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OVER 2,000 RUSSIA-led troops began withdrawing from Kazakhstan after being deployed when peaceful protests over an energy price hike turned into unprecedented violence claiming dozens of lives.
The decision to despatch peacekeepers was a first for the Moscow-led Collective Security Treaty Organisation (CSTO), often touted by Russia as a NATO equivalent but previously reluctant to interfere in unrest in Central Asia – a region with long historical ties to Russia.
At a ceremony marking the end of the CSTO mission, soldiers lined up as anthems from each of the six CSTO member countries were played before official speeches began.
“The peacekeeping operation is over … the tasks have been fulfilled,” said Russian General Andrei Serdyukov, commander of the CSTO contingent that saw troops from Russia, Belarus, Armenia, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan sent to the former Soviet republic on 6 January.
The Russian defence ministry said the “collective peacekeeping forces …are starting to prepare equipment and materiel for loading into the planes of the military transport aviation of the Russian aerospace forces and returning to the points of permanent deployment”
Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev said yesterday that Russian and allied forces “played a very important role in terms of stabilising the situation in the country” during his first visit to the country’s main city, Almaty.
The financial hub of 1.8 million people was devastated during clashes between security forces and government opponents that gave way to a spree of looting.
Claims of foreign meddling
“Without a doubt, it was of great psychological importance in repelling the aggression of terrorists and bandits. The mission can be considered very successful,” he added.
One of the strategic buildings that the CSTO contingent was guarding was Almaty airport, which was reportedly seized by government opponents last week.
The airport’s press service said that it was handling both domestic and international flights again today.
AFP correspondents witnessed a funeral for a serviceman killed during the clashes which was attended by dozens of soldiers and featured sombre military music.
Tokayev has framed the clashes as a coup attempt assisted by local and international terrorists.
Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin hinted that the violence was reminiscent of “colour revolutions” instigated by foreign meddling.
Those narratives resonated with some residents of Almaty, despite the lack of proof provided by authorities.
‘Provoked by West’
Retired engineer Malik Shaimukhambetov blamed the shootouts in his city on “foreign aggression”, which he said had subverted state troops and allowed gangs to seize government buildings.
“I see these events as a kind of orange revolution provoked by the west,” Shaimukhambetov said, referring to political protests that erupted in Ukraine in 2004.
Tokayev said the phased withdrawal of the foreign troops would take no more than ten days.
Concern had mounted that Moscow could leverage the mission to shore up its influence in Kazakhstan.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken earlier warned that “once Russians are in your house, it’s sometimes very difficult to get them to leave”.
Last week’s violence in Kazakhstan erupted on the back of peaceful demonstrations over a rise in fuel prices and against a background of deteriorating living standards and endemic corruption.
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As a survivor of sexual abuse the hardest thing to do was to open up about it. It took me 15 years to eventually open up to someone (my current partner) about it. She has been a tremendous support and has helped me through a lot of low points and insecurities.
Unfortunately however, some people are far less receptive to it than others. When the time came to approach my family about it I was labeled a liar and told what happened to me was made up and that it couldn’t be true.
Haven’t spoken to my family in 3 years as a result.
@Onion Knight: Thank you for sharing your story. It is great to hear you have a supportive partner, and I’m sorry your family wouldn’t do that for you. Wishing you all the best.
Rape is a crime. There are no mitigating factors to someone forcing themselves on another person. The circumstances are immaterial, lack of consent is lack of consent. It is the responsibility of us all to ensure there is consent. It really is that simple.
@Mark Andrew Salmon: That’s stating the obvious. How do you stop it happening though?
@lavbeer: I think awareness is a great tool to prevention of accidents and crimes. When I was a child, I was told not to talk to strangers. so the chances of me getting kidnapped where very low, from being aware. But if you’re not aware of potential threats, especially if you’re involved in risky behaviour, there’s allways a change of circumstances turning out bad.
@lavbeer: You’ve had this question answered already. Prevention of sexually based crimes begins with educating all members of society about bodily autonomy, consent, what constitutes a sexually based crime, and the life long consequences for victims. The focus must be shifted from the (potential) victim to the (potential) perpetrator. Anyone of us is capable of committing a sexually based crime. That is the simple reality.
