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Russia sends troops to Kazakhstan to put down deadly uprising

reuters.com

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Re: Russia sends troops to Kazakhstan to put down deadly uprising

#171

Post by janeroe »

glofish wrote: post #128
thejackgoode wrote: post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Being Eastern European, I can attest to the fact that this kindness and generosity (poorly abstracted as being passionate about things) has a flip side, and you don’t want to be on the opposite side of this treatment.

This is a really good point, when an American (or other rich Westerner) shows up in remote area, they are treated like a king, basically you are treated as people treat ridiculously good looking and popular people around them that they want to be around, that generosity you feel is nothing more than being popular and center of attention start living there, all of a sudden that generosity is not so obvious, families a…

> families are at each other's throats for that bushel of corn one guys grandfather stole from the other fifty years ago, random shit gets stolen, the garden is trampled, trash is thrown over your yard because the neighbor wants to "save" on trash collection fees, people cut ahead of you around in the queues

If this is supposed to be the description of Kazakhstan, I haven't seen a post with more bullshit in my life. Like "bushel of corn ... fifty years ago", "the garden is trampled", "save on trash collection fees", "people cut ahead of you in the queues" gee.

Re: Russia sends troops to Kazakhstan to put down deadly uprising

#173

Post by pjc50 »

adolph wrote: post #127
MagnumOpus wrote: post #103

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Is crypto an emerging method for dictators to expropriate wealth Yes, same for local mafiosi/siloviki who can force the electricity company guy to look the other way (at gunpoint). > Are there going to be “blood bits” similar to “blood diamonds” Given the recirculation and tumbling, probably a majority of BTC/Ether went through shady people's hands (just like most $100 bills have coke residue on them...). Bitcoin a…

Isn't there a difference between using a medium of exchange versus creating it? To stretch the analogy, instead of using $100 bills, printing them a la NK superbills? If dictators/mafiosi contribute a significant amount to the overall hash rate, are they not decreasing transaction costs for whichever blockchain they use?

Part of the stupidity of bitcoin's proof-of-waste algorithm is that increasing the hashrate increases transaction costs. The difficulty level adjusts automatically to maintain N blocks per hour, while the number of transactions in a block is fixed. So adding hashrate just increases the energy cost of blocks.

(The actual transaction cost to the user is driven by congestion and is set unilaterally by the user based on their tolerance for queueing, so it can be zero.)

Re: Russia sends troops to Kazakhstan to put down deadly uprising

#174

Post by mikem170 »

ericmay wrote: post #106
scotty79 wrote: post #84

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Russia's interests are aligned with western companies interests that buy Russian exports. Also I'm not changing the subject because we have a whole branching forum here, not a single coversation that can talk only about one thing at a time. If you are not interested in that branch of the discussion simply skip it.

> Russia's interests are aligned with western companies interests that buy Russian exports. Just to be clear you are blaming “the west” (US, UK, Sweden, France, Canada, Switzerland, etc.) for Russian intervention in Kazakhstan because those countries buy Russian products? (Leaving aside all the other countries in the world which do the same but w/e).

Not the OP, I think you misunderstand. The idea is that the West is fine with Russia dispatching troops to Kazakhstan. They share a common interest in wanting to keep the oil flowing, and are not so much interested in how Kazakhstan is governed.

Contrast Kazakhstan with Ukraine. The U.S. would not sit silently by if Russia were to send troops into the Ukraine again.

Re: Russia sends troops to Kazakhstan to put down deadly uprising

#175

Post by janeroe »

major505 wrote: post #150
fivea wrote: post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> But why is such a dysfunctional dictatorship so stable? (...) I believe the answer is: it is backed by the West because a stable dictator in Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan guarantees the oil flow. And yet, it's Russia and it's strong-arm tactics that are desperately trying to keep Kazakhstan's regime in power. Think about it: Russia is even sending it's paratroopers to Kazakhstan to stomp out unrest. Not the US. Not the…

Countries like Kazakhstan, serve russia as a buffer state from the Nato influence. If near countries start to align with the west, Russia will start to feel personally attacked.

-- "buffer state" bullshit brought to you since 1939 --

Do they still need Finland as a "buffer state" [1]?

