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Kazakh president’s home ablaze as protests escalate
- vondur 5y agoThe unrest is due to the Government reducing the subsidizing of LPG purchases. Seems reminiscent of some of the early unrest during the French Revolution where the Royal government did the same thing with grain prices. That too didn't work out too well for the French Government at the time...
- anovikov 5y agoyou mean the literal "let them eat cake" thing?
- Gibbon1 5y agoLet them burn butane
- Scoundreller 5y agoGood luck as it’s 2 degrees Celsius in Almaty right now, and -15C elsewhere.
- ManuelKiessling 5y ago„Why don't they just buy electric cars?”
- Z0rr0 5y agoPulling a Macron here
- guywithabike 5y agoThat's an apocryphal story: https://www.history.com/news/did-marie-antoinette-really-say-let-them-eat-cake https://www.history.com/news/did-marie-antoinette-really-say...
- jszymborski 5y agoSure, Marie-Antoinette likely never uttered those words, but that phrase aptly captured the sentiment of the people regarding the apathy of the ruling class as evidenced by its contemporary use.
- anovikov 5y agoIt's a translation problem actually. For the French, there is no mystery there. She said "brioche" but because most cultures didn't have brioches yet, it was usually translated as "cake". The point was that, price of simple bread was government-regulated, so producing and selling it lost money to bakers and they either didn't do that at all when they could get away with it, or only did in minimum quantities that got quickly sold out. Prices of brioche, as a higher grade product, were not regulated, and brioche was always available. So really, that comment was more of pun illustrating how lame government price control policies were, rather than an indication of lack of touch with ordinary people's lives.
- jszymborski 5y agoThis is an interesting reading, but it's hardly the generally accepted interpretation. Typically, this is read to reflect the flagrant indifference or ignorance of the ruling class for the plight of the French people. And ultimately, that common reading is what is being referred to in the comment that spurred this thread. Regardless of the historical minutiae regarding the quote, it's making reference to the anger of a country's people when the cost of living rises and is perceived to be met with indifference.
- pdimitar 5y agoI don't see any actual rebuttal there. Barring having actual recording equipment in the 18th century, nobody can truly say whether she said or didn't say the words. Also she was 10 years old at the time, which actually makes it even more likely for her to blurt out something like this. Children are quite naive as I think we all know. I've read other articles on the topic and emerged unconvinced from them as well because the crux of their "evidence" was basically "a wide consensus". Hrm. "A wide consensus" amongst a small group of scientists where deviating from the accepted opinions of the majority bears an existential threat to one's entire life work and career is... shall we say, not convincing.
- hourislate 5y agoI would not be surprised to see Moscow coordinating/assisting a response to the unrest under the guise of protecting Russians/Russian speakers in the country. These countries that border Russia are all impoverish and ruled buy dictators/old guard just like Russia is ruled by Putin today. It would be wonderful for the people of Kazakhstan to finally be able to enjoy their culture, language, customs without Russian interference and basically a Russian stooge in charge of their country.
- tibbydudeza 5y agoWell Putin did say the dissolution of the USSR was a "genuine tragedy".
- deleted 5y ago[deleted]
- nojokes 5y agoEstonia, Latvia and Lithuania disagree with you. So does Ukraine and Georgia. Also Finland and Norway would like to have few words with you.
- woodruffw 5y agoThe GP didn't express it well, but I understood the comment to be in reference to Eastern and Central European countries that didn't join NATO and other West-aligned organizations as soon as they could.
- deleted 5y ago[deleted]
- hourislate 5y agoWhat in the Hell are you talking about?
- tibbydudeza 5y agoI wonder when he is going to make that call to Putin to save his behind - read reports of police and soldiers joining the protestors in some towns.
- Miiko 5y agoHe did already, and CSTO (Collective Security Treaty Organization = Russia, Armenia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan) is preparing their forces: https://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zone/43763/russian-led-peacekeeping-force-to-deploy-to-kazakhstan-in-response-to-unrest https://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zone/43763/russian-led-peac...
- Darmody 5y agoI hope everything turns OK for them. In these old muslin Soviet republics there are always religious nutheads waiting for a chance to make a move. Kazakhstan is probably the most secular of them but they could very well create a lot of trouble.
- jabej 5y ago
- rjbwork 5y agoOr maybe genocide and "re-education" camps are bad, no matter the context.
- pphysch 5y agoOf course. But it is also important to verify such claims -- especially coming from sources with a tremendous conflict of interest -- and not presume guilt. Or do we suspend justice when we perceive a party to be the current Big Bad?
- detaro 5y agoIs that an argument against "don't believe what people claim about Chinese abuse of Muslims in Xinjiang" or against "don't believe claims that China is just defending itself against Muslim terrorists, supported by foreign imperialists, in Xinjiang", or both?
- pphysch 5y agoMy argument is literally as stated. Verify media claims and come to your own conclusions. Be aware of what interests are at play and be skeptical of them.
