Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
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The nuclear testing component left a devastating legacy in Kazakhstan because for 40 years the military tested nuclear weapons, both in the atmosphere and later underground.
Now unfortunately, the protests didn't go on long enough for there to emerge a very strong leader of these protests...they were headless protests.
It was on economic issues, but they quickly moved toward more political issues, and then these protests merged with violent groups
By inviting the CSTO, Kazakhstan has sacrificed its symbolic if not outright legitimacy to foreign powers. For 30 years, the country's leaders have proudly proclaimed its sovereignty
This is a very serious situation because President Tokayev has really escalated the situation by his desire and to use coercive force. This means that there really is no opportunity for negotiations between the protesters and the government.
In terms of what these protesters want, we can actually look to what the government has promised them over the past several years and especially since Tokayev became president. He has laid out a reform agenda
The Shanghai Cooperation Organization will likely become less functional and coherent as the group gets bigger. Form will start to drive function, and the group will begin to search for a purpose.
The International Atomic Energy Agency has signed a deal with Kazakhstan, a former member of the Soviet Union. It will open the first internationally-run bank for low-enriched uranium, the fuel for nuclear power plants.
The five post-Soviet Central Asian republics—Kazakhstan, Krygyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan—share common political, cultural, and historical roots, but they are far from homogeneous, and continuing domestic and regional tensions could lead to violent conflict.
Carnegie Senior Associate Michael McFaul discussed the politics of the Russian-Ukrainian gas dispute with the NewsHour's Margaret Warner and J. Robinson West, Chairman of PFC Energy.