[1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Winter_War

Re: Russia sends troops to Kazakhstan to put down deadly uprising

#176

Post by vintermann »

ralmidani wrote: post #35
throwaway4good wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well, given the US-Russia conflict over Ukraine, this conflict is awfully well-timed for the US.

Not everything in life is a conspiracy, and people often rebel spontaneously against their government. Not every revolution in a country ruled by Putin and Pals is waiting for The White House to give the green light. Also, did the US tell the regime in Kazakhstan to raise oil prices? That was, obviously, not the people’s only grievance, but it was the spark that lead to the protests and rebellion. The “US meddling” e…

> Also, did the US tell the regime in Kazakhstan to raise oil prices?

I don't know if they did, but it wouldn't exactly be out of character for the US to encourage a country to do market liberalization reforms.

Re: Russia sends troops to Kazakhstan to put down deadly uprising

#177

Post by d0mine »

glofish wrote: post #128
thejackgoode wrote: post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Being Eastern European, I can attest to the fact that this kindness and generosity (poorly abstracted as being passionate about things) has a flip side, and you don’t want to be on the opposite side of this treatment.

This is a really good point, when an American (or other rich Westerner) shows up in remote area, they are treated like a king, basically you are treated as people treat ridiculously good looking and popular people around them that they want to be around, that generosity you feel is nothing more than being popular and center of attention start living there, all of a sudden that generosity is not so obvious, families a…

It reminds me the old joke https://www.anekdot.ru/id/309796/

Re: Russia sends troops to Kazakhstan to put down deadly uprising

#178

Post by poilcn »

siva7 wrote: post #87

Truly bizarre to ask as the head of state for foreign military intervention in your own country to dump down civil protest. Almost like it’s just a russian puppet state

They don't ask to bring troops to fight on the streets. The help could be in the form of putting security checkpoints and guarding critical infrastructure, constructions. Which would release military and police forces currently occupied by these tasks to fight the marauders and other criminals. There is no "protest" at this point.

Re: Russia sends troops to Kazakhstan to put down deadly uprising

#179

Post by glofish »

janeroe wrote: post #171
glofish wrote: post #128

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is a really good point, when an American (or other rich Westerner) shows up in remote area, they are treated like a king, basically you are treated as people treat ridiculously good looking and popular people around them that they want to be around, that generosity you feel is nothing more than being popular and center of attention start living there, all of a sudden that generosity is not so obvious, families a…

> families are at each other's throats for that bushel of corn one guys grandfather stole from the other fifty years ago, random shit gets stolen, the garden is trampled, trash is thrown over your yard because the neighbor wants to "save" on trash collection fees, people cut ahead of you around in the queues If this is supposed to be the description of Kazakhstan, I haven't seen a post with more bullshit in my life.…

My sentiment is not about Kazakhstan in particular,

It is about the rich westerner's naive gushing when visiting African, Eastern European, Central American remote villages etc

"Everybody is so nice and generous around here ... not like back home in the civilized world"

They confuse how people treat them in particular with what it is like living there.

Re: Russia sends troops to Kazakhstan to put down deadly uprising

#180

Post by sinyug »

SassyThrowaway wrote: post #168
sinyug wrote: post #156

It is always a surreal experience to see the sheer scale at which western media outlets deploy propaganda and rewrite history. Attempts to overthrow governments in Belarus, Russia and Kazakhstan are "protests." So are attacks on the residence of the President of Kazakhstan with rifles and grenades, and burning down the office of the mayor of Almaty.[1] The same outlets described the mild violence by a congregation of…

In another tab I have a Meduza article open listing how the rhetorics of President of Kazakhstan has shifted from using words like "a demonstration" to "an international terrorist group". Assuming that Meduza's compilation is accurate, and if Kazakhstan keeps redefining the narrative, what is so strange about many foreign media outlets not keeping up with that?

> Kazakhstan keeps redefining the narrative, what is so strange about many foreign media outlets not keeping up with that?

What Kazakh politicians say is not very relevant here. The media outlets themselves are reporting that presidential residences and mayoral offices have been attacked and set on fire by "protesters."

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