- jabej 5y ago
- scottwitcher83 5y ago
- paxys 5y agoNone of the old Soviet states are having a good time right now. I bet no one is enjoying the situation more than Putin.
- flerchin 5y agoLatvia, Lithuania, and Estonia seem to be doing alright?
- smsm42 5y agoThey never were truly Soviet. They always considered themselves occupied territories and got out at the first chance they had.
- eatonphil 5y agoThose are still all Russian "buffer" states. Why would he be enjoying unrest on Russian borders?
- paxys 5y agoBecause it gives him an opportunity to increase Russia’s sphere of influence (whether by exerting soft power or outright annexation).
- Cuuugi 5y agoDid you ever consider it might be an attack on his sphere of influence? Putin's not the only bad actor in the world.
- moltar 5y agoBingo! And who was getting really friendly with KZ lately? Yes, yes!
- smsm42 5y agoHe doesn't want to annex Kazakhstan, who needs this trouble? He wants it to be within his sphere of influence, but deal with their own problems by themselves, preferably in a way that doesn't give people of Russia any ideas about freedoms or democracy. So far it worked pretty well, but now something went wrong...
- vbezhenar 5y ago"Fun fact": Kazakhstani Internet seems to be completely down last 8 hours. I live in Kazakhstan and at least in 3 cities people report absolute nothingness: no home internet, no mobile internet. I have servers in data centers, it seems they were not responsive as well. I was surprised by information vacuum caused by lack of Internet. I don't have TV antenna or radio, so I even considered going to meetings despite being a peaceful citizen. I just did not have anything to do. I got Internet at 0:00. Hopefully it was not a mistake. I definitely would protest out of boredom if they'll continue to cut an Internet.
- gremlinsinc 5y agoCurious... Russia seems jumping at the bit to take over more territory... if there's so much turmoil in your country and discombobulation...what's stopping them from coming in and taking over? You're right there in easy grasp....
- 999900000999 5y agoThat's a great point, when my internet was down the other day I was bored out of my mind. Wouldn't you want people to be able to keep using stuff like Netflix so their placated? Instead, this appears to have made things much worse, since you have a lot of bored, angry people with nothing better to do. Something strange is going on, why wouldn't you gradually transition people to higher gas prices. I strongly suspect if you saw gas tripling price overnight in America, people wouldn't be so happy here.
- iso1210 5y agoInternet being down being discussed at https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=29808046 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=29808046 (200+ comments)
- iso1210 5y agoSo they're trying to fire him?
- avodonosov 5y agolol
- UglyToad 5y agoAn explainer here, eurasianet seem to have quite good coverage of Kazakhstan https://eurasianet.org/kazakhstan-explainer-why-did-fuel-prices-spike-bringing-protesters-out-onto-the-streets https://eurasianet.org/kazakhstan-explainer-why-did-fuel-pri...
- dukeofdoom 5y agoPower to the people! Buying popcorn, and turning on CNN tomorrow.
- smsm42 5y agoIf you want to be informed, turning off CNN would be a better move.
- dukeofdoom 5y agoNo, I'll just do it for fun and fake tears. Taking a shot to every "insurrection" blowed by Jim Acosta until I pass out. Its like opposite world over there, you just believe the opposite of their current narrative. Kazakhstan and gas prices, will just add to their current panic. For even better entertainment!
- gremlinsinc 5y agoreddit.com/r/news is better than Fox or CNN.... so is /r/politics and /r/worldnews ... you get print medium. Print doesn't have emotion-inducing talking heads. If you just 'read' news, you can actually skim and get the pertinent parts and it's easier to tell when the author is using their own biases and what not. I read news for facts, not for opinions. I don't give a shit what someone thinks going on, I want to figure it out for myself, make my own conclusions, or at least talk it out w/ avg people on here or reddit, rather than some celebrity like Hannity or Cuomo.
- AnimalMuppet 5y agoThe headline doesn't do justice to what's going on. The government (cabinet) resigned, though the president has asked them to remain on the job until replacements are found. Armed police have fled from armed protestors. There are reports of police having been killed. So the protestors seem to have both weapons and more determination than the police. It remains to be seen whether they have more staying power than the police, whether the army is going to fight the protestors, and whether Russia is going to take a hand.
- Kinrany 5y ago> The protests appear to have no identifiable leader or demands. Good for them.
- onphonenow 5y agoThey've set gas prices at .11 cents per liter - that is totally unsustainable I think. The protests over higher gas prices reflect the reality - gas prices are (much) higher than folks have been paying.
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- r721 5y ago"Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev said he had appealed to a Russia-led security bloc to assist Kazakhstan in overcoming what he called a "terrorist threat". Tokayev made a second televised speech in the space of a few hours as the Central Asian republic faces the worst unrest in more than a decade, initially triggered by a fuel price rise. He said he had appealed to the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO), a military alliance of Russia, Belarus, Armenia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Tajikistan." https://finance.yahoo.com/finance/news/kazakh-president-appeals-help-russia-183803258.html https://finance.yahoo.com/finance/news/kazakh-president-appe...