Dark Shadows

Inside the Secret World of Kazakhstan

Joanna Lillis

• Publisher: Bloomsbury Academic
• Year: 2022
• Print ISBN: 9780755626694
• eBook ISBN: 9780755626700
• Edition: 2
• Topic: Politics & International Relations
• Subtopic: Communism, Post-Communism & Socialism
• Index: Politics & International Relations

Dark Shadows is a compelling portrait of Kazakhstan, a country that is little known in the West. Strategically located in the heart of Central Asia, sandwiched between Vladimir Putin's Russia, its former colonial ruler, and Xi Jinping's China, this vast oil-rich state is carving out its place in the world as it contends with its own complex past and present. Journalist Joanna Lillis paints a vibrant picture of this emerging nation through vivid reportage based on 17 years of on-the-ground coverage, and travels across the length and breadth of this enigmatic country that lies along the ancient Silk Road and at the geopolitical and cultural crossroads where East meets West. Featuring tales of murder and abduction, intrigue and betrayal, extortion and corruption, this book explores how a president, Nursultan Nazarbayev, transformed himself into a potentate and the economically-struggling state he inherited at the fall of the USSR into a swaggering 21st-century monocracy. A colourful cast of characters brings the politics to life: from strutting oligarchs to sleeping villagers, from principled politicians to striking oilmen, from crusading journalists to courageous campaigners. This new edition features two additional chapters covering the aftermath of Nazarbayev's fall from power in 2019; the Chinese government's repressions against the Kazakhs of Xinjiang as part of its crackdown on Muslim minorities; and an Afterword reflecting on the tumultuous events of January 2022 in Almaty. Traversing dust-blown deserts and majestic mountains, taking in glitzy cities and dystopian landscapes, Dark Shadows conjures up Kazakhstan as a living, breathing place, full of extraordinary people living extraordinary lives.

Index

Abdildin, Serikbolsyn here, here, here, here, here

Abdrashev, Rustem here, here

Abilov, Bolat here, here, here, here, here, here–here

Abish, Samat here

Abishev, Aset here

Abkhazia here

Ablyazov, Mukhtar here–here

and arrest in France here–here

and BTA Bank legal case here–here, here–here

and DVK here–here, here, here, here, here–here, here, here

and extradition battle here–here, here, here

and jailing and release in Kazakhstan here–here

and Khrapunov family here, here

and Respublika here, here, here, here–here

and Tatishev, Yerzhan here, here, here

and Zhanaozen here–here, here

Abulkhair here

Adam/Adam bol here–here

administrative resource here

Afghanistan here–here, here, here

Agadil, Dulat here–here

Ageleuov, Galym here

Airbus Helicopters here

Akhmetov, Serik here

Akmola here, here, here, here

Akorda here, here, here, here

Ak Orda here

aktaban shubyryndy. See barefooted flight

Aktau here

Aktobe here

akyn here–here

Akytkhan, Khalida here–here

Ak Zhol here, here–here, here

Aladin, Nikolay here

Alash Orda here

Alga! here, here–here, here–here, here, here, here

Aliyev, Nurali here, here, here

Aliyev, Rakhat here–here, here–here, here, here, here, here

Alma-Ata here–here, here–here, h...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Dedication Page
• Contents
• Map of Kazakhstan
• Kazakhstan historical timeline
• Note on transliteration and names
• Introduction
• I. The Making of a Potentate
• II. Identity Crisis
• III. Stories from the Steppe
• Afterword: The Endgame
• Notes
• Bibliography
• Acknowledgements
• Index
• Imprint