Why Russia and Kazakhstan Pretend to be Allies
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- Опубликовано: 7 фев 2025
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KZSTN is boring until you understand that it is the worlds largest uranium mine
This is a very important geopolitical point
Has the drumbeat started to bring democracy to Kazakstan? It's been quiet and peacefull for far too long!
still boring. Uranium is already dirt cheap (calculated for kWh output per kg), no need for uranium from Kazakhstan.
It also has best quality potassium, I heard
@@coconutade111all other central Asian countries have inferior potassium.
It’s understandable that a country bordering Russia, with sizable Russian ethnic minority population, heavily concentrated near its Russian border, might be hesitant to recognize the independence of Luhansk and Donetsk.
Arguably it has the biggest percentage of resettled ethnic russians or other nationalities originating in USSR, as opposed to people who see it as their motherland in the first place, because it was used as a forced internment area. So those people most likely were forced immigrants, as a form of prison sentence. From their perspective a national Kazakh country is a threat to their identity or way of life. Be it russian-german, russian-jewish, polish, or ukrainian our any other from outside. And on the other hand Kazakhs themselves were genocided by communists (famine, in which 40 percent of Kazakh population perished). For them a national country is a must.
@@imakro69 No, some of them were gulagged but the majority of ethnic russians were either russian imperial settlers or people who moved here during Khrushchev's virgin lands campaign. It is not israel, the ethnic russians here are not in conflict with the kazakh government as if they are settlers and there being a famine because of soviet incompetency in the 20s does not necessitate a kazakh ethnostate either. This is all right wing chauvinist talking points
@dankovsky9473 this is what multiple people from Kazakhstan told me
@@imakro69you have to understand that the majorily rich and pro Western Diaspora of a Country doesn’t represent it’s Population. Same thing with cubans, Lebanese or russians in the West ( especially the US ) who have completely lost the touch to their homecountry.
@@Aaayhdjfyy what are you talking about, I am referring to ordinary people from a middle of nowhere
As a Kazakh, this video overlooked some information.
Kazakhstan is very rich in oil, gas, coal, iron and more, and is the biggest uranium producer in the world. So the "claims" to northern Kazakhstan are just a excuse to get those resources.
China. Kazakhstan is balancing itself between China and Russia, making sure to be allies be to both of them, but keeping enough distance to not to become a puppet. Kazakhstan is a pretty important route for a Chinese-led Silk Road 2.0 project to connect to China to Europe by Train and Pipe. All 3 countries know about this fragile, yet important balance. Kazakhstan sells a lot of recourses to China, and it helps China be less dependent on Russia. Any Russian invasion of Kazakhstan would make China abandon Russia, ot would be a sign of "no you only trade with me".
Another player in this game is Turkey and to some extent the West, one of the last countries in Europe not to absolutely hate Russia. Also interested in Trade and
The population is predominantly Anti-Putin and Pro-Ukraine, even the ethnic Russians hate him. Any action that would even be a sign of weakness to Russia, or behaviour that makes us look like puppets would immediately anger the population.
The CSTO forces in Kazakhstan barely did anything and were mostly symbolic, by the time they actually arrived most of the protests were already suppressed. Maybe as a way to get Kazakhstan closer aligned to Russia before they started a war in Ukraine. The protesters were labelled terrorists by the State. The protests originally began as a response to the price hike, but very quickly more and more people came out due to the overall state of the country, economy, corruption and democracy.
After the riots Tokaev actually reformed the country and added more democracy, not EU standards, yet still something.
Moreover,i think it's unrealistic to think that russia will invade Kazakhstan.As i know,Kazakhstan is the place of major interests,like USA's(chevron,exxon),Middle East(investment),China(CNPC,silk road project),EU's agreement.So this buddies will probably wouldn't allow putin to invade into Kazakhstan.
China will tell Russians their days have passed.
I highly doubt they will allow Central Asia resources to just be locked up in never ending sanctions from west.
@@about_everyanything true. And tbh no matter what i think kz is and will be an ally. It's playing on both sides like india, being pro west and pro Russia.
It's actually not about resources but rather about an ultranationalist idea of ethnic shared identity which Putin is pursuing. Just like when Hitler took the Sudetenland and Austria. It's about creating a Greater Russian Empire of all ethnic Russian, just like when Hitler created the Greater Germanic Reich with all ethnic Germans inside.
да блин они даже не могут имена лидеров и названия городов произнести правильно ) плюс политическая жизнь у вас далеко не самая скучная, было много интересных моментов и личностей. polymatter начинал как хороший источник информации, но скатился в помойку которую наговаривает в диктофон по графику то что им копирайтеры пишут чисто для заработка денег. энтузиазм весь давно пропал. смотрю по привычке но каждое видео за последние 2 года только разочаровывает.
I am from Zhanaozen. Thanks a lot for the video, it feels really good to see smth like that from the guy uv been watching for time.
Zhanaozen looks similar to a pinyin of a random Chinese city😂
@@ChunWang-vb7yuZhanaozen is a transliteration of russian name, which itself is a transliteration of kazakh name. If romanized using actual kazakh latin alphabet it would be Jañaözen
What mikrorayon do you live in)) i live in 4th
@@askan1223 i live in 5th microdistrict, not rayon 😂
@@amaterasu2302same shit brother
I don't know about you guys, but I think about kazhistan every day.
I don't know about you but I think about the roman empire every day.
@aradhya6654 ya I was about to say, about as much as I think about the Roman Empire
@@trowju I mean, we sorta have same area as Romans, as I remember. Kazakhstan is 2.7 mil. sq. km in size
@@sociolocomtsacI think their history is mingingless.
