Demands of the Protesters in #Kazakhstan1. Immediate release of all political prisoners2. Full resignation of president and government3. Political reforms: Creation of a Provisional Government of reputable and public citizens. Withdrawal from all alliances with #Russia pic.twitter.com/wNAi47Mspg

— NEXTA (@nexta_tv) January 5, 2022

So shit is going down in a big way in Kazakhstan today, which seems to be a surprise to most people. The protestors have taken over a number of government buildings (and several are on fire), many of the airports, and simply grabbed riot vehicles from the cops while the cops and National Guard just sit there. The government has resigned (for what it’s worth), and it looks like a bunch of private aircraft fucked off to Western Europe before the protestors got to the airports.

The country has had the same sort of kleptocratic autocracy that a lot of Central Asian countries got stuck with, and that’s the root of this, but it’s surprising to me that the protestors want such a sharp break from Moscow. That wasn’t in the initial demands of Ukrainian or Belarusian protestors, but it ended up that way because Putin can’t tolerate any sort of democratic government in what he considers Russia’s possessions. Maybe the protestors are just getting ahead of the game.