The Coronavirus crisis has exposed the autocratic regimes in Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan as economically incompetent and bankrupt. In both ex-Soviet states, the regimes asked ordinary citizens to chip in from their pockets into government set-up funds to battle the virus.
Aydos Ukibay, press secretary to the first president of Kazakhstan, Nursultan Nazarbayev, announced that “Elbasy” (Leader of the Nation) wanted “those who want and are able, to help the country” and donate to a special fund to help Kazakhstan in these difficult times.
Last week in Azerbaijan, the Aliyev regime announced the creation of a fund to combat the coronavirus. These sorts of schemes are a common tactic in Azerbaijan for the ruling caste to enrich itself.
Both the Aliyev and Nazarbayev regimes are notorious for regularly producing inflated economic figures out of thin air to brag about their economic policies. With the collapse of the oil price and the coronavirus crisis, both regimes stand exposed as mere gas-stations for Western regimes with no productive economic sector outside of the oil and gas industry.
(Courtesy: RFERL, Eurasianet)
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