Thread by @GeringTuvia

"Upholding the leadership of the Party, 'stability overrides everything' and 'development as the absolute criterion' are the 3 main lessons of CN's reform. Tokayev is fluent in CN, so it should be easier for him to learn from CN's experience" - military columnist Chen Feng.
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Writing for nationalist platform Guancha, Chen believes that the upheaval in Kazakhstan has peaked, and so, it's time for it, as well as other central Asian countries and former Soviet republics, to draw lessons in order to avoid a new wave of challenges.
Excerpt:

"While Tokayev's political standing remains unclear, the upheaval demonstrates one thing: when small and medium-sized countries try to strike a balance between the major powers, they're playing with fire. Playing with fire does not always imply self-immolation;
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"but when major powers stoke the flames, small and medium-sized countries that play with fire are essentially committing self-immolation. In the 90s and even the early 00s, Nazarbayev was not under much risk.
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"However, over the last decade, hostilities between the West and Russia have grown, while enmity between the West and China has reached a breaking point. At that stage, Kazakhstan's fate was already sealed; all it tool is one gust of wind and a bonfire turned into a steppe fire.5

"Other Central Asian -stans, as well as Mongolia and Belarus, would do well to take a page from Kazakhstan's book."
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Link: user.guancha.cn/main/content?i…