GREAT SUCCESS
Kazakh here. Good video, however, you have overlooked some parts of the equation. For the interested: the 2022 uprising was largely democratic in nature. But some elements of Nazarbayev clan, as we call them, have tried using the situation. Those were Nazarbayev´s relatives and their loyalists in the KNB (Kazakh KGB equivalent). They have given weapons to the more aggressive protesters and have tried using the crowd to then either “switch” to their side or use this to claim incompetency of Tokayev. The end goal was to get to power (the Clan is not a monolith, some of them opposed Nazarbayev´s pick or became wary of Tokayev’s efforts to consolidate some power of his own). Tokayev used the Russian help in order to scare off the Clan loyalists in KNB and army. All russians did was protecting some spots, whereas Kazakh Army regiments went to quell the now armed rebels. Putin wanted to get some leverage over Tokayev. But in the end he was just used as a card in this brief power struggle.
Second point is that Tokayev tries to also use China’s interests in our region. Tokayev even talks with Chinese leader in Chinese. Xi Jingpin has been to Kazakhstan multiple times and said that China will defend Kazakhstan’s sovereignty
Do you guys have any fear of China possibly wanting to take over Russia's position of "overlord" long term? Obviously they don't have the same territorial ambitions in the region, but it's clear they are REALLY interested in your resources and also see themselves as a major power who should have other countries in their sphere of influence. Do you guys feel you can balance the competing interests of Russia and China indefinitely to keep safe or is it more making the best of the geographical position?
Also, how sure are you China would intervene militarily if Moscow invaded and not just condemn them and hurt relations?
Yeah… yeah… yeah… Tokayev has no loyalties. He kisses up to Putin, Erdogan, Pin, Trump… EVERYONE, but no one respects that and everyone sees his irrelevance.
@@Tinil0 Kazakhs are wary of Chinese dominance in ownership of assets in Kazakhstan. But Chinese are less likely to both outright try to conquer parts of our territory and less prone to try sowing seeds of rebellion or other inner conflict (unlike Russia). I think we are also trying to use Turkish ties as deterrent and are kinda showing Putin the possibility to easily switch towards the West if we are cornered (Kazakh military industry closely works with Israel to develop weapons, know how etc.)
In terms of the reality of Chinese help in a real fight, I think they might not help too much if it is only Northern Kazakhstan as target. The thing is that even the words are working as deterrence, Putin does not want to sour the relationship with China, the only economy that can keep them afloat somewhat
@@Quypzhatyr Thanks for responding, I appreciate the insight! I could definitely ask questions for days because I am really interested in Kazakhstan and it's hard to get much info here in the west. It's really a shame you guys seem to be in a VERY hard geopolitical position, where no matter what the Kazakh government does it's always going to have to worry about some form of stronger power trying to control them. It's great seeing the slow push towards more democracy and freedoms, especially compared to say Turkmenistan with Berdimuhamedow and Tajikistan with Rahmon, but also terrifying given your guy's incredible natural resources and how tempting they are to larger powers as well as your geographical isolation. The connection with Turkiye is better than nothing, but I am not sure if they have the power projection to truly help if worse comes to worst, though like you mentioned risking alienating both China and Turkiye do seem like pretty big deterrants to Moscow. They have precious few allies left, especially if they spit in the face of Kazakhstan by invading the north...
I'll try not to bother you too much more, but if you are in the mood, how are relations with the other turkic central asian states? Do you guys have a particular state that you get along with more or have a rivalry with or is there strong solidarity with all the Tajiks/Kyrgyz/Uzbeks, etc?
I wouldn't really call it democratic, more like spontaneous. They had no real leadership or ideological goals, it was just a violent outburst from the underclasses which probably was fueled by covid quarantine too. That's why the protest had no long lasting effect really, there was no real movement to capitalize on the discontent.
Putin saying Kazakhs don't have statehood and right to exist as if Kazakh Khanate didn't exist since 1465 😮
Bro knows history only till 1800's rurics 💀
Interestingly, Nazarbayev went on to repeat the same rhetoric, calling himself a historical head of state
He says that about every country he wants to take over. I think it's pretty obvious by now that he's lying whenever he says that about a country.
@@EngineeredFemale And you don’t seem smart enough, because you believe every word.
When did he say that?
Kazakh here.
The video is 100% right.
Relationship with Russia is like the most delicate dance with a killer.
I just hope ethnic Kazakhs and Russians don't end up hating each other. I visited there twice and will come again in March and I made friends with both Russians and Kazakhs.
Due to Ukrainians, Russia won't be invading another country any time soon.
@@harpsdesire4200oh no worries. Here, eveyone hates everyone equally.
@@harpsdesire4200Unfortunately it all depends on the whims of the madmen in the Kremlin. Never forget that after Crimea was annexed, Putin's approval numbers skyrocketed...
Ur not Kazakh. At all. bot.
He says that Kazakhstan has no history when Kazakhstan is the direct successor of the Golden Horde))
Russia looks at Kazakhstan similar to another direct successor of the Golden Horde, Crimean Khanate, and we see how Putin feels about modern Crimea
Kazakhstan has no real choice against Russia but to be a friendly country to the Russians. Unlike Ukraine, Kazakhstan has no border with anyone who is both capable and willing to militarily support it in case of a Russian invasion. All Kazakhstan can do is to be on the good side with China so that China, out of fear of its resource imports being cut, pressures Russia not to invade Kazakhstan. Even in that case, Russia can offer big concessions and win the Chinese over. Even in that case, Kazakhs being both Muslim and Turkic, are a major threat to China (remember the Uygurs and how China treats them) so China can never be a trustworthy ally to Kazakhs.
Incredibly wise and realistic comment
Uygur was western propoganda
Russia isn't going to be a threat to anyone for a few years. Their golf carts aren't that scary.
Most Turks do not support the separatism that Uyghurs were trying to do. It's like if China turned around and started pushing for an independent Kurdish state!!
Honestly as a Kazakh i like Chinese people more than Russians (I’ve never been to china only to Malaysia for an exchange semester 😎)
Kazakhstan mentioned. What the hell is functioning democracy 🇰🇿🇰🇿🇰🇿🇰🇿🦅🦅🦅🦅
Something more functioning than the one in Kazakhstan maybe)
@@almaz3398 Don't worry, we will get there!!! 🇰🇿🇰🇿🇰🇿 (huge cope)
shit country i want leave this country as soon as possible (штрафстан рааахххх🦅🦅🦅🦅🦅)
Nomads were quite democratic. The khan was elected and the tribes had autonomy.
