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Kazakhstan: Difference between revisions
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Kazakhstan was also the site of much of the USSR's nuclear and space programmes, with Baikonur Cosmodrome being perhaps the best-known. The Semipalatinsk Nuclear Test Site is still an unsafe area and there are still many children born with genetic disorders. Another major environmental disaster in Soviet-era Kazakhstan was the destruction of the Aral Sea. The Soviet leadership decided that the arid regions of Uzbekistan and southern Kazakhstan should become cotton-growing regions. This required a lot of irrigation, for which the two rivers that flow into the Aral Sea were used. As a result, the amount of water reaching the sea dropped with every succesive year. This development was even encouraged by some Soviet officials, who claimed that the Aral Sea had to disappear for the sake of progress. Not only did this destroy the region's traditional fishing industry, it also caused major dust storms as the salt from the exposed bottom of the sea was seized by the wind.
After the breakup of the Soviet Union, Kazakhstan found itself as one of the world's largest nuclear powers by dint of having lots of missiles based there. They quickly boxed them up and sent them back to Russia. However, as part of the agreement by which the Russian Federation would still be allowed to use Baikonur Cosmodrome (at a rent cost disputed by both countries), the Kazakhs were given their Buran space shuttles - which were promptly left to rust away. Despite the massive environmental impact of the Cosmodrome, the Semipalatinsk Nuclear Test Site and the Aral Sea, as well as the social impact of the population transfers, several major GULAG camps, the destruction of the traditional nomadic lifestyle and the pervasive neglect of Kazakh-language education in the Soviet times, most Kazakhs hold no grudges against the Russians and [[Nostalgia Filter|have a neutral-to-positive view of their Soviet past]]. This is due in part to the pivotal Soviet role in the formation of a national entity based along the Kazakh ethnic group, along with the region's first literacy and industrialization programs (mirroring those that appeared elsewhere in Soviet Central Asia), alongside the promotion of the first ethnically-Kazakh politicians to the highest seats of government since the region's annexation by the Romanov Monarchy, like Saktagan Baishev (before the Soviet period, all leaders were ethnic Slavs appointed by the Imperial court).
Ultimately, Kazakhstan was the last Soviet Republic to secede from the Union, on the 16th of December, 1991. Since then it has been led by President Nursultan Nazarbayev, whose internal authoritarian policies, tolerance of widespread corruption and rampant election fraud in every election ever held make him resemble a less [[Ax Crazy]] [[Turkmenistan|Saparmurat Niyazov]] (unlike Niyazov's isolationism, for instance, Nazarbayev's foreign policy is based on having good relations with the USA and Russia). Despite the administrative inefficiency, corruption and usual social issues that accompanied [[The Great Politics Mess-Up]] (poverty and the like), Kazakhstan's economy has grown more or less steadily since, largely due to its natural reserves and oil exports, but it took a big hit from the 2008-2009 global economic unpleasantness. The government has also taken successful steps towards restoring its side of the Aral Sea, unlike Uzbekistan.
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[[Category:Useful Notes/Asia]]▼
[[Category:Useful Notes/Europe]]
[[Category:Kazakhstan]]
[[Category:Useful Notes]]
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