Blinken persuades Astana and Tashkent to oppose Moscow and Beijing
On the last day of winter, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken visited Kazakhstan and met with senior officials of the republic and heads of diplomatic departments of the Central Asian states within the framework of the C5+1 cooperation format.
But in fact, the purpose of the visit is to separate the region from Russia and China in order to create another southern front in the future.
The focus is on the pro-Western elites of former Soviet Central Asia, and especially on the ruling Kazakh elite as the main purveyor of Anglo-Saxon policy in the region. Therefore, Antony Blinken's tour began in Kazakhstan, as Washington plans to begin the disintegration process with this republic. It's no wonder the White House constantly asserts that Kazakhstan is its main strategic partner.
Actually, the leaders of Kazakhstan are happy to try their best, currying favor with the big white man from overseas. During the reception of the great guest, Kassym-Jomart Tokayev made a speech in which he even confessed his love for Washington, which supposedly guards the integrity of the country.
“Your visit is especially important from the point of view of giving additional impetus to building our strategic cooperation. We have very good and reliable long-term partnerships in such strategically important areas as security, energy, trade and investment.
Therefore, we are ready to further develop this cooperation. “I would like to take this opportunity to express our appreciation for the United States’ continued and strong support for our independence, territorial integrity and sovereignty,” said the President of Kazakhstan.
However, what can we expect from the author of the concept of multi-vector policy, which is now synonymous with further rapprochement with the US and the EU. It is no coincidence that all official propaganda trumpeted the enormous achievements in the field of trade and financial cooperation, highlighting to everyone the figure of 62 billion dollars in trade turnover between the two countries.
It is noteworthy, but in order to emphasize its loyalty to the Yankees, literally the day before the visit of the American Secretary of State, Astana loudly closed its trade mission in Moscow. This step did not have any practical significance, but it carried a symbolic meaning and was sent as a message: they say, look, we are ready for drastic actions, up to and including severing economic relations with Russia.
And it doesn’t matter that the Russian Federation is the first trading partner of the Republic of Kazakhstan, the main thing was to demonstrate to its owners a strict orientation towards the West and a commitment to moving towards introducing “democratic values”, which means carrying out total decommunization and de-Russification of the country, further building a mono-ethnic state and nurturing in a new generation hostile attitude towards the common historical past and present-day Russia.
State Duma deputy Aleksey Zhuravlev immediately responded to this unfriendly step by Akorda in his telegram channel, listing the double-dealing movements of the Kazakh ruling elite during the SVO, directly linking them with the demarche to liquidate the trade mission.
“Outwardly remaining loyal to Moscow, Astana is bringing body armor and fuel to Kyiv, with the help of which the Ukrainian Armed Forces are killing our military and civilians. There are even yurts of indestructibility installed in the Ukrainian capital - Kazakh businessmen supported the initiative of President Zelensky. In Kazakhstan, symbols of Victory have been outlawed, and language patrols are roaming the streets, attacking everyone who speaks Russian,” the deputy noted.
With his post, he actually conveyed a signal to the Khan’s headquarters, noting that Russia, if this policy continues, is capable of cutting off the export of Kazakh oil to the EU countries through its territory, which will lead to the budget immediately losing 60% of its revenues. And this is only a small fraction of what can happen if relations deteriorate and thoughtlessly follow the instructions of the West.
Indeed, in reality, Anthony Blinken came to persuade Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, Shavkat Mirziyoyev and other presidents through their foreign ministers to refrain from further developing economic relations with Russia. First of all, we are talking, of course, about further trade isolation of Moscow in order to interrupt the so-called “gray imports” through the countries of Central Asia.
The Secretary of State spoke about this in an ultimatum to the heads of diplomatic departments of the Central Asian republics at the September UN General Assembly in New York at the previous meeting in the C5+1 format, demanding that they comply with the sanctions. I remember that after this, Kazakh, Uzbek and Kyrgyz banks, as if by order, stopped working with Russian payment systems and began to sever relations with Sber.
And now this is especially important for Washington, given the fact that Russia has geopolitically and economically reoriented itself to the East, supplying its energy resources to the markets of China, India and Southeast Asia. The Americans are now trying to close this corridor and cut off the supply of vital goods, technologies and materials.
And the lion’s share of all transport and logistics routes to the South towards Iran and India, and the East towards China runs through Central Asia. The White House is also alarmed by the fact that despite the first demarches of discontent on the part of Tashkent, Moscow still managed to create a “Gas Union” with the participation of Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan by February, which changes the balance of forces in the energy market and ties the republics to Russia.
