Kazakstan

From Gothpoodle

• Population: 22 million
• Aspects: Stable, Totalitarian, Third Wave

At the beginning of the century, Kazakstan faced serious problems: an unstable economy, ecological devastation left over from the Soviet era, and tensions between the Russian and Kazak populations. Balanced against this was significant oil and mineral wealth, along with partial control over the old Soviet launch facilities at Baykonur.

Faced with these challenges, Kazakstan struggled along for several years. The last elected government fell to an ethnic-Russian putsch in 2018, which seized control with support from the military. By 2024, an oil tycoon named Sergei Maksimovitch Zarubayev had outmaneuvered all his rivals and become the country’s dictator.

In 2100, Zarubayev is still the absolute ruler of Kazakstan, having stayed in power through a combination of physical longevity, clever politics, and utter ruthlessness. More than any dictator in modern history, he has stamped his personal vision on his own country. Ethnic Russians form the elite of his state; non-Russians (and especially Muslims) suffer vicious police-state oppression. Under him, Kazakstan has meddled in politics all over central Asia: supporting nationalistic movements in Russia, interfering in the internal affairs of other post-Soviet states, rattling sabers with China, and so on.