Chaos and opportunism in Kazakhstan

The protests that erupted across Kazakhstan on January 2 quickly turned into riots in all of the country’s major cities. What do the protesters want, and what will be the outcome of the country’s most severe civil unrest since independence in 1991? Although the initial trigger was a doubling of fuel prices, the protesters soon demanded the dissolution of parliament and new elections. Moreover, they want former President Nursultan Nazarbayev to exit the political scene for good. Nazarbayev, the country’s ruler for the first 30 years of independence, gave up the presidency in 2019, but not befor…

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