Asel Doolotkeldieva
@ADoolotkeldieva
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PhD. Contentious Politics. Central Asia. Mainly my opinions about contemporary developments but also academia and research. asel.doolotkeldieva @gmail .com
Joined October 2020
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My latest contribution as a guest editor of a Special Issue reconsidering Kyrgyzstan's popular uprisings .
Among other things, I draw attention to the ways Russian propaganda undermined democratic struggles against corruption & autocracy in the region.
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I am not a military or 'border conflict' expert. I am a political analyst with years of fieldwork research in Kyrgyzstan. Since there is a need to explain what's going b/n Kyrgyzstan & Tajikistan, I thought to collect here some analysis by my colleagues & myself.
A long thread🧵
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Bloomberg didn't even bother to write the country's name. Kazakhstan is just a 'backyard'.
So tell me, how this Western imperial discourse is different from the Russian imperial discourse on Central Asia? How better you are?
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Nobody sleeps in Kyrgyzstan for several days. You should understand, it is a very small and a very connected country. I know nobody around me who stayed away from this tragedy. The capital Bishkek is electrified. Hospitals are full with wounded people coming from Batken. 1
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Please, Ukrainians, not you. This type of questioning is exactly how Moscow used to delegitimize our uprisings in Kyrgyzstan & recently in Kazakhstan, because they are far from 'European' standards of civilized behavior. Looting and vandalism are not an expression of culture 1/
Violence and looting in France makes no sense to me, a Ukrainian. Please help me understand.
We Ukrainians have had 2 revolutions over the last 30 years, a declaration of Independence, and the Russian invasion. But no riots, no vandalism, no burning cars or destroying shops. 1/
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Мед студенты из Пакистана и Индии в Оше собрали более 100000 сомов для Баткенцев. Огромное человеческое спасибо вам!
И это несмотря на то, что их часто дискриминируют на рассовой основе в Кыргызстане. Пусть это будет для нас примером настоящей солидарности и космополитности!
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Almaty. A French historian complains to me that he doesn't understand why everybody is so much about decolonization nowadays in Kazakhstan. Where does it lead, he asks. To individualism, burkas, and polygamy, he concludes (!). Whereas the Soviets gave these nations the theater...
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Free Buryatia Foundation was created as "the first ethnic anti-war initiative" (!) and pursues three objectives:
1) end the war; 2) fight against Kremlin's propaganda; 3) fight against the stigmatization of Buryats as the main "defenders of the Russian world".
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Poor migrants. All migrants, not only the Tajiks. It was already tough for them to be in Russia under anti-migrant laws, xenophobia and chauvinism. Now, it might turn into nightmare
Tajikistan denies Russian media reports that 3 Tajik citizens carried out
#MoscowAttack
. It says 2 of the men were at home in Tajikistan at the time of attack, 3rd man was and still is in Samara.
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Donations are coming from Buryatia, Yakutia, Kazakhstan, Armenia, Turkey, US, Uzbekistan, Ukraine, and others.
Thank you ❤️🇰🇬
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Today we commemorate Urkun - massive Revolt of Central Asians against imperial military mobilization in 1916 - which was brutally repressed and caused exodus of many Kyrgyz to China. Between 300 & 500 thousands died, not counting victims of smaller revolts
Первая пятница Августа, день памяти Үркүн, трагического события народов Центральной Азии и в частности Кыргызстана, когда тысячи семей вынуждены были бежать от карателей российской империи.
По разным оценкам, погибло от 100 до 500 тысяч человек.
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There is so much that separates our worlds. And it's not about different historical sources, languages used, research methods, etc. But Islamophobia that transpires so much in such views. Because theater (aka civilization) was legitimate enough to justify colonial policies 🤦🏻♀️
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I have impression that foreign media is unprepared to listen to compelx stories; it must be black or white. It's either peaceful protesters or gangs. As soon as you start telling about complexity they shut off.
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It's absolutely personal. My grandfather fell victim of dekulakization. My mom, professor of microbiology, was oppressed due to her ethnicity until the 90s. So, I feel very angry when people patronize me about how I should feel about USSR or Russian neo-imperialism
My encounters with colonialism. Or why decolonisation is also a personal endeavour. 🧵 (1/13)
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6. Please refer to the academic work of brilliant scholars who have been studying for many years:
@magdagul
and her book (),
@NickMegoran
and his book () to name the few.
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1. So what happened? Starting from Sep 14, TJ & KG forces exchanged sustained gunfire along various points of the un-demarcated border. After short ceasefire, however, on Sep 16, fierce fighting resumed and ENLARGED from the initial "border areas" to the deep of KG territory.
