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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

#281

Post by anonair »

gnull wrote: post #131
ilaksh wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Maybe you can help me here. My reading of the situation is that it was an attempted revolution against a dictator after he made a devastating unilateral decision to raise prices for a critical fuel. Am I missing something?

The fuel prices caused protests in one region. The others joined in solidarity. But after seeing how much support the protests have, more people started joining and the protest became political, demanding to change the regime. In Almaty, the protests got violent with killings and mass looting. A few other cities saw looting and destruction of ex-president's statues, but most of Kazakhstan was peaceful, including the…

Especially that there is a clear pattern of looted and untouched property (if you look closely to the property owner).

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

#282

Post by anonair »

PeterisP wrote: post #228
Rd6n6 wrote: post #166

What actually happened? Is it so hard to give an overview of the situation near the start before jumping into the newest, most dramatic aspects?

My very rough interpretation of the last few days is as follows: Economic events (including increase of gas prices) triggered local social unrest, which the government attempted to suppress and failed as it escalated and resulted in at least some breakdown of government power (some police refusing to suppress protesters and joining them, protesters seizing government buildings and setting them on fire, looting of wea…

There are also theories, like the current president’s orders were sabotaged by those loyal to (or afraid of) the older one, so that he had no choice other than disbanding whole cabinet of ministers and asking for military support from Russia and other allies

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

#283

Post by gnull »

anonair wrote: post #281
gnull wrote: post #131

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The fuel prices caused protests in one region. The others joined in solidarity. But after seeing how much support the protests have, more people started joining and the protest became political, demanding to change the regime. In Almaty, the protests got violent with killings and mass looting. A few other cities saw looting and destruction of ex-president's statues, but most of Kazakhstan was peaceful, including the…

Especially that there is a clear pattern of looted and untouched property (if you look closely to the property owner).

Oh, really? What's the pattern? (I'm not in Almaty, so I can't see it myself.)

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

#284

Post by lucian1900 »

pjc50 wrote: post #47
snickerer wrote: post #22

I traveled many post-Soviet countries in the past years with my old camping car. My personal impressions in Kazakhstan were frightening. A deeply corrupt state, much worse than Russia. Aggressive armed bandits in police uniform tried to rob me several times. Kazakhstan is true mafia state where every part of the regime tries to enrich itself at the expanse of the people. In contrast to the rich oil elite there are th…

> But why is such a dysfunctional dictatorship so stable? Why did it last for three decades? Ceaușescu went from addressing a mass crowd in the square to execution in five days after ruling for about 25 years. Dictatorships are like steam boilers: so long as the pressure is contained, everything looks fine, until suddenly it isn't. (Interestingly having looked him up https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nicolae_Ceau%C8%99es…

He and his wife were assassinated during a military coup. Assassinations are a pattern during coups.

Neoliberalism also has nothing to do with debt. It attempts to increase profit rates through privatisation, deregulation and austerity measures. Only the latter happened in România in the 80 and it was imposed by the IMF. Suspiciously, the loan had just been paid off in 89 when the coup happened.

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

#286

Post by helge9210 »

caskstrength wrote: post #280
anticodon wrote: post #190

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It is not. If it wouldn't be true, why then US incessantly unleashes "revolutions" in all countries around Russia? Why US invests millions of dollars into rusophobic propaganda in all countries bordering Russia? Why US attempts to build military bases in all the countries that border Russia? If it's all just a "cold war mindset".

> It is not. If it wouldn't be true, why then US incessantly unleashes "revolutions" in all countries around Russia? Why US invests millions of dollars into rusophobic propaganda in all countries bordering Russia? Why US attempts to build military bases in all the countries that border Russia? Complete waste of resources from US side! Russia is very successful at making people in ex-USSR countries hate it as-is, maki…

> who actively participated in Maidan revolution and are still waiting for their dirty CIA $$$

I participated in both (2004 and 2014). Where do I register for the "dirty CIA $$$"? I somehow missed it during the original briefing.

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

#287

Post by mrguyorama »

pjc50 wrote: post #173
adolph wrote: post #127

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

It can theoretically be zero. When's the last time a zero cost transaction made it? Or more realistically, what's the mean transaction time for a zero cost transaction?

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

#288

Post by aerostable_slug »

usrusr wrote: post #221
glofish wrote: post #179

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

One possible explanation for the pattern of generous hospitality in poor countries I find quite interesting (I'm sure it's only one component of many in the motivational environment) is that hosting the traveler from afar is the closest thing they can do to traveling themselves.

Note that generosity to travelers is a common virtue in many societies throughout history, and violating this can bring severe consequences if only in myth (e.g. a traveling stranger might actually be a god in disguise checking up on you).

And after all, next time it might be you looking for a bite to eat and a place out of the wind and rain for the night. There's not a lot of Holiday Inns on the steppe or in ancient Greece.

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

#289

Post by nradov »

NicoJuicy wrote: post #88
CommanderData wrote: post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Reading and watching about these places on YouTube (BaldAndBankrupt) and recently numerous videos about Pakistan, Afghanistan, India. I can't help but feel modern Western society has lost and forgotten something within. It's hard to describe but easier described as nearest to changes in warmth and compassion. It's only getting worse and these old places it seems ingrained.

It's never been that peaceful in the world. The thing that has changed is media reports from all over the world.

The world is generally getting more peaceful. A smaller percentage of people are dying by violence than ever before.

https://stevenpinker.com/publications/better-angels-our-natu...

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

#290

Post by Jon_Lowtek »

thejackgoode wrote: post #75
nmfisher wrote: post #67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Can you elaborate?

For example, ex-nomadic and Caucasian “honor culture” is linked to necessity of trust in regions with predominant animal husbandry. If your cattle gets stolen before winter, you die of hunger. That’s why honor killings and hospitality are the flip sides of the same coin — you can’t afford losing trust. Robert Sapolsky gave a lecture about it.

While i can't make absolute statements of what he may or may not have said in every lecture he ever gave, i doubt Sapolsky would claim that honor killings and hospitality are the flip sides of the same coin. In "Behave The Biology of Humans at Our Best and Worst" Sapolsky differentiates "honor killings" as inwards violence, whose victims are usually young women, from "retribution" against animal thieves, and links it to social power structures in families and to religious laws, not ethnicity or nomadic origins.
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