Considering that beheading has been used as a means of execution, this is not unbelievable.
“Kazakhstan says Islamist radicals played role in attacks,” Reuters, January 10, 2022 (thanks to The Religion of Peace):
Kazakhstan said on Monday that foreign-trained Islamist radicals were among those who had attacked government buildings and security forces last week and that police had now detained almost 8,000 people to bring the situation under control.
Government buildings in several cities were briefly captured or torched last week as initially peaceful protests against fuel price increases became violent in the worst bout of violence in the Central Asian nation’s post-Soviet history.
President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev sacked his cabinet, issued shoot-to-kill orders and declared a state of emergency in the oil-rich nation of 19 million. He also asked a Russian-led military bloc to send in troops, who the government says have since been deployed to guard strategic objects.
Tokayev was due to take part in a video conference of the bloc’s leaders at 0700 GMT on Monday.
“As the events in Almaty and several other regions of the country have shown, Kazakhstan has been subjected to armed aggression by well-coordinated terrorist groups trained abroad,” the foreign ministry said in a statement.
“According to preliminary data, the attackers include individuals who have military combat zone experience in the ranks of radical Islamist groups.”It did not name any specific groups….
Wellington says
Hmmm. I still wonder about all the aspects of this.
Infidel, an immensely knowledgeable commenter here at JW about central Asian and south Asian matters (and on virtually every other topic as well) has stated on a previous thread this all started over oil matters and prices but has it expanded to include one or more more matters, as examples Muslim fundamentalism (excuse the redundancy) and a Russian presence in northern Kazakhstan? As Wordsworth observed, there is rarely one cause for anything.
Anyone? Especially Infidel.
Infidel says
Nothing much to add to what I said there. What I am interested in is what Russia does. I’d actually be all for it if Putin tries to reconquer Central Asia. I don’t support him trying to repossess Ukraine, Georgia or the Baltic nations, but I’m all for him repossessing what was rightfully a part of Romanovsk Russia, particularly given that historically, that region, and not Iran/Arabia/Egypt/Anatolia, was Jihad central of the world before the Russians overran it and put an end to it
Wellington says
Thanks for your comment, Infidel.
I too would not be averse to Putin taking over northern Kazakhstan, though to do so would be to risk the ire of China and the Islamic world, and Putin, a supreme realist, knows full well he can toy with the pathetic West, presently led by buffoons, but dealing with China and the Islamic sphere of mankind are different matters.
Always good to read your posts. Thanks.
Infidel says
The world today ain’t what it was in 1979, when the US was only too happy to get payback for Vietnam, while the Islamic world was too happy to start a jihad backed by a superpower
From the islamic world, I doubt that either Iran nor the Taliban would try to oppose Russia in Kazakhstan, given that they are US enemies so wouldn’t want both superpowers turned against them. The Arabs wouldn’t either, b’cos an independent Kazakhstan just means one more non-Arab but muslim country, weakening the Arab hold over the ummah. I can see Turkey objecting, but a key question would be whether they’d be successful in getting NATO to their side
As far as China goes, they’d like to rule the world, but I think they’d avoid butting heads w/ Russia, since they have made enemies all over – Japan, Taiwan, Vietnam, Australia, India…
GreekEmpress says
https://www.britannica.com/place/Kazakhstan/People
Not sure how recent or accurate this is.
But it might shed light on the Muslim aspect—
Wellington says
Thanks for that link, GreekEmpress. I’m always learning (yes indeed, I know more about Pennsylvania and New Hampshire than I do about Kazakhstan—but I digress).
Well, one thing is for certain and that is that the more devout any Muslim population the more trouble will ensue wherever that Muslim population exists (both among fellow Muslims and non-Muslims so screwed up is Islam to its core). Too bad by now the vast majority of Kazakhs were not long ago converted to the Russian Orthodox faith. An opportunity for Kazakhs and all of mankind most definitely missed.
Infidel says
Yeah, the Russians should have converted Turkistan just like they did a Siberian Tatar kingdom from islam to Russian Orthodox. Oh, and they did the same thing in the Crimea, which too was a Tatar muslim stronghold. In fact, the Crimean War, where UK and France allied w/ Turkey, was a Turkish attempt to take that back
gravenimage says
Kazakhstan president says rioters include men with ‘military experience in the ranks of radical Islamist groups’
…………….
Another place just not Islamic enough…
Linde Barrera says
According to various news/data outlets on the internet, 70-75% of the population of
Kazakhstan identify as Muslim. Much of that is Sunni Muslim.