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19. I've used mainly sources in English to ease comprehension for foreign audiences. What I compiled under time pressure is a short summary of an otherwise long and complex history. Please add here other analytical pieces to enrich the reading list.
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4. This invasion caused more than 130 thousands of internally displaced people, 26 dead, 129 wounded among the Kyrgyzstani civilians. The number of dead services is not confirmed.
We still miss information about casualties and losses on the Tajik side.
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13. Such ignoring at the official largest regional gathering is telling. The whole of CIS is shaking. Conflicts Ru/Ukr, Armenia/Azerbaijan, now KG/TJ. All states are observing the ongoing shattering of the existing order with uncertainty and fear. What is next?
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3 persons in my circle got evicted in favor of Russian arrivers. A student asked to study online as s/he had to go back to live with parents in Naryn.
If govs don't start regulating market & Russians keep coming (we don't know when war will end), there will be a social upheaval
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3. Although both sides officially produce contradictory accounts, what is clear is that TJ attacked deep inside KG, going out of the 'usual' border clashes.
Ceasefire negotiations broke down several times, parties accusing each other of sabotage.
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Моя бедная маленькая страна. Всем на тебя наплевать. И зачем вообще нужен политический анализ и что-то писать? Все равно тебя никто не увидит из-за твоей геополитической маргинализации
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People, humanitarian aid, medicine, money are connecting regions, are becoming one big movement uniting the country.
I just hope that we can last, that our scarce resources can last because we are also a depleted country and a society long abused by elites and neoliberalism. 2
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In France, where I studied and lived, lots of my North-African friends were stopped, searched on the streets by the police, for only having an 'Arab face'. Before condemning violence, we better try to understand structural racism 3/3
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5. This escalation is not the first, obviously. As many such conflicts in post-Soviet space and globally, this one is complicated and has a long history of tensions, back & forth negotiations, and human suffering. Tensions along the un-demarcated border date for several decades.
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Maybe there is no West, which Ukraine could join? Just capitalism, because this is how Italy and Germany are now acting out. Then don't cover it up with human rights, democracy and bla bla.
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8. What preceded this escalation was populist moves by the Kyrgyz government and militarization of borders. The Kyrgyz gov purchased modern military equipment including Turkish bayraktar and Russian tanks. It also threw a big military show just in front of Rahmon's nose.
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Kyrgyz authorities have closed the local branch of Radio Free Europe, one of the independent media in the country.
Azattyk (Freedom) has a long history of serving Kyrgyzstan's democracy. It was under pressure many times by previous autocrats, it survived. The autocrats did not.
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They are expression of anger, extreme frustration & disbelief in other, institutional, channels to change structural injustices. In KG youth looted during the 2005 revolt because they believed the fancy supermarkets belonged to the greedy elites and looting was seen as justice 2/
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10. Local people understand their security as the ability to go to the market, hospital and schools, i.e. conduct their daily business, free from fear. That does not include military securitization of borders
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7. Previous big escalation was in April 2021, killing 41 and wounding hundreds of people, causing significant social infrastructure damage (). This marked a dramatic change in the nature of tensions between TJ & KG. More info here: .
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10 mln som, 140 liters of blood were collect in one day to help people of Batken. 1500 volunteers mobilized. Bar bol, Kyrgyzstan 🇰🇬
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14. Would Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan like such a rearrangement of territory in the region? Most likely not. Ru's SCTO offered mediation, but so far SCTO was only good in crashing civic dissent () rather than helping maintaining fragile peace among members.
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9. Territorial sovereignty and border security was one of the main points in Japarov's & Tashiev's electoral campaigns in 2020. Their populist moves precisely endangered human security of people living in border areas. According to Murzakulova, the leading researchers on borders,
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18. Kyrgyz gov has behaved populist re border, it is also heavily criticized for corruption and repression of political pluralism. But KG has robust civil society, independent media and NGOs, elections and changeable power (). And KG needs least the war...
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Does the creation of an external enemy such as Kyrgyzstan is done to facilitate internal power transit? Or is it forcing the border disputes because previous diplomatic way doesn't work? Is it about land grab while int.comunity is busy with Ukr? Many questions...
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16. What is really difficult to gauge is the reasons behind escalation from the Tajik side. Rahmon keeps his country under iron fist. A power transfer from father to son is ongoing against the background of soaring inflation and deep economic stagnation.