Functional democracy by the nature of democracy itself is something that is impossible to ever exist because of human nature and because of what democracy allows to fester within society be it extremism, egoism,decadence and moral corruption.
The phrase is an oxymoron.
I lived in Kazakhstan during 2018-2019 in the city of Aktau on the Caspian Sea. Loved it, and I do not think the country is boring. Very interesting history, architecture, and food. Would love to go back and see more of the country.
The "Kazakhstan is boring" line is why I didn't like the video.
I find it interesting.
A relatively “peaceful” Central Asia is quite abnormal.
@@Planeet-Long I think, "boring" refers to a lack of major events, like rapid economic growth, war or something else. As far as I know, as a local, I could probably count events like these on my hands. The general state of Central Asia is shaky, so being one of the more "boring" politically and economically places on Earth is not awful, though it is not great either.
Of course, this place isn’t “boring” in terms of its culture and history. Quite the opposite! At least, that is what I think as a citizen.
@@PancakeProduct I guess that is a good way to think about it!
Central Asia is just weird. Muslim but not Arab, and the Iranic parts aren't particularly similar to Iran. Not obviously aligned with any major powers, etc.
I also like how half of Kazakhs look East Asian and half look European.
@@GeorgIsm-u5p Turanid/Whasian look, yeah this is common. Largely due to fact that Tartarians - turkic ethnicity spread across Russia-Kazakhstani border used to kidnap and buy brides from pale finno-ugric tribes at Urals and Siberia, becoming the whitest Turkic sub-ethnicity. North Kazakhstanis today typically have 3-15% of Tartarian ancestry and look extra pale, despite not "formally" having any european/colonial ancestry per se
You’ve never heard of Indonesia?
Yeah, I kinda forgot about SE Asia before commenting. No offense intended to Indonesia, Malaysia, Brunei, etc.
@@Plan--on8bjdon’t forget about the original people who lived there the Scythians
"Dysfunctional marriage" is a pretty interesting yet true way to describe modern RU-KZ relationship lol
There are decades where nothing happens; and there are weeks where decades happen.
The fact that Kazakhstan not only refused to send troops to Ukraine, but also sent Humanitarian aid to Ukraine not once but twice must have annoyed Putin to no end 😆
Putin never asked for Kazakhstan’s small army 😂
@paulurban2472 Google is your friend, but whatever helps you sleep at night.
@@arwing20kazakh have army 😂😂😂
@@danishh8454 Yes yes, go collect your rubles
@@arwing20 by the way I am not russian 😂😂I am never seen kazkh army
I'm sorry, but what is a "Rjaetend Dllch"
"РЯЕТЕND ДLLY"
i read it as rjaetetnd dllch
@@gonderage i completely forgot about ч
faux cyrillic is the worst
I didn't even notice that it's supposed to say "PRETEND ALLY" until I tried to make sense of it, what the hell kind of writing is this?!
Can you give me time where I can see this words
For God's sake, stop using faux Cyrillic!
Historically, the Cyrillic was invented in 9th century to make scribing of books Christian books in Bulgarian easier (back then they've used the Glagolitza alphabet recently invented). To do that, they've mixed Greek and Roman characters and that is why western people can recognize the letters and do the stuff they do.
@@brutester No they can't
"е" is "je", not "e";
"ь" is silent, not "b";
"и" is "i" not "N" etc..
It hurts me and I barely speak Russian and Ukrainian.
@anonanon6596 even between slavic languages the pronansiations are very different. Bugarian tends to be much "harder" in sounding, while russian is very "soft". How you write stuff is just a starting point. Fun fact: Mongolia uses Cyrilic transcribtion for 3 centuries now.
In ukrainian i is i and e is e😅@anonanon6596
Rutin’s Ryatend DLLCh
number one exporter of potassium
That's bananas
Jagshemash & chengui...
All other countries have inferior potassium!
Why you can play music via comments
@@HenryAB bananas dont have that much potassium, and they're basically pure carbs/sugar
As a Kazakh, i can say that the author has little understanding in Kazakhstan politics
Can you explain it to us?
@@DaveSmith-pm2yq it is hard to fully understand this topic without visiting this country and getting into our culture and history firsthand. My bf is swedish and when he visited Almaty, I explained him so many nuances and even then his western mind was not able to fully assess the picture, I realised it would take much more time. However, I think it is like this with any country, in order to understand politics, you have to physically live in that country for some time to understand local flow of life
@@Nemezida96 IMO, it's the same for any country or region...
For example, Vietnam. If you read history, you'd think Vietnam would be friends with China, but they are more like enemy of my enemy is my friend. They only tolerate it just so China don't "Ukraine" their arse, before they whoop arse just like the previous foray in 1979.
Bhai medical ki padhai kerne se kazakh nhi ho jate 😂
@ Certainly true to an extent.
BUT I don't give up on on understanding it somewhat better.
I, as a Kazakh, want to share my opinion about Kazakhstan. Of course, I have lived in Kazakhstan my whole life, and it is my homeland. But seeing what the government is doing makes me want to leave this mess as soon as possible. It feels like Kazakhstan is approaching its downfall because the government itself doesn’t understand what it’s doing-raising taxes and adding ridiculous fines every day. There is nothing left in the budget; the government has swallowed everything, bought expensive houses abroad, started businesses there, and sent their entire bloodline to live like kings. And now, this nuclear power plant is once again bringing Russia closer to us-it's all a disaster
Maybe that's the problem with us, rich want to leave country dry without money and poor want to leave country because it's dry without money...
Don’t leave. KZ needs young smart people
@@ishros Nothing has been done for over 30 years of our independence. I am 21 years old kazakh. I regret living here. Regret being born here among these stupid and greedy morons in our government. I wanted to become a politician, but people here don't support them as for a result the good politicians and economists either get murdered and tortured or end up in jail. We are all getting scammed here with these prices for the groceries, bills and etc. They ruined everything. No propper education for younger generation, low medicine, poor wages and salaries speaking of which is only 400$-500$ average per month. I love my country, but the government holds us like slaves in chains and makes it nearly impossible to live. You might say get a well paid job or something like that and you will be fine, but that is just an attempt to excuse our government. We don't have bright future. I can't see it.
