Danir Ashimbayev believes that the increasing criticism of Kazakhstan by the United States is related to the geopolitical and economic risks of American policy.
Here’s what the political scientist wrote in his Telegram channel:
«Last week, a pair of American reports on the situation in Kazakhstan appeared synchronously, from which one can quite accurately assess what Washington wants from Astana.
Firstly, liberal media outlets foamed at the mouth about the fact that «Kazakhstan has dropped in the press freedom rating of the international organization Reporters Without Borders by 8 points.» «Human rights activists» are outraged that «the government is increasing control over the internet.»
The «objectivity» of the rating is well illustrated by the fact that as examples of ideal «free» media, publications funded from abroad and/or propagating pro-Western political positions were indicated.
The second document is a report of the US Commission on International Religious Freedom. Let’s quote:
«In 2023, the conditions of freedom of religion in Kazakhstan did not improve, as the government continued to apply the religion law, which restricted the activities of all religious groups and punished representatives of groups considered ‘non-traditional.’
«The government of Kazakhstan continues to violate Article 18 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, as Kazakhs try to practice their faith. For example, the authorities continued to punish for unauthorized but peaceful religious activities.»
«As in previous years, Muslims faced restrictions on practices such as studying religion abroad or wearing religious clothing in schools.»
«The authorities continued to restrict the activities of Kazakh activists opposing the genocide of Uyghurs and other Turkic-speaking Muslims in Xinjiang.»
The Commission calls on Kazakhstan to «immediately release all persons detained for their religious activities or beliefs, allow all prisoners to practice their religion,» and recommends to Congress to link the removal of Kazakhstan from the Jackson-Vanik amendment with the «liberalization» of religious legislation.
As we can see, the American government (not for the first year) supports Islamic radicalism and fanaticism in the country, and at the same time, persistently tries to play the Islamic and Kazakh cards in order to spoil Kazakhstan’s relations with China at any cost.
Does Washington understand the destructive meaning of its recommendations? This is quite obvious, but our transoceanic «strategic partner» seems ready to provoke interethnic and interfaith conflicts in Kazakhstan in order to destabilize Central Asia, add problems for China and Russia, and disrupt the processes of Afghan and Caucasus settlement. This is if we talk about geopolitical maps.
There is also an economic factor in the form of an arbitration initiated by Kazakhstan regarding inflated budgets for the development of large oil and gas projects involving American participation. As well as the suspended status of negotiations on the construction of a nuclear power plant (the US ambassador is currently bending over backwards to prove the importance of awarding the contract to American companies).
It is clear that if Astana suddenly closes its border with Russia and China and embarks on new cooperation programs with the American energy sector, then all claims regarding «freedom of speech» and «freedom of religion» will immediately become quite insignificant.