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12. This escalation of the conflict takes place amidst a large summit of the Shangai Cooperation Organization, hosted in Uzbekistan (). Neither the Tajik nor the Kyrgyz nor the leading chair of SCO, Uzbek, leaders raised the issue.
Перевести твит
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Today is a national mourning day in Kyrgyzstan. 59 people lost their lives under this attack.
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What Putin has really succeeded is to turn his society into neoliberal consumerists. This becomes obvious from complaints that Ru migrants display in Georgia, Kaz, Kyrg. All they complain is bad services but I haven't seen them praising pol freedoms that they can't enjoy in Ru.
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As I am currently running focus groups across Kyrgyzstan among ordinary citizens, I decided to include a couple of questions about the war in Ukr. For the moment, we are talking about a couple of focus groups only. And these are qualitative materials. 1/6
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Central Asia - a region long ignored - is becoming part of changing politics in the post-soviet space. Long viewed through the prism of Ru's domination, it is high time the region is decoupled from it. There must be independent, not reactionary, approach to Central Asia.
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Came across yet another publication by a Western academic, for which I gave an interview. I spent 1,5 h of my time for interview. Yet, no acknowledgement of my nor other experts' contribution, not even a thank you in the footnotes. How to relate to such colleagues after this?
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To foreign journalists:
You've got our names wrong, fine.
But please stop framing your questions with: "so tell us why Kazakhstan matters?"
At the least, it sounds euro-centric ((
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As usually, there is a huge room for solidarity in Kyrgyz society in crisis times. People in other districts hold signs "Ui bar" (there is free place for you) to host displaced people from Batken ❤
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17. People chose exit strategies rather than opposing to the regime. Last opposition and civil activists are chased down in Russia. Heavy and regular clamping on GBAO region's minority. For more info in this podcast ().
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15. While different popular perceptions and expert opinions proliferate about the role of Russia, in Russia itself, this escalation was presented as the 'doings of the West' that seeks to further weaken Russia's southern borderlands ()
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I have no words for this Russian racism. When this gonna end?
A Russian beating up a Kyrgyz taxi driver in Moscow.
«Водитель из Кыргызстана легальный, с видом на жительство. Зашил бровь в больнице, пошел в полицию, а у него даже не взяли заявление о побоях и видео смотреть не стали», — написал Рустем Адагамов.
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Kyrgyz MPs propose a law on rehabilitation of victims of Stalinist repressions in Kyrgyzstan. The draft law says: "It is time to rethink the events... and give them a political evaluation" 👏👏. Yes!
In the past Kremlin opposed to such initiatives.
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I created my Twitter account in late 2020 at the request of fellow academics who were confused about yet another revolt in Kyrgyzstan. Since then, my short writings about Central Asia have been used by media, students, and colleagues who saw in me increasingly ... 1/
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Happy Independence Day, Kyrgyzstan!
I began appreciating our independence even more so after the invasion of Ukraine.
No matter how fragile it is, it's worth celebrating!!!
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Prove me wrong, but Kyrgyzstan passport is one of the cutest
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"I was really shocked that Kyrgyzstan is a developed country. When arriving here, I thought that Kyrgyzstan is like an African country"
Many of you have probably seen these "innocent" racist reflections by Russian draft dodgers
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Buryatia is a small region in Russia and Buryats are among the largest numbers of soldiers killed in Ukraine. According to Alexandra, founder, soldiers are recruited from the poorest Russian provinces. While Buryats suffer daily from xenophobia and chauvinism within Russia.
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Across post-Soviet space, we feel for Ukraine because we stand together in the struggle against the authoritarian predicament in our region. Our solidarity comes from the shared history of struggles against imperialism and colonialism. But if tomorrow, Putin decides to subjugate
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I remember how in 2014, Kazakh and Kyrgyz societies became divided on the issue of Crimea. But personally when 500 days ago Russia declared full invasion of Ukraine, I was nevertheless deeply shocked. My relatives continue being divided with some still supporting Putin because 1/
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I wish for Central Asia not to be divided, to find peace among each other, oppose to colonizers and work towards integration & solidarity ✊️
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To hell with war! 😭
- 46 people died, 140 wounded, 140 thousands temporarily displaced on the Kyrgyz side.
- Still no official confirmation on the Tajik side.
