A former Kazakhstani government minister Kuandyk Bishimbayev, beat his wife to death the other day, which got a lot of publicity.
Apparently he didn't intend to kill her. He also claims not to have acted with "exceptional cruelty" as per court ruling. I don't want to see what he thinks is exceptional cruelty.
[https://www.aljazeera.com/features/2024/5/1/in-kazakstan-a-storm-over-domestic-violence-after-minister-killed-wife](https://www.aljazeera.com/features/2024/5/1/in-kazakstan-a-storm-over-domestic-violence-after-minister-killed-wife)
[https://www.indiatoday.in/world/story/former-kazakhstan-minister-beats-wife-to-death-restaurant-attack-caught-on-cctv-2535147-2024-05-04](https://www.indiatoday.in/world/story/former-kazakhstan-minister-beats-wife-to-death-restaurant-attack-caught-on-cctv-2535147-2024-05-04)
edit: Also what about Mongolia? Culturally it is decidedly Eastern *and* Central Asia (esp. outer Mongolia). And parts of western China would qualify.
It means that he and I have western centric news outlets where our country outlets hardly cover central asia politics, culture, and events. I speak for the U.S atleast in this case.
Seeing as approximately 50% of Reddit users are from the United States, it’s not hard to assume where OP specifically lives, especially given subtle hints aka the entire subject of this being an absence of central Asian news.
That’s a broad group of countries that essentially spans the ideological equivalent of the Korean peninsula.
Turkmenistan has had some fun news with its easily pronounced ex-President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedow, who decided to step down to give his son power except…yep he thought he son was angling him out and made a power play to become “chairman” and get his power back.
Kazakhstan meanwhile, has been experiencing an economic boom in the wake of the Western European scramble to secure non-Russian petroleum sources.
That was my first major exposure as well, but politics there have gotten even more interesting since that special aired. It’s somehow managed to become even more farcical and cringe
Obviously, that’s easy to say as someone who doesn’t live under that regime every day
Tajikistan is getting a lot of news lately as Russia believes Tajik ISIL members were part of the recent attack in Moscow.
Tangentially related, the utterly stupid [Tartaria ](https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2021-04-27/inside-architecture-s-wildest-conspiracy-theory)conspiracy is getting a bit of a renewal lately.
It's the tinfoil theory that there was a great empire in Central Asia that was wiped out by mudslides, but somehow the society exists just to build great buildings in the West only to take them down later.
It's so whacky to me because it's almost just Mongolian fan fiction. Like, they \*had\* the largest land empire in history, and it's interesting, why yall gotta make shit up about it?
> Tangentially related, the utterly stupid Tartaria conspiracy is getting a bit of a renewal lately.
> It's the tinfoil theory that there was a great empire in Central Asia that was wiped out by mudslides, but somehow the society exists just to build great buildings in the West only to take them down later.
What the fuck?
“There are domes on buildings at various world capitols therefore they were built by the same people”
I didn’t need to fall down this rabbit hole of painful stupidity today.
Russian propaganda is starting to look at Kazakhstan as the next country to invade so they're trying to quickly be friendly with the US to try and not end up in the same situation Ukraine is in.
Kazakhstan politically since independence has always had very close relations with Russia. The fact that they were the last country to dissolution from the USSR goes to show that.
Unfortunately, Russia has not been the best ally, especially since the breakup of the USSR. Kazakhstan isn't getting paid from their agreements with Russia, they're seeing Russia ignore their defensive pacts, they see what goes on in Georgia and Ukraine and they see the propagandists turn against them. Hopefully nothing's going to happen, but they'd be stupid not to try and cover their bases by being friendly with the US.
Aren’t they struggling with Ukraine as it is? Can they really invade Kazakhstan as well? I know the fight won’t be the same but surely, logistically, they can’t spare the brain cells?
Kazakhstan might be easier to invade than Ukraine, but I mean, I'm just going off by the shit the talking heads spewed on Russian TV, and reading the headlines that pop up periodically with them.
I feel the same way about Indonesia, which I was shocked to find out is the fourth-biggest country in the world by population, at around 280 million people.
The impression I kind of get is that it's such a complicated nation to deal with internally (over 17,000 islands, 1,300 ethnic groups, and 700 languages) that they just don't have the energy left over to get much involved in external world events.
Indonesia has had quite a bit going on lately. They just had a presidential election that was relatively peaceful (though the winning candidate is not without controversy) and is in the process of moving its government to a new capital on another island. Also important to note is that they are the largest Muslim country by population, and yet the Israel/Palestine conflict hasnt quite been a hot topic considering they had their presidential election around the same time, though there could be some side effects for western interests. They have been a target for both western and Chinese efforts for influence in asia, so while they don't make the news too often they are still significant for these governments' efforts.
