Central Asia will remain unstable, however many troops Russia sends

ANOTHER WEEK, another setback for freedom and democracy in the former Soviet Union—and another show of force from Vladimir Putin, Russia’s president. That is one way to read recent events in Kazakhstan, and there is some truth to it.When gripes about rising fuel prices escalated into broader protests against a corrupt autocracy, and then erupted into mob attacks on government buildings, the authorities violently suppressed the unrest. They not only ordered the security services to shoot rioters without warning, but also turned to Russia, allowing Mr Putin to send in a squad of paratroopers to help restore order. The rights of ordinary Kazakhs, already circumscribed, have been ferociously trampled, and Mr Putin has once again affirmed his status as the region’s kingpin. He even crowed that he would not allow any more “colour revolutions” in the former Soviet Union, meaning that he would make sure corrupt and repressive governments were always able to crush peaceful protests by exasperated citizens.