junkie Too]

They're not rioting over gasoline, they're rioting over LPG. Many Kazakhs converted their cars to run on LPG because it was cheaper than gasoline, and now the government lifted price controls on LPG so the producers could raise them to cover costs.

-PJ

[dfwgator]

“Great Success!”