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I got arrested in Kazakhstan and represented myself in court

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Re: I got arrested in Kazakhstan and represented myself in court

#61

Post by crazypyro »

krick wrote: post #44
mind_heist wrote: post #5

Is that picture going to get Irlan in trouble ?

I hope not, but it seems to me that not taking photos if explicitly asked not to is the least you can do for a guy who, upon arresting you treats you like a best friend, helps you to get refund for unused ticket and buys you bear and coffee. Hell, it's actually only human to restrain from taking photos of somebody who doesn't want to, but doing so to that Irlan guy? The most repulsive thing is author doesn't do that…

I personally don't find it morally wrong to take pictures of someone who was pressuring you for bribes. My "best friends" don't try to extort me for money. Irlan was only nice when he realized the author could provide entertainment and had very little assets...

Re: I got arrested in Kazakhstan and represented myself in court

#63

Post by astral303 »

vbezhenar wrote: post #45

I'm surprised, that a western man is so ready to participate in corruption. I live in Kazakhstan and I would be very afraid to bribe an official, it could become worse very fast and if you are caught with that, you'll have to bribe much more people or end up in a jail with a very serious offence. I definitely don't recommend to bribe an official in Kazakhstan, usually it's better and safer to follow a law.

I agree. It's very naive and the original poster is lucky that he didn't end up in serious trouble.

Re: I got arrested in Kazakhstan and represented myself in court

#64

Post by blackholesRhot »

steven777400 wrote: post #3

Great read. I've never been in a situation where a bribe might have helped and so it's good to get some idea of "how bribes work" for possible future reference. I have noticed that it seems valuable to project being "poorer" rather than "richer" when traveling. Naively it might seem like throwing money around would grease all sorts of wheels but the opposite has been my experience (although probably I just don't have…

I just responded on the Medium link but here's another short Kazakhstan bribe story:

I once took the train from Urumqi to Almaty. After touring around Kazakhstan for a week or so I went to the airport to fly to Baku. When I walked into the airport two police officers told me to follow them. They took me to a small room. They kept asking me “would you like any tea?” And I kept responding “no thanks, I really need to catch my flight.” They asked at least five times and then started using variants like “would you like coffee?” I ignorantly kept replying, “I’m really sorry. I appreciate the offer but I need to catch my flight.” After ten minutes or so they got frustrated and told me that I’m a stupid American and to leave and catch my flight. It clicked after sharing the story w/ some Kazakh folks that they were asking for a bribe. Sometimes ignorance is bliss. Oops.

Re: I got arrested in Kazakhstan and represented myself in court

#65

Post by civilian »

clydethefrog wrote: post #39
jgust wrote: post #35

Can anyone tell me what this means? > ...in another ten years, you will see, we’ll be living like Arabs.

The future of Kazakhstan is highly unstable. The current slightly benevolent dictator has no good processor and the development of Kazakhstan is mostly dependent of oil, so when renewable energy becomes the norm and rhe president dies in the coming ten years the country will probably implode.

> has no good processor

Do you mean he is stupid or that Kakakistan doesn't have an oil refinery or that he doesn't have a successor?

Re: I got arrested in Kazakhstan and represented myself in court

#66

Post by uola »

Dr_tldr wrote: post #14
joelhaasnoot wrote: post #4

Cute story, but wonder if the outcome would be the same if the author hadn't originally been Russian and didn't speak Russian.

While speaking a common language usually (but not always) helps, being a US citizen is the way more important part of the story. Police in the United States are used to generally treating everyone (including foreigners) with impunity, while cops in other countries dealing with US citizens are more wary of causing a diplomatic incident. There's also the novelty factor: people from high status countries are seen as int…

In my experience police / border guards in the west threat people worse in normal situations. In most of the rest of the world they are just local bureaucrats who are trying to get through their day without trouble. If you do something wrong it's mostly a bureaucratic process and you're not suddenly a suspected terrorist. Of course in less normal situations that might imply jail time or getting beaten up I'd take the western version.

Re: I got arrested in Kazakhstan and represented myself in court

#68

Post by zensavona »

wavefunction wrote: post #55
celticninja wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I agree. Alexander Shulgin did far more than McAfee and i dont think anyone would question his sanity.

Sasha was a responsible scientist with a stable life. McAfee is someone who kept a minor girlfriend, fled Belize after being implicated in the murder of his neighbor and spent most of his time down there booty bumping bath salts. For some perspective.

> spent most of his time down there booty bumping bath salts

source?

Having lived in Cambodia (nowhere near as dangerous as Belize, but probably just as corrupt), being implicated with a crime you didn't commit isn't the most far fetched thing.

Re: I got arrested in Kazakhstan and represented myself in court

#69

Post by nicolas_t »

grizzles wrote: post #62

This dude just grassed on all the people who bent the rules to be nice to him. With pictures. For a moment of blog fame. Very uncool.

This was exactly what I was thinking. All of them have been very nice and with this blog are likely to get into trouble. He could have told the same tale but anonymized things and definitely not post a photo of Irlan when he requested not to.

Re: I got arrested in Kazakhstan and represented myself in court

#70

Post by justinlardinois »

johansch wrote: post #53
drpp wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A) This was a pretty unusual experience for me. And I think it is unusual for the readers. B) I can see your point. She did ask me to take photos and to tell her story. I have not been in touch with her in a while. I will deliberate for a bit and consider taking down her photos. There is no profit motive. I am not paid for this story.

> There is no profit motive. I am not paid for this story. There's building your personal brand and/or company. You know, that startup you're the CEO of.

Which would be the case for anything he writes and publishes under his own name. Your point?

It's clear that he was saying that no one's paying him to write this political reasons.

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