@@gurmann9843Our location pretty much decided our fate. We’re stuck between some of the biggest dictatorships, and Afghanistan is right there to the south. On top of that, years of colonization left us weak. We’re still a young country, just starting out. Maybe it won’t be us, but our kids or grandkids who’ll see real prosperity. I decided to stay, not for myself, but for the future of my country
Қумаш бля. Өз-өздеріңмен депрессияға кіріп жүрсіңдер. Елімізде почти бәрі норм. Басқа елдермен салыстырғанда біздің өміріміз жақсы
The president of Kazakhstan has an interesting past. In the 1970s, he was a junior diplomat at the Soviet Embassy in Singapore, during Lee Kuan Yew's time. In at least one respect, the country seems to be emulating Singapore; it is building one of the best airlines in the world , Air Astana (if you believe aviation RUclipsrs). The way I see it, Tokayev seems to be preparing for the future rather than being stuck in the present, by readying the country for life as a more affluent country that will have a modern tech and services economy and be less bounded by its two giant neighbours.
He exhibits a somewhat delusional mindset, attempting to reshape Kazakhstan according to European cultural and political standards, despite the country’s geographical position in an entirely different context-economically, politically, and culturally. With neighboring powers like Russia and China, this liberal perspective aligns too closely with Russian interests, ultimately playing into the hands of Russian propaganda. This not only exacerbates the zombification of the population but also contributes to rising social tensions, family issues, and demographic challenges. Ultimately, this only harms Kazakhstan as a whole.
14:20
I'm not sure if the author just threw the word "Kazakhstan" into a random Cyrillic transliterator online which fails to parse the letter 'h', but I'm quite sure there's no 'h' in Cyrillic alphabet.
...and btw, its official name in Latin should be 'Qazaqstan'...
Or maybe you should look at the Etymology section of the Wikipedia article on Kazakhstan.
But if you want to, I could instead digress into all of the other country names butchered by the English langauge. Let's start with Germany - or as it's properly called, Deutschland.
Side-topic, ish: there's 'h' in the Kazakh Cyrillic script, but it's mostly used in Persian or Arabic loan-words, but I am not sure if it should or shouldn't be there @ 14:20. There are more letters in the Kazakh alphabet than in the Russian alphabet. Just like there is 'і' in Ukrainian but it was removed from Russian in the past.
Using Germany as an example for the English language's butchering of names is kinda wild, because pretty much EVERY European country uses an exonym for Germany. From a quick Google search, the only languages whose names for Germany are derived from the same root as Deutchland are the Scandinavian languages, Sami, and Dutch
@@Steamrick
There's х, звучит как "h". For example, in Russian, hahaha = хахаха
This channel is trying to milk politics because not much else is working based on the last few videos. Drink a ocean of salt with these "need a RUclips PayCheck" because they have no other work expericence channels.
I think this video is not well researched in a way that Kazakhstan never really pretended to be an ally. Due to historic and infrastructure reasons, they are kind of dependent on Russia, but Kazakhstan ever more since independence balances Russian foreign influences with Chinese, but also European and US influence. Kazakhstan thrives under this balance, but also steadily shifts it further away of Russia.
Too much and u become Ukraine. Pick a side. Play both sides as India and u piss off everyone. And u don't have the manpower nor the resources of India. Ukraine got played hard by the West. Now Russia controls 1/5th while US entities like black Rock and Vanguard owns 2/3rd of all Farmland in Western part of Ukraine. Which was the point to begin with.
to be fair, we're not heavily dependent on them, except oil pipelines, but Russia is heavily dependent on us and customs fee, that it benefits from "free-trade" with us.
We are mostly dependant on China and EU's price tariffs, if EU decides to not to trade with us, 30% or more in our nation budget will evaporate in few years and if China decides to not trade with us we're going to collapse as a nation
@@numu4913 with "dependence" I was more hinting towards direct post-Soviet times when road and energy infrastructure and trade routes were routed towards Moscow. Kazakhstan then did very well to detach from this system by successfully growing its infrastructure towards the current functional, independent networks
Well, with many nations denouncing and imposing sanctions on Russia, Kazakhstan is the closest thing to an ally. I would go as far as to say that balancing influences from other countries is pretending to be an ally. I only disagree with the definitions of "ally," but otherwise agree that the balancing act is impressive.
I had totally forgotten the unrest in 2022
yeah me too. We don't discuss it much these days - raising this topic is cringe even among the elderly people
I'm American I remember it was hot topic, and then the Invasion of Ukraine blocked out anymore discussion on Kazakhstan
So many inaccuracies in just the first few minutes I had to stop watching. For example, at 3:59 the government did not raise the price of fuel, they stop subsidizing fuel. This had the effect of fuel prices going up but, yes, but its a distinction worth mentioning imo.
Yup. and they made the inexcusable mistake of saying that kazakhstan flouted russia by not recognizing parts of ukraine they had taken over: while showing on screen that it was abkhazia and south ossetia (parts of Georgia occupied more than 15 years ago), which aren't recognized by almost anybody (not even moscow's closest allies like belarus.) making an obvious, glaring mistake like that as part of the thesis of the video shows that we cant trust any of it.
@@jakemayer2113 i think that part of the video is right. The gist of the message was that Kazakhstan does not recognize partially recognized states and this principle applies to donbas. You can see Donetck and Luhansk being mentioned there.
He is not wrong, gov did increase the price of fuel by stopping subsidies. 😅
Tokayev's actions sound like that of a Paradox gamer.
I would say most countries pretend to be allies. Applies to every other country in the real world. An alliance is economic and political, with both carrots and sticks involved. So yea an alliance doesnt mean friends.
PolyMatter, can you please make a video on Malaysia's ethnic-based identity politics and political parties, as well as their impacts on Malaysian politics and society. Thank you very much.