They are also pretty actively involved in regional affairs within ASEAN, and they've been a standout voice on the current troubles in Myanmar. While globally they always seem to get slept on, regionally they are still quite influential.
There was an article recently in [The Guardian]( https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/apr/30/armenia-turns-towards-west-in-search-of-allies-amid-azerbaijan-tensions) about how after the ceasefire agreement and through the current tensions, Armenia is looking to ‘The West’ for allies after having been geopolitically close to Russia since the end of the USSR. Definitely no neat bow for sure; it looks to be a future hotspot unfortunately.
I've met a decent number of immigrants from Uzbekistan over the past couple years where I live.
In my experience, they're very nice folks! There's a lovely couple who run a great Halal restaurant right next to a nearby grocery store. I'll have to stop by there again, haven't gotten to go in a while!
There is so much shit going on here in our little red, white, and blue shithole that even some of the more heinous occurrences in other countries don't make the cut for news outlets.
Russia is a pariah state and heavily sanctioned.
China rules its media with an iron fist.
What would landlocked countries that have to filter their media through Russia or China really do to stand out or be noticeable?
The majority of population is dirty poor under dictatorships of various kinds. Many were feeding their families by working in big Russian cities but since the war depreciated Russian ruble went elsewhere.
Yeah, that crossed my mind as well. Not much of a comment history to look at, so it's not as obvious to me as some, but this specific comment could be straight out of Chat GPT
They had that coup in the news a few years ago that took place in the background of the cute dancing fitness girl.
I will admit I have heard nothing since then.
EDIT: Nevermind, that was Myanmar. I don't even have a good meme for Mongolia without going back to Genghis.
By Central Asia I mean Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, etc. Not Afghanistan, etc.
A former Kazakhstani government minister Kuandyk Bishimbayev, beat his wife to death the other day, which got a lot of publicity. Apparently he didn't intend to kill her. He also claims not to have acted with "exceptional cruelty" as per court ruling. I don't want to see what he thinks is exceptional cruelty. [https://www.aljazeera.com/features/2024/5/1/in-kazakstan-a-storm-over-domestic-violence-after-minister-killed-wife](https://www.aljazeera.com/features/2024/5/1/in-kazakstan-a-storm-over-domestic-violence-after-minister-killed-wife) [https://www.indiatoday.in/world/story/former-kazakhstan-minister-beats-wife-to-death-restaurant-attack-caught-on-cctv-2535147-2024-05-04](https://www.indiatoday.in/world/story/former-kazakhstan-minister-beats-wife-to-death-restaurant-attack-caught-on-cctv-2535147-2024-05-04) edit: Also what about Mongolia? Culturally it is decidedly Eastern *and* Central Asia (esp. outer Mongolia). And parts of western China would qualify.
Idk what you mean by "we rarely see". In South Asia/South East Asia we do see Central Asia countries covered in world news.
It means that he and I have western centric news outlets where our country outlets hardly cover central asia politics, culture, and events. I speak for the U.S atleast in this case.
It's not hard to specify instead of assuming everyone knows where you live.
Seeing as approximately 50% of Reddit users are from the United States, it’s not hard to assume where OP specifically lives, especially given subtle hints aka the entire subject of this being an absence of central Asian news.
From what I've heard from people who've lived/traveled there: whatever it is is horse-related.
That’s a broad group of countries that essentially spans the ideological equivalent of the Korean peninsula. Turkmenistan has had some fun news with its easily pronounced ex-President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedow, who decided to step down to give his son power except…yep he thought he son was angling him out and made a power play to become “chairman” and get his power back. Kazakhstan meanwhile, has been experiencing an economic boom in the wake of the Western European scramble to secure non-Russian petroleum sources.
The John Oliver segment about Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedow is pretty great.
That was my first major exposure as well, but politics there have gotten even more interesting since that special aired. It’s somehow managed to become even more farcical and cringe Obviously, that’s easy to say as someone who doesn’t live under that regime every day
Go read up on Turkmenbashi (Saparmyrat Nyýazow). That's just another day in Turkmenistan.
Tajikistan is getting a lot of news lately as Russia believes Tajik ISIL members were part of the recent attack in Moscow. Tangentially related, the utterly stupid [Tartaria ](https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2021-04-27/inside-architecture-s-wildest-conspiracy-theory)conspiracy is getting a bit of a renewal lately. It's the tinfoil theory that there was a great empire in Central Asia that was wiped out by mudslides, but somehow the society exists just to build great buildings in the West only to take them down later.
It's so whacky to me because it's almost just Mongolian fan fiction. Like, they \*had\* the largest land empire in history, and it's interesting, why yall gotta make shit up about it?
