Kazakhstan: Nazarbayev Announces Resignation

[FEMA Camp Administrator]

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-47628854

In a pre-recorded television address, he said the decision had "not been simple".

Mr Nazarbayev, 78, has been largely unchallenged since he became president of the oil-rich nation in 1990.

He has focused on economic reform while resisting moves to democratise the political system.

...

Mr Nazarbayev said the speaker of the upper house of parliament, Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, would take over as acting president for the remainder of his term.

Based on a video included in the article, it looks like it was Tokayev who had stated last year that Nazarbayev wouldn't be running again. I'd heard it was the second or third most powerful politician in the country who'd claimed as such, though the name escaped me. I believe this means that all five Central Asian countries have now had at least one change of leader since 1991--Nazarbayev was the last hold out.

[Boobs]

I thought Tajikistan’s Rahmon is now the last 1991 holdout? 

[FEMA Camp Administrator]

I thought Tajikistan’s Rahmon is now the last 1991 holdout? 

I believe he technically came to power in 1992; there was a brief period after the USSR's collapse where a coalition of nominal Islamist democrats took power before the counter-coup(?) that put Rahmon in power and pitched the nation into Islamist v Communist civil war.

[Karpatsky]

That is bizarre and a huge deal. I wonder why he did it and who will be stepping into power.

[smoltchanov]

Respect. I hope our "tsar" will follow relatively soon....

[MASHED POTATOES. VOTE!]

Play it again, Sam. Just this once.

Come grasp the mighty
Phenis of our leader
From junction with the testes
To tip of its face.

[FEMA Camp Administrator]

That is bizarre and a huge deal. I wonder why he did it and who will be stepping into power.

There’d been some rumblings that he wouldn’t be running in 2020, but this sort of news piece appeared unsurprisingly buried by info from more “interesting” parts of the world.

[President Johnson]

About time. Can Uncle Vlad now go, too?

[MASHED POTATOES. VOTE!]

About time. Can Uncle Vlad now go, too?

Only feet first, which can very well happen once he pushes things too far for the oligarch, worried about their money abroad.

[Lechasseur]

Why did he resign? Was it like with Yeltsin to give his chosen successor an incumbency advantage or something?

[mgop]

well of course they will install new dictator like they did in uzbekistan, but at least he did not ruled until death which is wet dream of some eu member/eu candidate dictators like orban, vucic, djukanovic, erdogan...

[kelestian]

Why did he resign? Was it like with Yeltsin to give his chosen successor an incumbency advantage or something?

He is pretty old, and had been ruling for 30 years.

Also: his daughter has become new speaker of Parliament today.

Anorher interesting fact: Kazakhstan's neighborhood state Uzbekistan's dictator Karimov died recently. His daughter Gulnara also had political ambitions. Now she is in jail.

[kelestian]

So, today Kazakhstan's capital, Astana, was renamed into Nursultan (Nazarbaev). Brezhnev's vibes right here

[MASHED POTATOES. VOTE!]

Why did he resign? Was it like with Yeltsin to give his chosen successor an incumbency advantage or something?

He is pretty old, and had been ruling for 30 years.

Also: his daughter has become new speaker of Parliament today.

Anorher interesting fact: Kazakhstan's neighborhood state Uzbekistan's dictator Karimov died recently. His daughter Gulnara also had political ambitions. Now she is in jail.

Karimov died before being able to prepare longterm succession plans. Nazarbayez seems to have just done that.

[Santander]

So, today Kazakhstan's capital, Astana, was renamed into Nursultan (Nazarbaev). Brezhnev's vibes right here

The legitimate capital will always be Almaty anyway.

[MASHED POTATOES. VOTE!]

So, today Kazakhstan's capital, Astana, was renamed into Nursultan (Nazarbaev). Brezhnev's vibes right here

The legitimate capital will always be Almaty anyway.

Santander's unrelenting legitimism makes duc de Polignac an Orleanist.

[Okay, maybe Mike Johnson is a competent parliamentarian.]

Nazarbayev always struck me as relatively modest and non-self-aggrandizing by the low standards of Central Asian dictators until he resigned.

[Lechasseur]

So, today Kazakhstan's capital, Astana, was renamed into Nursultan (Nazarbaev). Brezhnev's vibes right here

The legitimate capital will always be Almaty anyway.

Santander's unrelenting legitimism makes duc de Polignac an Orleanist.

Orleanism for the win!

[Lechasseur]

So, today Kazakhstan's capital, Astana, was renamed into Nursultan (Nazarbaev). Brezhnev's vibes right here

The legitimate capital will always be Almaty anyway.

Yeah, wasn't Astana created to be capital in the 1990s or something?

[Indy Texas]

Nazarbayev always struck me as relatively modest and non-self-aggrandizing by the low standards of Central Asian dictators until he resigned.

He was smart enough to just quietly go about accruing money and power in a low-key way. He didn't resort to insane personality cults like Niyazov in Turkmenistan, or run a completely inhumane hellscape torture factory like Karimov in Uzbekistan.

[MASHED POTATOES. VOTE!]

So, today Kazakhstan's capital, Astana, was renamed into Nursultan (Nazarbaev). Brezhnev's vibes right here

More like Türkmenbaşy's vibes.

[Indy Texas]

Apparently this is the fourth time it's been renamed in less than a century.

From Wikipedia...

1830-1832: Akmoly
1832-1961: Akmolinsk
1961-1992: Tselinograd
1992-1998: Akmola
1998-2019: Astana
2019-       : Nursultan