I am a Westerner who has travelled to KZ quite a few times and spent time in Astana, Almaty and Northen KZ. I think Kazakhs are very sympathetic to Ukraine and very wary of Putin. Many Russians with long family roots in KZ are also wary of Putin's regime too, those who are more recent colonists from the Soviet 1960s are more prone to Kremlin propaganda. KZ now has a delicate balancing act, not to anger Moscow, engage China (but not too much) and cultivate links with the rest of the world. I find Kazakhs to be a warm and friendly people and hope they are spared the craziness of rampant Russian expansionism. Russia being badly bogged down in Ukraine might just save Kazakhstan. I think KZ should be investing heavily in Korean armaments and establishing a drone capability ASAP. Being prepared always has a deterent effect ...
I feel proud of Kazakhstan. We will never surrender to any country
Your Northern neighbour ruled on you guys for 200 years
And even after 1991 you still are kinda *puppet of them*
@@Theworldsucks-kg5jv "kinda puppet" is inacurate, we're playing besties with them, only because we benefit from it
@@Theworldsucks-kg5jv it is the price for development. Imagine jumping from feodalism to socialism then capitalism just in 150 years! Schools, universities, medicine, infrastructure, industry and etc. It looks like a good deal!
So says the puppet of a puppet pretending to have no strings.
@@Theworldsucks-kg5jv they've done horryfying things against our nation and even tried to completly destroy us but we are still standing and never will fall
As a Kazakhstani, this video honestly either exaggereates the situation or just based on some things which favor the idea in the video. Why do you think Russian economy survives? Because Kazakhstan is helping russian products to get to european markets, marking them as kazakh. Just think that way: for exxample, you have an oil from Russia and Kazakhstan, why don't just mix them and sell to Europe? Moreover, Tokayev recently supported the idea of peace treaty in Ukraine as it is in status quo, and said that it is impossible to defeat Russia in a war.
.."..maybe Kazakhstan should check out sponsor Brilliant" Lmao im dead
A lot of key details were omitted. 2022 unrest was the biggest, yes, but there was a protest in Zhanaozen in 2011, which was also brutally supressed by the government. Interestingly enough, 2022 events were violent everywhere *except* Zhanaozen and Aktau (the regional centre where I live). CSTO forces were indeed symbolic and the unrest calmed down before they entered the country. It was more of a legimitization of CSTO if anything, you could mention that this is currently the only incident of CSTO reacting to the critical situation at the ally country. Russia and Kazakhstan do not pretend to be allies, they *are* allies and Tokayev was in fact studying at MGIMO in Moscow. So he and the whole government is 100% pro-Russian. And, the "democratization" in 2022 was a fluke, currently in 2025 the government is getting more authoritarian again, day by day. Also, you mispronounced Tokayev's last name pretty badly. And the text in Cyrillic is just wrong, it should've been Қазақстан.
АҚТАУ СИЛА УАААА
Hey I'm from *Қазақстан* (Kazakhstan), thanks for making a video about my country, plus its true that my country is a-bit boring indeed-y, I can see how foreigners think less of us, how least represented we are.
Oftentimes, less attention is better than too much, бауырым
When it comes current events and geopolitics, I've learned that boring is a GOOD thing. "Boring" as in relatively "peaceful" and "without problems". It's a lesson I appreciate more and more as I grow older. So may your country remain "boring". May more countries around the world find themselves to be "boring".
Borat put Kazakhstan on the map for many Americans
your name is Borat?
@@javierpatag3609On a domestic level too. American politics have gotten way more exciting in the last two weeks. Gone are the days of measured debates on obscure policy issues. Instead we have 25% tariffs on Canada and Mexico, America's first concentration camp in decades, a surprise freeze on all federal spending, and the country's first plane crash in 16 years all in two weeks.
Can we stop using Cyrillic letters in place of English letters that don't even make the same sound? It looks ridiculous.
Using "ya" in place of R, and "d" in place of A is actually nonsensical.
Kazakhstan has oil and natural gas. There. Now you know the detail he forgot to mention.
He spent half of the beginning of the video talking about workers in the oil fields in Kazakhstan.
Don't blame him for your inattention.
Free Turkestan!
Kazakhstan, home of Tinshein Swimming Pool. Its length 30m & width 6m. Filtration system a marvel to behold. It remove 80% of human solid waste.
Only 80%? 😮
Don't forget Potassium!
@@captainchaoscow And the cleanest "ladies" apart from Turkmenistan
@@captainchaoscow All other countries have inferior potassium
To have real Kazakh opinion you should talk with western and southern kazakhs not those Chronically online Almaty and Astana guys.
When the Bulgarian manipulative media began to talk about Kazakhstan often, I realized that they were also preparing the Ukrainian scenario
From Kz here. I think Naz and Tok are doing a great job. Balancing between the bear and the dragon. Maybe that's why the internal politics is not being closely looked into to. Al the effort goes towards, how not to be eaten by the big 3.
Ah yes, the "Ryaetend Dllch"
1:21
There are decades in which nothing happens and there are days in which decades happen
Apparently Kazakhstan has a swimming pool with length 30 metre and width 6 metre
And a filtration system which removes 80% of human solid waste. A marvel to behold!
And?
HILARIOUS 😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂
😂😂😂😂
Potassium, brother. You forgot potassium
I will never get over the Fauxrillic in the thumbnail. If you were to write it with actual Cyrillic characters, it would be претенд Аллий
January events might come back. Just few days ago, the government announced increasing the value added tax from 12% to 20% and its business threshold from 78 million to 15 million. Not only that; they want to increase the price of fuel (it's subsidized now). So all combined, it could lead to 50% inflation easily. We already have high taxes, but we don't see them being used for much good. Almaty is in traffic jams, hazardous air, snow not being plowed for weeks, incredibly high cost of living (I get salary above average and still give half of my salary for 40 sq.m 1-bedroom apartment) and yet Almaty's mayor has a mansion and doesn't suffer from traffic jams because all lights turn green when he's being driven. Just one example. Or that many of our governors have property in the UK and the media that told about that is closed in Kazakhstan and has to operate from abroad.
