Hal Brands, Columnist

Putin Is Shoring Up the Global Alliance of Autocrats

Why is Russia intervening in Kazakhstan? Throughout history, strongmen have rushed to defend lesser rulers abroad to keep revolution from gaining traction at home.

January 14, 2022 at 9:00 AM UTC

By Hal Brands

Hal Brands is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist and the Henry Kissinger Distinguished Professor at Johns Hopkins University’s School of Advanced International Studies.

A golden age for autocrats.
Photographer: Alexander Zemlianichenko/AFP/Getty Images

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Pay close attention to what is happening in Kazakhstan.

To many in the West, the recent upheaval there — an uprising against the authoritarian government that triggered a Russian-led military intervention — probably seems to have come out of the blue. It’s actually part of an ominous global trend.