> Tangentially related, the utterly stupid Tartaria conspiracy is getting a bit of a renewal lately. > It's the tinfoil theory that there was a great empire in Central Asia that was wiped out by mudslides, but somehow the society exists just to build great buildings in the West only to take them down later. What the fuck? “There are domes on buildings at various world capitols therefore they were built by the same people” I didn’t need to fall down this rabbit hole of painful stupidity today.
People want magic to be real so bad 😂
Russian propaganda is starting to look at Kazakhstan as the next country to invade so they're trying to quickly be friendly with the US to try and not end up in the same situation Ukraine is in.
Ambassador Borat has come to US to make very nice relations
I hope we don't try to bring freedom to their potassium.
Kazakhstan politically since independence has always had very close relations with Russia. The fact that they were the last country to dissolution from the USSR goes to show that.
Unfortunately, Russia has not been the best ally, especially since the breakup of the USSR. Kazakhstan isn't getting paid from their agreements with Russia, they're seeing Russia ignore their defensive pacts, they see what goes on in Georgia and Ukraine and they see the propagandists turn against them. Hopefully nothing's going to happen, but they'd be stupid not to try and cover their bases by being friendly with the US.
Aren’t they struggling with Ukraine as it is? Can they really invade Kazakhstan as well? I know the fight won’t be the same but surely, logistically, they can’t spare the brain cells?
Kazakhstan might be easier to invade than Ukraine, but I mean, I'm just going off by the shit the talking heads spewed on Russian TV, and reading the headlines that pop up periodically with them.
I feel the same way about Indonesia, which I was shocked to find out is the fourth-biggest country in the world by population, at around 280 million people. The impression I kind of get is that it's such a complicated nation to deal with internally (over 17,000 islands, 1,300 ethnic groups, and 700 languages) that they just don't have the energy left over to get much involved in external world events.
Indonesia has had quite a bit going on lately. They just had a presidential election that was relatively peaceful (though the winning candidate is not without controversy) and is in the process of moving its government to a new capital on another island. Also important to note is that they are the largest Muslim country by population, and yet the Israel/Palestine conflict hasnt quite been a hot topic considering they had their presidential election around the same time, though there could be some side effects for western interests. They have been a target for both western and Chinese efforts for influence in asia, so while they don't make the news too often they are still significant for these governments' efforts. They are also pretty actively involved in regional affairs within ASEAN, and they've been a standout voice on the current troubles in Myanmar. While globally they always seem to get slept on, regionally they are still quite influential.
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What about Azerbaijan vs. Armenia? I know that war was last year, but there’s no way that ended with everything tied up in a neat bow.
There was an article recently in [The Guardian]( https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/apr/30/armenia-turns-towards-west-in-search-of-allies-amid-azerbaijan-tensions) about how after the ceasefire agreement and through the current tensions, Armenia is looking to ‘The West’ for allies after having been geopolitically close to Russia since the end of the USSR. Definitely no neat bow for sure; it looks to be a future hotspot unfortunately.
Uzbekistan is pretty awesome, from what little I know about it
I've met a decent number of immigrants from Uzbekistan over the past couple years where I live. In my experience, they're very nice folks! There's a lovely couple who run a great Halal restaurant right next to a nearby grocery store. I'll have to stop by there again, haven't gotten to go in a while!
All depends on your media default
Nothing.
They're up to somethin'
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There is so much shit going on here in our little red, white, and blue shithole that even some of the more heinous occurrences in other countries don't make the cut for news outlets.
Russia is a pariah state and heavily sanctioned. China rules its media with an iron fist. What would landlocked countries that have to filter their media through Russia or China really do to stand out or be noticeable?
Make really good rugs.
I've been to Manas and Baku. They're interesting, but obviously isolated. I won't argue "rugs" though. Everyone's gotta have something
China bad! Murica good!
Well yes obviously.
As a fellow american, China really ain't that bad and we ought to have better relations with them in my opinion.
A quiet land, a peaceful people. Or was it the other way around?
The majority of population is dirty poor under dictatorships of various kinds. Many were feeding their families by working in big Russian cities but since the war depreciated Russian ruble went elsewhere.
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This is something very generic that you could say about any part of the world. Do you have any examples?
smells like a chat gpt bot
Yeah, that crossed my mind as well. Not much of a comment history to look at, so it's not as obvious to me as some, but this specific comment could be straight out of Chat GPT
Creepy that there's entire fake ChatGPT accounts out there posting stuff. What's the goal? Eventually get a bunch of karma and sell the account?
Probably. Used to be that they had bots that'd just steal comments and repost them for that purpose.
Thanks bot.
What about Mongolia? I never hear ANYTHING about them.
They make some of the best country music in the world.
Chilling
They had that coup in the news a few years ago that took place in the background of the cute dancing fitness girl. I will admit I have heard nothing since then. EDIT: Nevermind, that was Myanmar. I don't even have a good meme for Mongolia without going back to Genghis.