Yeah we know, as hook said, women and men should be careful who they go back to a hotel room with, and be mindful of the risks!! Sadly most rapists are not weirdos as we are lead to believe, but charming guys, so it’s hard sometimes to see red flags.
@Philip Brady:
How d
@Philip Brady:
Clearly you’re crying for attention.
So…
Did you think before posting your ignorant remark?
Did you even read the article?
How does that victim blaming working out for you?
@Dog Eat Fog: i want to make this clear. I do want attention. Hence why I wrote the comment. So are you saying we are not some way responsible for the decisions we make? Theirs no preventive measures one could make to avoid any harm happening them. You were Talking about Mark Humphreys, and his accountability for what he was writing? You don’t have double standards do you?
@Philip Brady:
Really?
Mark Humphrys has published material I would think fall into the category of libel, e.g. publishing of defamatory claims and no justification or evidence supporting those claims.
That said, it has no relevance whatsoever in this case. There is no comparison. There are no parallels to be drawn.
Your questions are further only distracting from the topic, and your original ignorant outburst, but sure:
1. We are all responsible for our own actions.
2. Of course there are preventative measures one could take to avoid harm.
3. Yes, I was talking about Mark and his published mountain of complete rubbish.
4. No, I don’t have double standard.
Now, back on topic.
How does that victim blaming working out for you?
@Philip Brady:
Adding to this:
“You were Talking about Mark Humphreys, and his accountability for what he was writing? You don’t have double standards do you?”
Are you suggesting that rape victims in your view are accountable for being raped?
Thin ice, mister. Thin ice.
@Dog Eat Fog: you love bullet points, 1. Rape should not happen.
2.victims are of course victims, and should have justice, someone who is raped is allways the victim. And I am not in any way blaming them.
3. In some cases, questions must be asked weather the victim could have made some decisions that would have prevented an attack.
4. People need to be aware that their are people out there that want to cause harm.
One question though, when is taking a risky decision make one culpable for what happens? Is my exposing others to risk or extra-ordinary risk unjustified? At what point? Does that then take on a % based responsibility?
@Philip Brady:
Thank you for the clarification.
You’re questioning if a rape victim (in retrospect) could’ve done anything differently to prevent the rape from happening.
The answer is – no.
You’re also questioning when, at what point, a rape victim’s actions make them culpable to the rape.
The answer is – never.
Your questions are the very definition of victim blaming.
To be clear – there is never a shared burden between the rapist and the rape victim. Never.
Maybe you’re exploring the subject for academic purposes or whatnot, but I do sincerely hope that you somewhere understand that you’re effectively engaging in victim blaming, regardless of your motives.
@Dog Eat Fog: @Dog Eat Fog: tell me why so many women tend not to get taxis on there own, especially when they are on a night out? Would it be fair to say they are taking precautionary measures? Or maybe they know there’s some kind of risk involved.
@Dog Eat Fog: maybe if she got a taxi with her friends it would have prevented any assault? Are you suggesting women should let their guard Down? And Not be mindful of risks and go with the flow and let the universe take over. If it’s not clear to you, I’m trying to look for answers in preventing rape, not advocating it.
@Philip Brady:
There seems to be a critical piece of information that you’re either not aware of or omitting in your considerations.
According to publicly available statistics (RCNI), in ~91% of all reported cases (which is all we have to go on, not to speculate) the perpetrator is known to the victim and it’s mostly a family member.
The remaining instances are seemingly random, whereof some may take place late at night in dark places.
This is where you’re logic fails.
You seem to think that by subjecting women to limitations in how they lead their lives and by removing parts of their independence, you might solve the problem.
It doesn’t work that way. It achieves nothing. The change needs to take place in society at large and how we deal with rapists – not how we deal with victims.
@Dog Eat Fog: i agree about the person is known to the victim in most cases, that’s a different issue to what I am talking about. removing parts of their independents” how do you suggesting we stop rapist from raping? How do you deal with a frist time rapist? What’s your solution? Tell women to go out and do what ever the hell they want to, with no consequences, that seems far far more dangerous than what I am proposing.
