Kazakhstan: pension reform and cult of personality | Nur-Sultan, Baikonur and the nuclear test site

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Kazakhstan is the most similar country to Russia in the former USSR. Here they also have a leader of the nation, they are persecuting the opposition and carrying out a pension reform. Yuri Gagarin flew into space from the Kazakh Baikonur cosmodrome, and the first Soviet atomic bomb was tested at the nuclear test site in Semipalatinsk.
Today I will tell you how Kazakhstan lived for 30 years without the Soviet Union, what Nazarbayev led the country to and show the mausoleum that appeared long before Lenin.
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Timestamps:
00:00:00 Intro
00:04:29 Kazakhstan is an industrial and economic giant
00:05:02 History of Kazakhstan: Khoja Ahmed Yasawi, Tamerlane and zhuzes
00:08:26 Kazakhstan as part of Russia
00:09:17 Religion and Islam in Kazakhstan
00:11:18 Aral Sea disaster
00:13:11 Nuclear test site in Semipalatinsk: the first Soviet atomic bomb and the largest environmental disaster
00:19:52 How to live at a nuclear test site?
00:23:00 How the landfill in Semipalatinsk was pulled apart in the 90s
00:25:48 Kurchatov is the most Russian city in Kazakhstan
00:30:57 Walk around Semey
00:33:43 How many people were affected by nuclear tests?
00:35:47 The renaming of the capital and other sights in president’s honour
00:37:27 Dostoevsky Museum in Semey
00:39:27 Alley of leaders in Semey
00:40:46 Chagan is a city that turned out to be unnecessary
00:44:35 Rallies of 1986
00:54:28 How Kazakhstan's life has changed since independence
00:58:22 "Kazakhisation" of the country in the 90s
01:00:31 Nursultan Nazarbayev's presidency
01:08:22 Nazarbayev's cult of personality
01:14:27 Democracy and freedom of speech in Kazakhstan
01:18:04 How Kazakhstan handles independent media
01:19:00 Opposition rallies
01:22:09 The fate of opposition movements
01:22:45 Mass protests in Zhanaozen
01:24:22 Pension reform in Kazakhstan
01:25:37 How Putin and Nazarbayev are similar
01:29:26 Kazakhstan's relations with Russia: a referendum on the preservation of the USSR, a customs union, the possibility of integration
01:35:59 Baikonur and Roscosmos
01:41:46 Medeo - Factory of Records of the USSR
01:43:12 National park in Almaty
01:44:24 Soviet factories: from large enterprises to shopping centers
01:48:40 How the departure of the Russians affected the country
01:51:45 Uralsk is an example of de-Russification of the country
01:54:41 The fate of Lenin monuments
01:57:07 Varlamov street in Almaty
01:58:13 The status of the Russian language in Kazakhstan
02:04:11 Other peoples of Kazakhstan and the national question in the country
02:07:30 How the population of Kazakhstan has changed
02:08:50 Turkestan is a personal project of Nazarbayev
02:10:27 "Old City" in Turkestan: filming is prohibited!
02:15:50 "Snow peaks" on the domes of the akimat of Turkestan
02:18:19 Walk with the deputy akim of Turkestan
02:19:41 How the old city is preserved in Turkestan
02:21:36 The surviving Soviet architecture of Almaty
02:28:40 Why spoil beautiful places with entertainment garbage?
02:29:52 Kazakhstan is a country where almost everything is in Russian
02:31:04 The Government House and the glass torture room
02:32:47 Bath races in Almaty and Tashkent
02:34:58 Conversations with locals: life under the USSR, $1000 pension, plans to move abroad
02:38:00 Hammers and sickles on the facade of the building of the Union of Writers of Kazakhstan
02:38:31 Elevated metro is a monument to corruption in Nur-Sultan
02:41:50 Why is Nur-Sultan, former Astana, so empty?
02:47:03 How Nur-Sultan developers put pink flamingos at risk
02:47:44 Economy of Kazakhstan: oil and rapid growth after the collapse of the USSR
02:54:12 How Kazakhs treat the USSR
02:56:28 Conclusion