Imagine arguing Canada and the US aren't actually allies because Trump just snubbed Trudeau and tariffed Canada. This is why people from Kazakhstan think this video is quite lacking.
Stop using faux cyrillic
No
Awesome video
Replace Abkhazia with South Ossetia (2008). The Russians entered Abkhazia way earlier.
Remember, they have the world's largest swimming pool. Filtration system a marvel to behold.
Kazakhstan is one of the most fascinating countries in the world. Hope you all are doing well. Watching from Las Vegas ✌️
Edit: how this triggers some you is _hilarious_
That makes sense, it is as artificial and fake like Las Vegas.
@@MR.GECKO-i6h living in Putin's Russia got you down? Cheer up little fella. The warlord era is coming soon.
No its not, and thats not a bad thing
I love listening to your videos in the background while going on walks.
Any chance you could upload these to Spotify?
this is like me and my "buddy" trey
when u gon block his a$$?
Would've been nice to have some sources listed in the description. Just so we don't know you're making all of this up yourself you know.
As a kazakh, almost everything that he told on the video is kind of true except the fact that it is all from outsiders view and information is very filtered as much more is happening between the countries
It's Tokaev, not Tokiev
One of the best educational geopolitics videos I've seen in a while
Kind of like Canada and the US.
The current trade war will show if this is the case. If Kazakhstan was in the place of Canada, I think would just back down tbh
America telling people Russia won't leave their country once troops are in is just PEAK IRONY😂
It seems to me the relationship between Kazakhstan and Russia is akin to US Canada relationship. Only reverse geography. This video seems to criticize Russia, however, just like how Canada is the soft underbelly of the US, so is Kazakhstan to Russia. No major power can let their junior partners slip away from their sphere of influence, it would be politically disastrous. I mean look at what happened to Cuba after it kicked out Batista, the US tried their very best to overthrow the regime and assassinate Castro over 600 times allegedly. Even today Cuba is under an economic embargo not to mention in the list of state sponsors of terrorism and we conveniently forget this fact but criticize Russia for keeping Kazakhstan close to themselves. That’s just realpolitik, nothing personal.
It ceases to become realpolitic when a country poisons themselves by a thing called "nationalism". At this point, many decisions made by russian government are purely ideological and nationalist and thus irrational and can't be analyzed by realpolitic.
If this was 2013, you'd be right.
Not quite, Canada isnt living under th eocnstant threat of extermination like Kazakhstan does.
Russia sees Kazakhstan as a province and not a country and it will aim to "restore the historical justice"
Right now they are just busy with other things and Kazakshtan has nowhere to go anyways.
This country is in a horrible position geopolitically
@@justdroningaround2250 Yeaah right, "51st State" LMAO
@@justdroningaround2250 the war of 1812 was fought amongst many things for expansion of American territories and a wish to occupy what is now Canada from the British. Also Trumps recent statements, not to mention US’s actions in the Philippines and the kingdom of Hawaii perfectly showcases how the US isn’t shy to acquire or attempt to acquire what they rightfully see as theirs. No major nation is free of such sin.
Politics is a downstream of culture.
Most of the Russians see Kazakhstan as part of their land but most of Americans do not see a need to conquer Canada.
As such for Russia to threaten Kazakhstan is very easy. Population would go along with it it and their leader doesnt need any consent from anybody.
Compare that to the USA where population would most definitely oppose any kind of military action against Canada and where the gov system is built in a way that president cant just run wars of conquest at will.
Trump can run his mouth oin twitter and impose tariffs and what not but thats about it. Military action is out of question.
Just how hard was it to get the Cyrillic spelling of Kazakhstan right? It literally is a matter of 10 seconds. Google 'Kazakhstan', open Wikipedia, it's right there in the card on the right. Both in Kazakh and Russian. Instead it looks like you took the Latin spelling and substituted latin letters for Cyrillic ones which had to take more time than 10 seconds. Mind blowing.
As a Kazakh who closely follows local and international politics I can say that this is THE best analysis on the relationships of Kazakhstan and Russia.
Our desire to distance ourselves from Moscow has been growing for years, skyrocketing after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. I hope that one day we will see the region freed from the current Russian regime as this might soften other authoritarian regimes around it, including ours and it might finally put an end to some of the frozen regional conflicts, such as the ones in Caucasus.
And the shortest way to this future is Ukraine’s victory, so most of Kazakhstan’s citizens (those who are not brainwashed by Russian propaganda) support our friends in Kyiv. Glory to Ukraine! 🇺🇦
Best of luck with that.
Смерть нацизму, а заодно и твоему плачевному движению.
Kazakhstan is too reliant on Russia to distance themselves. Oh so the Kazakhs who listen to Ukrainian propaganda are better than the Russian propaganda ones, huh gotcha
You can try to follow the path of Ukraine.
@@NameRiioz They'll last 6 months at most. There's no Poland on their border to keep them supplied. The US doesn't have a way to reach them. China could but they need Russia more, so they will say some harsh words. Everyone else will offer emotional support.
The “Macao” moment was actually pictures from Almaty ^*
That faux-Cyrillic in the thumbnail looks garbage. Your standards should be higher than that.
Relation between Kazakhstan and Russia is akin to relation between Canada and US.
While rich and huge countries, Kazakhstan and Canada simply don't have luck having even bigger and more dominant neighbor and have to play their game.
Canada has better situation, because Kazakhstan has to make balance between China, Russia and Western countries
Kazakhstan is not a pretend ally. It is a vassal state. Look up Russia’s share of food exports into the country (more than 2/3, control of crude oil flow (more than 95% through KTK), and recent sales of one of the largest uranium mines and airports to Russia. Russia can easily remove or put people in power in the country. During January 2022 riots Russia was the kingmaker by installing more obedient Tokayev instead of Nazarbayev as the ultimate power broker in Kazakhstan by answering his call to help to quell the protests. Here, in Kazakhstan, some see him as a semi independent governor to Putin, akin to Lukashenko in Belarus, where Russia increased its presence like in Kazakhstan after it helped to quell local protests.