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Indian & Pakistani medical students in Osh have collected 100000 soms for IDPs from Batken. What wonderful gesture of solidarity! Despite racism & discrimination that these guys face in Kyrgyzstan. Kyrgyz citizens should take a note of their generous souls! Thank you🙏
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High in the mountains, Kyrgyz shepherds are now discussing the protests in Kazakhstan. Guessing how long it will take until the system explodes. It's incredible how concerned they are with the politics of neighbors and how political they can be even in isolated places
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Если после такой мобилизации и сплочения общества, эти двое опять примутся за закрывание ртов активистов и неугодных, то их снесут в два счёта..
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If you want to understand the context in which the protests erupted last week in Kazakhstan, this is another brilliant collection of papers ed. by Marlene Laruelle, which contains a lot of local scholars
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CinemaPark in Uralsk, Kazakhstan, offered Russian men fleeing from mobilization to overnight. Generous.
Has any Russian ever offered a migrant in need of shelter such help??
Фото: бежавшие из России ночуют в кинотеатре в Казахстане.
Руководство кинотеатра CinemaPark в Уральске в Казахстане пригласило россиян переночевать в кинозале.
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What an irony. Kyrgyz President Sadyr Japarov, who came to power on the wave of anti-governmental protests thanks to ordinary people, now sending troops to crack down on Kazakh protesters.
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Съездила в приграничные зоны Баткена. Такого дипрессника у меня ещё не было за всю работу. Что обидно - это то что про украинскую собачку с буквой V пишут больше, чем про ребенка, умершего от снаряда в Баткене. Мы настолько в информационной жопе, что наверное уже не выйдем оттуда
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11. Tajik gov didn't wait long to arm itself. The last effort in this direction is the opening of a facility to produce Iranian-designed Ababil-2 tactical drones
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Given multi-ethnic composition of Russia, this initiative is perhaps only a beginning. And it's massively important to dismantle the image constructed both by Kremlin & Russian liberals that others (the Chechens, Buryats) but not Slavs conduct atrocities
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I am just amazed that all "Western" people care to comment on my earlier twit is what I mean by neoliberalism. Teaching me the academic lesson about its definitions. We are in the middle of a military aggression! Second, I know what is neoliberalism because I've been LIVING it.
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The real courage is when ordinary Kyrgyz citizens rose against the regime 3 times, with many being killed. When Qazakh citizens revolted against the regime, with a terrible bloodshed in 2022. When Ukranian women and men defend their country with the price of their lives.
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Central Asia in his unstoppable imperialist move, would we get the same degree of moral support and solidarity as the blond haired and blue eyed "almost" European Ukranians?
Sorry, can't help these thoughts and feelings amidst shows of race-based solidarity (((
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@patriktriesecon
Why such an obsession with the material destruction (if it can be restored so quickly) and zero care about the dignity of generations of people who don't feel secure at home?
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One month after the attack, Batken people are living through immense trauma. No sign of women or children in Aksay & Kapchagai. People aren't returning to their destroed homes to restore their lives.
It's the hardest research trip I've ever had 💔. More to come
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20. UPD.
Important correction: people with military knowledge criticized my tweet on the militarization on the Kyrgyz side. Tigers are not tanks, as judged by me earlier. Hence I have over-evaluated the Kyrgyz military efforts! Which means that the Kyrgyz capacity is even lower
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The current events in Kazakhstan and the past events in Kyrgyzstan just once again show the futility of the area study/disciplinary study debate. Without accurate empirical knowledge, no theory has a chance to explain the world. And vice versa.
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21. Thanks
@opmaida
for making this important correction! As I said earlier I am not a military expert.
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Energy crisis across Central Asia. Uzb can stop its exports of gas due to crisis, in Taj electricity is given for 5 h per day, in Turkm citizens can purchase foods only if they show paid bills for gas. In Kyrg, private houses are checked against using electrical heating devices.
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Today, two men in black came to my house in the dark. Only to check electricity, as I figured later. But I panicked.
This is how perhaps many journalists & ordinary critical citizens feel these days. Intimidated, threatened, oppressed. No protection.
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I probably will be attacked after saying this. But seeing so much sincere hospitality in Central Asia re the Russian draft dodgers, where was this hospitality when the Afghan refugees were concerned, who were fleeing REAL horrors? Somehow selective humanism, again?
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The foundation provides legal advice to Buryatians who seek to avoid army conscription; they carry out research on losses among the ethnic minorities fighting in Ukraine and they call to sanction the Buryatian leadership for failing to protect its citizens.
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Members of Russian Duma made provocative statements to a local proposal to rename districts in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan. Such renaming, per them, would hurt the rights of the Kyrgyz Russians and "reminds how things began in Georgia & Ukraine". Can Russia behave differently ever?
