KZBlog is going down (2)
After some thought, I have decided not to renew KZBLog’s lease. As you may have noticed, I don’t do a lot of posting here anymore. I don’t have time to blog regularly. Thus I am taking the site down–it does generate some ad revenue but not as much as it costs to keep it up. […]
Culture
- Yurts Are High Fashion and Slum Fashion Too
2011-12-05 - Apples, Sure. But THC is from Kazakhstan too?
2011-10-05 - Naked Man Pot
2011-09-23
- Yurts Are High Fashion and Slum Fashion Too
Resources
- Oh, CNN
2012-07-21 - What Do You Know About Kazakhstan?
2012-07-19 - Books for Kazakh Students
2011-11-06
- Oh, CNN
Politics
- Image
2011-07-28 - Sub Rosa Endorsement
2011-07-26 - The Naked Truth
2011-06-12
- Image
News
- KZBlog is going down
2013-09-10 - Oh, CNN
2012-07-21 - Repentence
2012-07-15
- KZBlog is going down
Fun
- What Do You Know About Kazakhstan?
2012-07-19 - Yurts Are High Fashion and Slum Fashion Too
2011-12-05 - House Hunters Bishkek
2011-12-02
- What Do You Know About Kazakhstan?
Tourism
- Asian Games Torch
2011-01-12 - Wikitravel
2010-08-07 - ALZHIR, the Soviets and Democracy
2010-07-30
- Asian Games Torch
Life in KZ
- Photo Gallery: Almaty Subway
2011-12-07 - Healthcare and the Private Sector
2011-11-30 - Naked Man Pot
2011-09-23
- Photo Gallery: Almaty Subway
Redbubble
GULAGs in Kazakhstan (2)
In the vein of yesterday’s post, here’s at least a hasty link to an article about a new book, The Gulag’s Foundation In Kazakhstan Death and Redemption: The Gulag and the Shaping of Soviet Society by Steven A. Barnes of George Mason University (where, perhaps coincidentally, it seems like an awfully large number of Bolashak students study).
Interestingly, it sounds as if Barnes is looking at the camps not as death camps but as labor camps, literally realizing the Soviet ideology that labor in service of the motherland makes man free. The idea was never to ostracize, destroy or humiliate “enemies of the state”, but to rehabilitate them:
The most salient feature of the Gulag was an apparent paradox: forced labor, high death rates and an oppressive atmosphere of violence, cold and constant hunger coexisted with camp newspapers and cultural activities, a constant propaganda barrage of correction and reeducation and the steady release of a significant portion of the prisoner population.
The Bolsheviks could not escape their fundamental belief in the malleability of the human soul and they believed that labor was the key to reforging criminals. The very harshness of the Gulag was seen as necessary to break down a prisoner’s resistance in order to rebuild him or her into a proper Soviet citizen. If a prisoner refused correction, the brutality of the Gulag would lead to inevitable death, for the Bolsheviks were no humanitarians. If mistakes were to be made, they believed it was better to kill too many than too few.
It’s an interesting view and I look forward to seeing the research behind it, particularly statistics on how many political prisoners were set free after rehabilitating themselves. I’d also be curious where Kazakhstan in particular comes in. Of course, there were many labor camps in what is now Kazakhstan, but I wasn’t aware that they played a fundamental role.
Not Keeping Up With News (Comments Off on Not Keeping Up With News)
Just wanted to write a quick apology for not posting here much in the past few months. Nothing horrible has happened to me; as long time readers will already know, occasionally life gets too hectic for me to keep up my blog and do everything else. While I love blogging and can usually find an hour or so once a week to at least put up a link, recently I haven’t even been able to keep up with the news at all. I’m sure all sorts of exciting things have happened in Kazakhstan politically and nationally involving oil and Texas Business Lawyers and new government positions, but frankly except for what people are chatting about here and there (the heat, the food prices, and Vinokorov’s chances in the Tour de France mainly in my circle), I’ve been disconnected from the world. Hoping that next week things will calm down a bit and I’ll be updating more regularly.
Traditional Kazakhstani Clothes (Comments Off on Traditional Kazakhstani Clothes)
Peace Corps Volunteers Susan and Paul have an amusing photo essay up on women’s dress in Pavlodar. Obviously there’s some selection but common themes include tight pants, short skirts and high heels. No boring, conservative industrial pumps for Pavlodar women. Also considering that one of the most common cultural differences Westerners often note in Kazakhstan is the terror of the cold, it’s kind of funny to see women running around in mini-skirts even with snow on the ground.
I stand corrected In Russian … (Comments Off on I stand corrected In Russian …)
I stand corrected In Russian sounds like he means Kazakhs in other countries are the treasure RT @gazetakz_en: http://bit.ly/lE6mOE
Am I reading this right? NAN w… (Comments Off on Am I reading this right? NAN w…)
Am I reading this right? NAN wants Min to go to other countries and take treasures away from Kazakhs? RT @gazetakz_en: http://bit.ly/lE6mOE
Ov vey! Lenin a Jew? RT @lenes… (Comments Off on Ov vey! Lenin a Jew? RT @lenes…)
Ov vey! Lenin a Jew? RT @leneshmidt: Moscow museum puts Lenin’s Jewish roots on display ~ http://tinyurl.com/3zw69g2
Wonder if car explosion was a … (Comments Off on Wonder if car explosion was a …)
Wonder if car explosion was a screw up by KNB employees and now they are covering up since it looks like only people dead=people in car
Wonder if car explosion was a … (Comments Off on Wonder if car explosion was a …)
Wonder if car explosion was a screw up by KNB employees and now they are covering up since it looks like only people dead=people in car
Throw the Kitchen Sink at Kazakhstan (Comments Off on Throw the Kitchen Sink at Kazakhstan)
Just a funny quote from the head of Sri Lanka’s Rugby Selection Committee on an upcoming game with Kazakhstan
Asked of the enormity of the task at hand against Kazakhstan at Almaty, Jayasekera said that Sri Lanka would only stand a chance if they were to effectively address the shortcomings displayed against HK. The former Sri Lanka centre added that Sean Wijesingha’s side will have no alternative but to throw undermount kitchen sinks at Kazakhstan next week in an effort to register a rare win which would ensure their place in the top group in 2012, as they are not likely to prevail against Japan at Colombo on May 21.
Or maybe it’s the journalist who made up this phrasing since it isn’t a direct quote. Anyway Kazakhstan side, be careful of flying sinks and stoves and ovens and possibly blenders.
Suicide Bombing Religious After All? (Comments Off on Suicide Bombing Religious After All?)
Despite the official statement by the General Prosecutor’s Office that the suicide bomber in Aktobe was a suspected criminal who killed himself to avoid answering for his crimes, there seem to be indications that the attack was religiously motivated.
Central Asia Online is reporting that Rakhymzhan Makhatov, age 25, had become more religious since getting married 2 years ago. And according to one report, the KNB stated Makhatov and his wife were members of a extremist Islamic group. However, given Kazakhstan’s paranoia about religious groups, including mosques that do not follow the State created and controlled Muslim Board, it isn’t clear what is meant by “extremist”.
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