By the way, there are still worker strikes that go to this day. Now the government with the president push to increase taxes while official inflation is around 10% a year. With new taxes it might become north of 30 percent on top of high inflation in 2022, which was 20%. In the end, I think you made this video too early. There might be another wave of protests and another military intervention from Russia in the coming years.
By the way, Tokayev said that he will probably not recognize DNR and LNR because they are small but left recognitions of them as parts of a bigger state an open question. Also, there was only one meeting in support of Ukraine and it was the last. Strange that you included it while there are no meetings at all except those orchestrated by government.
That's not a vassal. At all. Especially not after the economic and military devastation russia has suffered.
We are not vassals. We have sent humanitarian aid to Ukraine multiple times. Most of us are pro - Ukraine. The fact that our policy became more wary is because of geography and the situation at large. If Russia collapses, Kazakhstan will be one the first to try to get some portion of the pie. One of the new goals of the government is to promote the theory that Kazakhstan is the direct inheritor of Golden Horde legacy, which entails the brotherhood with tatars, Bashkirs and others. Our goal is not to listen to Russia, but to navigate under its’ pressure in order to outlast it
@@HJ_ExtravaganzaRussia will have undergone a massive military buildup after this war. If it wills it, and continues to have a capable military, they could easily topple and invade Kazakhstan for the next 20 years.
@@Quypzhatyr
I would be extremely careful doing that.
If you want to use a past legacy to claim more land, you give Russia a perfect excuse to do the same back to you- no amount of Western media coverage will be able to ignore Kazakhstan's neo-Khanate claims.
And, since they have the bigger army, LOTS of combat experience in the steppe now, and simply more people, you would lose.
@@LancesArmorStrikingas if russia in any position to fight two front war😂😂. They barely able to fought off ukraine
Kazakhstan is one of the former Soviet republics, which used to have many Russians, who were the intellectual core of the state, but the Russians are leaving, and Kazakhstan itself is not particularly engaged in the development of technical education among Kazakhs, hence all these problems with the infrastructure of Kazakhstan and its general intellectual and cultural decline, I can say this with confidence, because I live in Dagestan, which is part of Russia, we have exactly the same situation in Dagestan, the indigenous people are not developed enough to take the reins of power into their own hands, we have exactly the same clan system as in Kazakhstan, which does not promote smart people, but only relatives, all these problems are common to all former socialist countries and they are all related to the absence of Russians. Just look at life among the Kazakhs and their Internet, the meaning of life for a Kazakh, judging by the Kazakh Internet, is to buy a Toyota Camry, buy the latest iPhone model and that's it. What kind of development can we talk about in Kazakhstan if your people see the meaning of life in buying these trinkets.
It is your typical STAN country:
1) Incompetent goverment
2) Corruption
3) Soviet era specialists are slowly dying so there is no new competentent workers to replace them
4) Rising radical Islam movement
If Russia/China overlook this region it turn itself into another Afghanistan.
piss off, kazakhstan is ok
There are no "radical Islamic movements" in Kazakhstan that could serve as some kind of ideology for the people. Plus, Kazakhstan is a secular state. On the contrary, people are becoming more impressed with "Tengrianism" every year. People are afraid of too much Arab influence. That is, they are afraid of losing their Kazakh identity. Therefore, I strongly doubt that Kazakhstan can become Afghanistan 2.0.
@@Henry_Tom Dont talk shit, dude. I am living here for 30 years and there is 10 times more bearded dudes and hijab wearing women than it was 5 years ago.
It is even more ridiculous in the South and Central parts of country. To the point that few years ago goverment was forced to push a law which prohibit hijab wearing in schools/universities and raiding families because radical muslim parents refused to send their daughters to school.
Soviet “specialists” are the ones who collapsed USSR. It seems that you’re just another member of the cult of “Soviet education was the best in the world” and “the most tasty plombir ice cream was made in USSR”
@@Henry_Tomthey are, just not loud radicals . it’s a Muslim majority country
Great video, amazing job!
Please can you make a video about the recent cancelation of Romanian elections
Very Nice! Great success!
Very Nice! 👍
Before watching I think this might be it. One wants dominion over its previous vassal and the other is careful not to instigate anything since they could easily have their own donbass and crimea if Russia wanted to start something.
same all over the world. For instance in Western Australia, a state dependant on wealth from resources - The wealth does not go to where the resources were dug up. Kalgoolie is a dump, yet some 60 million ouzes Au dug up from there. Same in Africa, natural resource rich, yet poor, as the wealth is taken by nations far from Africa. Its normal.
It shouldn't be
Perth metro area is very affluent. Perth has close to 80% of the population of Western Australia. It is a normal and logical outcome to spend the State's wealth where the population lives. You aren't going to gold plate (pun intended) Kalgoolie. In any event, iron ore and gas in the northern part of WA are more of an economic factor tbh.
Thank you for this video
Because Russia is busy in Ukraine and Kazakhstan has china backing.
@16:44 - "As Kazakhstan finds itself squeezed between two expansionist regimes, it could use all the creative thinking and problem solving help it can get!" Brilliant insertion of a brilliant ad!
Nazarbayev has never been a close ally of Russia. Joining the Eurasian Economic Union was advantageous to the Kazakakstan because there is a lot of trade between the states. In all other aspect he tried to move as far as possible from it by making deals with the western countries and China to lesser extent. All of the major oil and gas companies are now controlled by the Western and Chinese corporations. Tokayev continues on this path of selling out Kazakhstan riches to the highest bidder as well.
Also Putin has never questioned Kazakstan's existence. Taking words out of context to further your agenda is called propaganda and this video is a prime example of that.
i heard and saw Putin say "Kazakhs didn't have state" (before russia conquered it in 19th century and in 20th created KSSR in place of "Turkestan" region of Russian empire)
@@Arystan0271 There wasn't any major war of conquest so saying that Russia conquered Kazakhstan is incorrect. While Kazakhs had several semi-state like entities there wasn't a unified Kazakh state before they joined Russia. Also judging by the Tucker's interview with him Putin likes to talk history. It seems to be his favorite topic. So I wouldn't put too much thought into it.