@Philip Brady:
I don’t have a solution. However, I have this thought -
Let’s stop focusing on the victim in solving the issue. It does not help and it distracts from the problem – the rapists.
Exactly how we solve the problem is more than I can tell, while I can say that far too much energy is spent on victim blaming and on what potential victims should or should not do not to become a victim. As the stats clearly tells you, it does not apply and it does not work. The efforts and discussion must go the other direction.
@Dog Eat Fog: i don’t think you’re gritting what I am saying? Why is it that you think a person (before being a victim) could prevent (some) situations from happening? I think it’s very important part of the discussion actually.
@Philip Brady: I’d be happy if you answered that
@Philip Brady:
Excuse me? I neither say nor agree with that a potential victim can prevent crimes against them from happening.
Now…
How do we reduce crime? How do we reduce gun violence? How do we reduce abuse? How do we reduce domestic violence? How do we reduce rape?
Certainly not by telling victims or potential victims to behave differently and to put limitations on how they lead their lives.
We do it by changing society at large and how we deal with perpetrators.
Exactly how that should be done in this case is more than I know, but that’s where I believe the discussion needs to be held.
I don’t believe your insistent focus on the victim and how to change the victim’s behaviour is helping one bit, but rather is quite counterproductive.
@Dog Eat Fog: it seems you don’t want to step out of your comfort zone, I think believe everything is on the table to be discussed and scrutinized. What I am posing is also very topical, concedering what happend hook. So do you think we as people can stop certain outcomes by removing our selfs from certain situation.??
@Philip Brady:
Comfort zone? really?
This was your starting point – victim blaming.
“women and men should be careful who they go back to a hotel room with, and be mindful of the risks!!”
The you questioned victims’ and potential victims’ actions and behaviours – just read up on your own posts.
Now, however, in your last message you say:
“everything is on the table to be discussed and scrutinized”
And yet you insist on putting the focus on the victims, which clearly is a futile effort.
If everything is on the table, then drive the discussion towards what we can do to change our society, and what governing bodies can do to change how we handle rapists.
@Dog Eat Fog: seems you’re trying to steer the Conversation repeatedly, I’ve asked a question many times . Which you have not answered. Are you going to answer the questions?
@Philip Brady:
Si
@Philip Brady:
Sure, which question in particular, of the number of questions you’ve already posed?
@Dog Eat Fog: do you believe we are responsible for our selfs?
@Philip Brady:
I think I answered this already, but anyway -
Of course we are responsible for ourselves and our own actions, assuming we’re talking about adults (parents are responsible for their minor children).
Do you have a point with that question in terms of rape victims and their perpetrators?
@Dog Eat Fog: Right so women and men need to be some what responsible for their safety would I be right in saying that ?
@Philip Brady:
Of course they do.
For instance – Leaving a candle lit in a different room, smoking in bed, running out in traffic, changing lane without indicating, are a few examples of actions that can result in accidents and subsequently various degrees of injury or worse.
If these these type of actions are performed, one could argue that the self-inflicted injury comes with a level of responsibility. One could also argue that the person did not consider their own, and possibly others, safety performing the action or actions in question.
Keywords are – 1) accident, and 2) self-inflicted (while accidents also may affect others).
Does this mean that we also carry a responsibility to safeguard ourselves from other human beings subjecting our persons to criminal harm?
Of course not.
@Dog Eat Fog:
Just to cover one more aspect – it doesn’t belong here, but just to have it said – and that is the “walking into danger” scenario, such as stepping into the middle of an ongoing fight, or picking a fight with someone.
While these are not necessarily accidents, they are self-inflicted, and as such one could argue various levels of own responsibility.
“The onus…should be on society to raise people to not be rapists.”
Unfortunately this doesn’t work. We can tell people not to murder, abuse, burgle. We can punish and make examples of the ones who do but it will never stop completely there, will always be more in future.
@Maurice Bourke: the onus is always to improve pressure in society to make rape absolutely unacceptable. There is no choice to be raped but there is a choice not to rape.
@Deborah Behan:
It’s already utterly unacceptable in our society to rape someone.
@Thought for Food: You must be new.
