The Eurasian Economic Union: Soviet menace reborn, or just plain regional progress?

[Hector_St_Clare]

@nani

It’s pretty widely spoken in Kazakhstan too, especially in the North and in Almaty. Lots of people will also claim to be fluent in Kazakh when they actually aren’t. Russian legal status is more hazy but knowledge of Kazakh is used as an effective gatekeeper to keep the political elite ethnically Kazakh. Still, Russian schools are usually seen as better.

Kazakhstan is extremely diverse, with lots of Koreans, Uzbeks, Poles, and others besides Russian. Stalin sent a lot of people there. Russian is the common language of inter-ethnic communication in Central Asia.

In Bishkek, Russian is seen as more posh. Lots of young Kyrgyz women, especially, will speak Russian exclusively in public and Kyrgyz at home. I saw more than once friends who had claimed they only spoke Russian answer their cell phones and talk to their moms in Kyrgyz.

A big factor that has spread the use of Kazakh in Kazakhstan (aside from many non-Kazakhs, especially Germans and Russians, leaving) is the arrival of repatriated ethnic Kazakhs (Oralman), especially from China or Mongolia. They often don’t speak Russian well or at all.

I’ll take this opportunity to plug a great book: For Prophet and Tsar: Islam and Empire in Russia and Central Asia.

Yup. The population of Kazakhstan in 1960, for example, was about 43% Russian, 7% German and 1% Korean.

My cousin’s ex-wife is from Kazakhstan, but she isn’t ethnically Kazakh at all, she’s a mix of four other ethnic groups. His kids look really interesting and multi-ethnic.

[nani]

@Hector_St_Clare

Yup. The population of Kazakhstan in 1960, for example, was about 43% Russian, 7% German and 1% Korean.

My cousin’s ex-wife is from Kazakhstan, but she isn’t ethnically Kazakh at all, she’s a mix of four other ethnic groups. His kids look really interesting and multi-ethnic.

I had a friend in Almaty who was half-Russian and half-Korean. She looked quite Kazakh but she didn’t identify with them and didn’t really speak the Kazakh language. Still, Almaty was her home. Once we were discussing Kazakh ethnic nationalism and some of difficulties non-Kazakhs faced in Kazakhstan, and she said: “But everything will be all right. I believe Putin will protect us.”

[BrainGlutton]

@nani

I had a friend in Almaty who was half-Russian and half-Korean. She looked quite Kazakh but she didn’t identify with them and didn’t really speak the Kazakh language. Still, Almaty was her home. Once we were discussing Kazakh ethnic nationalism and some of difficulties non-Kazakhs faced in Kazakhstan, and she said: “But everything will be all right. I believe Putin will protect us.”

Well, he probably can, if Kazakhstan is going to join this Union. It will not, after all, be a partnership of equals, and Russia will always be the core state and call the shots.