There is always a tension between the global vision of the United States, with China as the central challenge, and that of the Europeans, who have Russia as their central security challenge
Media mentions – Russia
In these demonstrations several modes of order and several types of demands are combined, it is a movement that is very heterogeneous with both new urban populations and more political movements.
There is always this idea that neighbouring countries are more unstable, that Islamism has developed there and has been imported into Kazakhstan
Marie Dumoulin on authorities trying to find an outside scapegoat for the protests in Kazakhstan
The concern, particularly in states on the front line of Russian threats, is that their already precarious security situation does not get any worse
These developments will probably have an impact on upcoming U.S. Russian talks, with some Russian media outlets already portraying the protests as a “color revolution” manufactured by the West
These are the biggest protests in three decades, posing a real threat to those in power, who have completely lost the trust of their citizens
It’s a way to discredit protesters and deny that there are any dissatisfaction in the population
The expression of this growing discontent, in a system that traditionally leaves little room for opposition forces, may have helped convince Nazarbayev that the time had come to hand over