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Yesterday, I shared a taxi on my way from Bishkek to Almaty with a young Kyrgyz woman. We talked a lot about politics and economy: her husband drives a truck and brings Chinese electro cars to Russia through Central Asia, a thriving business since the invasion of Ukraine 1/3
Today marks 80 years since Chechen and Ingush were genocidedly deported to Central Asia.
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Kazakh sisters and brothers donated more than 1 mln tenge. Thank you!
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The notion "Ukrainization" is spreading quickly in post-Soviet space. Russian ideologues understand it as any local effort to raise awareness about Soviet crimes like famine in KAZ & rehabilitation of victims of Stalin's repressions in KG. They view these efforts as russophobia 1
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Kazakhstan's populations lived through a nightmare when power plants went off in several towns while temperatures dropped -30C.
Per Eurasianet, of 37 large power plants 22 are privately owned. This brings to the much debated topic of private vs. state management.
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Observing the growing interest in decolonization in Central Asia, some commentators quickly dismissed it as “hype". But such dismissal overlooks important existing processes amplified by the invasion.
My piece on grassroots decolonial projects in KG & KAZ
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In Kyrgyzstan's South people expect 'a war' with Tajikistan to start any minute. Rumors about alleged Russian backing behind the Tajik gov are strong. People fear that if the gov publickly backs Ukraine, it might push the tipping point. So, 'neutrality' helps not to rock the boat
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75% of small and medium cafes run by Central Asian migrants in Moscow got closed, it says. Due to police checks and xenophobia.
"В Москве закрылось 75% кафе – маленьких и больших". В России мигранты сворачивают общепит из-за ксенофобии и проверок полиции
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Funny thing: when you write about Russian colonial & imperial politics in Central Asia, it's fine. When you write about Western hypocrisy in Palestine, you're a Putin's mouthpiece😂. How stupid to not understand that playing hierarchies of imperialism doesn't change imperialism?
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I have an important deadline to meet. But also a sick child, electricity cut & bad internet connection. Not to forget a country going down rapidly into another mass unrest and the constant fear of repression. Any takes on how to excel academically for a woman in such conditions?
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What a setback or was I so naive? It was disastrous to see during these days how many Ukrainians & supporters of the Ukrainian cause failed to see in Israel-Palestine who's oppressor & who's oppressed. What solidarity against Ru oppression if race, religion, class meddle in?
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During the mutiny, Putin called up the Kazakh & Uzbek Presidents. From scarce info we know that Tokayev framed the events as Russia's internal affairs. However, few days later, the head of Kyrgyzstan's Security Council gave a short comment where he elaborated on 1/2
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My first analysis of what happened last week between Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan and the worrying implications for the wider region of Eurasia, together with
@magdagul
, for
@Diplomat_APAC
. Thanks
@LadyPutz
!
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And of course, the heroic acts of a Kyrgyz 15 y.o. boy employee who saved more than 100 people at Crocus and that of an Uzbek employee don't count. Non Russians can be only evil...
It's heart breaking and seeckinening
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Today in Kyrgyzstan.
No to violence!
Free girl!
So proud of you ❤️✊️
«Нам нужна свобода слова!» - лучшая кричалка 🤗
внушительная колонна получилась, человек 500 пришли точно
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Hope is with young generations of Central Asia.
Seeing how the Qazaq regime fears women and banned the march, I was surprised and fearful until the last moment that the Kyrgyz regime will repress the feminist march too.
В Бишкеке в Международный женский день прошел марш за гендерные права.
Собралось около 600 человек. Колонна участников марша дошла до конечной точки - сквера имени М. Горького. Они исполнили гимн Кыргызстана и начали расходиться.
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My heart breaks for my Kyrgyz students in Batken. And it breaks for my Tajik students who study in Kyrgyzstan. Nothing should take away the right to study! Ordinary people cannot be responsible for the criminal acts of regimes.
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How worrying that Maria Kolesnikova, a leader of anti-gov protests in Belarus, was moved to intensive care for 'unknown reasons'. So many fighters for freedom, justice and democracy are under threat across Eurasia. Our thoughts are with her 🙏
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The young generations of Central Asians were exposed to this racism after decades of 'people's friendship' celebrated in Soviet Union.
I am glad that many of us write about these neo-colonial policies in our solidarity with the Ukrainian and Central Asian cause.
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The situation in Kyrgyzstan remains tense. 18 prominent politicians & activists remain detained. The regime has sponsored pro-gov protests in several towns across the country. Civilian protests were held in Bishkek and Osh. What is unclear to me in such populist contexts 1/2
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