Many of us would not be able to figure out where Kazakhstan is on the map. But it is surely more often seen in the news this week as compared to anytime that I can remember. This is the cause of another left vs. right or autocratic vs. democratic protest going on that has resulted in occupying much of critical infrastructure by protestors and the removal of the government.
So why now? You might be asking. There are economic and political views as answers, I would leave it to you the one that you believe in. Let us first focus on the economic reason, it is rich in oil and uranium the two fuels that present and future world energy depends on. But from a local point, from Jan 1, 2022, Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) prices were de-regulated and subsidies on it were removed this led to the prices doubling overnight. This is very critical as most vehicles in the country run on LPG rather than petrol or diesel. Thus, initiating chaos among citizens leading to protest.
Now comes to political reasons, the country head is taken to be close to Russia President and this gives an advantage to Russia on the control of the resources in the country. But since Russia has been building up forces near the Ukraine border it has put NATO aka Western world leaders on high alerts resulting in high-level warnings being issued to Russia against an invasion. And Western countries as per some experts might have influenced this protest.
The problem with protest in such a country is that it does become a proxy war and all the resources are put on inefficiency leading to drastic results for its citizens whether protesting or not.
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