Central Asia

USSR 2.0 Is Failing

On 4 October, the people of Kyrgyzstan went to the polls in parliamentary elections. As a result, four parties came to power, three of them directly related to the country’s incumbent government and declaring pro-Russian policies.

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What to Think of Kazakhstan?

The late Hardo Aasmäe would be the best person to comment on articles about politics in Kazakhstan. He was the senior deputy to the first secretary of the erstwhile Kazakh SSR, and Nazarbayev even offered him the position of second secretary. Consequently, the newly independent Kazakhstan nearly had an Estonian prime minister. My discussions with my colleague Aasmäe were enlightening, and spurred me to search for secondary sources and to thoroughly review my short-term experience of this state and society.

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