@Thought for Food: oh youre new, you’ll need to be aware of the cognitive dissonance that goes on here. It’s fair game to talk about abuse in the church, but not in Islam. You can ask questions, but not allowed question minorities. oppression of women is only acceptable in Islam. You can talk about “rape culture” no problem, but you can not talk about the high percentage of rape across Europe in connection with migrants.
@Philip Brady: People were being raped across Europe long before any “connection with migrants”. It would be super if you would stop trying to deflect that Irish people have been, and are being, sexually assaulted &/or raped by other Irish people.
@Felicity Hensen: you’re also missing my point
No means no…
In the UK a Labour MP and key ally of Jeremy Corbyn, re-tweeted a post which told rape victims, “to shut their mouths for the good of diversity”…
http://www.express.co.uk/news/politics/844850/Naz-Shah-Jeremy-Corbyn-Rotherham-tweet-sex-victims-shut-mouths-diversity
@Remy:
And was she asked to resign? Because i think she was. Yet you continue to hold trump to a lower standard
@Gerri Sant0r0:
Your spelling is atrocious. explain the mental gymnastics that brought you to that conclusion?, which race are you on about? Gob*hite
@Stephen Coveney:
Did she resign? ?
@Remy: Oh dear! Did Geri get you all worked up this morning? Don’t let these things get to you.Just keep posting about Muslims and blacks.#loveboth
@Stephen Coveney: No oddly enough she wasn’t asked to resign by the Labour party , nor was she removed from the Labour party .
She was however suspended for making anti semitic remarks , but reinstated after 3 months .
@Ollie Mac:
Ahh”Ollie” keep posting you’re self loathing, Anti white pro abortion drivel.
Get that self loathing looked at while you’re at it.
@Ollie Mac: you know what black Irish people are busy doing? Getting stuff done man, socialising, working and not being victims. I know that’s hard for you to swillow, liberals are inadvertently the most racist.
@Philip Brady: Mind don’t you choke on the bull shit .
@Ollie Mac: keep up the patronizing behaviour,
@Philip Brady: I honestly never knew that Ireland enacted laws against the black person..wow…
Nobody is being raised to rape in the same way nobody is raised to murder someone.
Everyone already know that rape is unacceptable and shocking.
Unfort there are bad people out there who are going to commit crimes regardless of what they know.
We need tougher punishments for rapists too.
@gjpb:
We need tougher sentences, but we must also remember not to lower the burden of proof as well.
We also need tough sentences for demonstrably false allegations of rape as they can be devastating for the victim and do nothing but water down legitimate allegations.
“I think it’s important that people realise how prevalent sexual assault and rape is”
How “prevalent” is it?
@TheoWolfe: One is too many , and we should see it like that . There is possibly no way to prevent a sexual predator from raping , I wish there was , but the least we can do is come down hard on violent rapists .
@Paddy Hayden:
That doesn’the address the statement that was left hanging in the air. Your philosophy could be applied to any illegal activity but it doesn’t achieve the Utopia alluded to.
@TheoWolfe: True , I have no answers , but I’m not going down the Deborah Behan path , lock all men up under curfew . And I sure as hell don’t advocate for Burqas .
@TheoWolfe: ask your female friends about their experiences.
@Maggie OSullivan Graham:
In regard to what Maggie? Are you somehow suggesting all females have been raped? Or perhaps sexually harassed. If so, how are you defining such harassment?
The chances are that anyone who says they are raped have been but some accuse others of rape when both agree to sex while drunk, then in my book wanting sex when drunk is no way rape but some try to make out it is.
Then there are a few that shout rape like Jemma Beale, http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4818874/Jemma-Beale-jailed-10-years.html
And then there is malicious rumours by malicious people that ended up costing the life of Bijan Ebrahimi http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-bristol-40494218
Most and nearly all who say they are raped are but we have to be careful as not all who are raped are, take a look at the UK Police with operation YEWTREE. Where Jimmy Talbot, Jim Davidson, Freddy Starr and it looks now like Cliff Richard were accused of rape and were innocent, then there were politicians accused of rape as well like Briton and others. So the best method is let the investigations take place before we condemn anyone?
Hopefully attitudes will change with education and parents teaching their kids right.
have your say