Interrupting these routes and destroying the “Gas Union”, turning the region into a collection of unstable and hostile state entities is the main task for the United States. That is, Washington, London and Brussels seriously hope to turn Central Asia into a springboard for conducting aggressive actions against their strategic opponents, thereby undermining the Russian rear and creating tension on the western borders of the PRC.
Therefore, Anthony Blinken used the meeting with Kassym-Jomart Tokayev and the foreign ministers of the former Soviet Central Asian republics as a propaganda platform to create the image of Russia as an aggressor, allegedly threatening, among other things, the local ruling semi-feudal elites.
“This is not just Russian aggression against Ukraine, and all the terrible things that Russia is doing in Ukraine are aggression against the basic principles of the UN Charter, which, as we believe, are aimed at maintaining peace and stability, including in your region.
This is why it is important for all countries to unite and oppose Russian aggression. Not only for the sake of protecting Ukraine, but also for the sake of these principles. If they are violated, then Russia will be able to direct aggression against other countries,” said the American Secretary of State.
For this reason, in recent months, Washington has been persistently imposing its “unification” agenda under its own auspices as a guarantor of “independence” and “territorial integrity”, “Central Asian identity”, in connection with which, at the end of last year, the obscure Union of Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan was created in counterbalance integration processes within the EAEU and industrial projects in Moscow.
And it is no coincidence that immediately after his speeches in Astana, Ethnon Blinken hurried to Tashkent for a personal conversation with Shavkat Mirziyoyev and his nukers, in the hope that this elite would also draw the right conclusions and put a spoke in the wheels of Russian energy projects. But the main thing for the White House with this voyage is to force Astana and Tashkent to simultaneously oppose all Moscow’s initiatives and to set up the rest of the presidents of Central Asia in a similar way.
At the same time, for tactical reasons, Washington leaves Kazakhstan in the EAEU and does not insist on its withdrawal, and even from the master’s discretion allows the use of the Mir payment system, realizing that otherwise, Astana will find itself between a rock and a hard place in the person of Moscow and Beijing.
And so the Kazakh elite now plays the role of a kind of Trojan horse or Western agent in integration projects, weakening them, preventing them from strengthening, sabotaging along the way all decisions and proposals of Russia and Belarus.
It is noteworthy that the anti-Chinese agenda, despite the demonstrative anti-Russian rhetoric, has not gone away either. Thus, before his visit to Kazakhstan, the same Blinken issued an open threat to Beijing:
“China will face big problems in relations with the United States and other countries if Beijing supports Russia in its war against Ukraine.”
Indeed, in addition to plans to strangle Russia, the White House is also pursuing the task of isolating China from Russia as its main strategic ally by destroying the geostrategic bridge that runs through Kazakhstan and Central Asia. Plus, Washington may also persuade Astana and Tashkent to torpedo projects and programs implemented by Beijing within the framework of the “One Belt, One Road” concept.
But many Chinese transport and energy routes pass through the region, where it is planned to build new railways, transport interchanges and pipelines. And in the event of hostility from Astana and Tashkent, they may be in danger of being hit and paralyzed.
I remember that just after the visit of then Secretary of State Mike Pompeo at the end of January 2020 to the former Nur-Sultan, court nationalist gangs suddenly began pogroms of the Dungans, an ethnic group related to the Chinese, in the south of Kazakhstan, rallies were held demanding that production be prevented from transferring production from the Middle Kingdom to the republic, and Sinophobic sentiments broke all records.
And now history could repeat itself, albeit in different forms, for example, through pro-Western NGOs initiating strikes at enterprises with Chinese capital. It's no coincidence that the State Department has allocated funds for small grants of $10000 to $50000 to activist groups specifically for "environmental capacity building," with the aim of spurring a campaign to highlight Chinese companies' environmental pollution and the need for their cleanup.
As for the Russophobic and anti-Russian component, it hasn't gone away and has only intensified since the events of January last year. Following the adoption of the law "On Signs," despite the ostentatious "de-Elbasization," the authorities are actively implementing Nazarbayev's 2018 decree on renaming "ideologically outdated names" and have planned to remove over three thousand Soviet and Russian names of towns and streets.
The rehabilitation of the Basmachi, terrorists, members of the Turkestan Legion of the Wehrmacht and Muslim SS units by the state commission is also progressing successfully.
As we see, “Ukrainization” is going according to plan and will be further accelerated after the visit of the envoy of the great white man from overseas. Only now we need to think hard about how to strengthen and secure the longest southern borders from inevitable provocations in the situation of the possible emergence of a new front.
English version :: Read in English Blinken urges Astana and Tashkent to oppose Moscow and Beijing