We are surrounded by Russia, China, Iran and Afganistan, altho not directly bordering. Duchebags are all around. In such conditions you would learn to be "that one friend" to whom thouse dubious guys are "going to cry" and you will show compassion. While thinking "just leave me alone" behind your eyes.
Just so that you wont have to fight them or be literal middle ground for them to fight between themselves.
Love from Kazakhstan 🇰🇿
16:24
Look! They didn't put Kaliningrad (Königsberg) on the map!
Every country acts in its own interest. It’s not about allies or enemies; it’s about what serves a nation’s priorities. Why not create a similar video exploring the dynamics of Canada and the USA?
Realpolitic fails to capture the effects of ideology. Just like russia is willing to make irrational choices for the sake of nationalism, the US is not gonna attack Canada because of shared liberal-democratic values. US and Canada are not pretend allies, so making the same video for them is no warranted.
This was true in 2024 though, i have no idea what happens next.
As a person from Kazakhstan we have a saying there are three situations that would end the world taking out Nepal (Dr@g trade) taking out New Zealand (human trafficking trade) and attacking Kazakhstan why I say this is that Kazakhstan has a insane amount of treaties and Backroom deals like NAP mutually assured destruction treaties as a example, the point being if Kazakhstan ever got attacked it would be like WW1 and how that started. if a western country attacked Kazakhstan the east would defend it, if a eastern country would attack Kazakhstan the west would defend that kind of situation. Kazakhstan is the blackhole between Europe and China, but this video poses a interesting situation with Russia.
My brother lived there when it happened,
everything stopped except taxi drivers. they charged more but kept driving as usual
did you hacks get a single Ukraine war prediction right?
I'm sorry but this kinds of videos do nothing but spread more flame 🔥.
What about the fact that many Russians deserted to Kazakhstan during the war draft and Kazakhstan president had taken them.
Or consider that significant amount of parallel import to Russia is done through Kazakhstan, that way Russia gets goods that are otherwise under sanctions.
Or the fact that Russia planning to build Nuclear Reactor as requested by KZ government. There is much nuance to all these topics.
It's dangerous to put one sided arguments that can potentially make people discuss it in wrong direction.
Your videos are always good, but this one goes particularly hard
China also would guarantee Kazakhstan's independence, as it sees the former soviet central Asia as a place ut can expand its economic hegemony into.
that's actually good
this video says china is expansive
but what is china's expansion?
pure economy, no conquering and imposing their culture and language
whilst russia is the opposite
Arystan Demographic expansion
It would have been nice to learn how to pronounce the last name of the president of a nation you are talking about
Kazakhstan greatest country in the world, All other countries are run by little girls.
Kazakhstan number one exporter of potassium, all other countries have inferior potassium.
Very interesting and very well presented. I had to do a research project for a Politics of Russia class focused on Kazakhstan and this does a very good job of making reasonable conclusions.
It's BS.
Look at current geopolitics from Russia’s perspective: In Europe, former Soviet blocs and Warsaw Pact countries joined NATO. In the Caucuses, Turkey is now flexing their muscles and expanding their sphere of influence at the expense of Russia. In the Middle East, key allies like Syria and Iran are barely hanging on. In Central Asia, China is now the main investor of stan countries. Russia has been losing for decades now. They are desperate, which is why invading Ukraine makes perfect sense to me, and it is also why I am so supportive of Ukraine. If Ukraine wins (ie. Russia withdraws from Ukraine entirely), this will only set our major geopolitical rival back another 50 years. Supporting Ukraine with aids or EU membership is a great deal for what we can gain from Russia’s loss.
@PolyMatter Quote at 9:00-9:05 is often misunderstood and taken out of context. If you listen to what he was saying he said that millions of Russians found themselves not apart of Russia anymore and were stateless. Not some desire to restore the Soviet Union..
Feel free to correct me, but with Russia tied up in Ukraine, entering the fourth year of its "3 day special military operation," I would assume any Russian threats to invade Kazakhstan probably ring hollow.
eh who knows. I used to think (as citizen of russia) the country is kind of declining and has so many problems so why would they start a war?
you never know with putin, he's a psycho and the population is like... bloody servs, they're happy as long as the tsar is happy
also if trump really cuts off all the aid to ukraine, they might just lose, so putin will be encouraged to go and conquer some more
Firstly, Russian top officials have never had any claims to the territory of Kazakhstan, Kazakhs are a real people, unlike the artificially created state of Ukraine, the fact that the Ukrainian people are artificial is confirmed by its language, and the most ironic thing is that the president of this country speaks Ukrainian with great difficulty, which can be noticed by anyone who knows Slavic languages, Zelensky, due to his limited knowledge of the language, has been using the same constructions for 6 years, however, during these 6 years his knowledge of the Ukrainian language has not changed at all, this suggests that he speaks more Russian, which was confirmed in December 2024 by Zelensky's former adviser, who claimed that Zelensky speaks Ukrainian exclusively on camera, the rest of the time he speaks Russian, the Ukrainian language is quite limited, it has always been considered the language of poorly educated stupid people. The funniest thing is that Ukrainians themselves thought so in the 90s-00s and 2010s, the Ukrainian language was the language of the lower classes, while Russian is the language of science and culture. Ukrainian culture has produced a small number of poets and writers, and they were all in the 19th century, and the most banal thing is that the Ukrainian language in the 19th century was not much different from Russian
who said about 3 days? i know you won't answer btw
I'm from Kazakhstan, so stop talking trash please. We are very good Friends with the Russians.
Qazaqstan alg'a
Analysis such as this is why I keep coming back. In this I am especially thinking of just before the 12-minute-mark
This is so poorly written and researched that I might just need to stop subbing to Polymatter. He mispronounced so many things that it hurts.
It's not Kazakhstan, but all other Central Asian countries pretend to be allies with Russia. But they try to distance themselves as much as possible every chance given