Category archive for ‘Politics’ 
-
Is Russia Making It Up?
Just as the lease comes up on Baikanour and the Kazakhstan Parliament considers increasing the price (Subscription Only) for Russia to rent and operate the base, Russia is making accusations that Kazakhstan is interfering. The charges are sufficiently vague:
Kazakhstan’s position on various matters regarding the use of the Baikonur cosmodrome is complicating the execution of [...] -
Yes Virginia, Prices are Going Up Again
Rosbalt, a Russian business news site, is reporting that due to the customs union which will be adapted on 1 Jan 2010, Kazakhstan will correct 50% of customs tariffs [RU]. The article is short so I’ll reproduce it here, in my translation.
In preparation for the work of the Customs Union (Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan), the [...] -
Aliyev Has Left Austria
According to his lawyer, Rakhat Aliyev has left Austria. He declined to renew his residency. Amid accusations and on-going court cases that the Kazakhstan Security Services tried to kidnap Aliyev several times on Austrian territory, the lawyer is obviously not revealing where Aliyev has gone.
Profil magazine will apparently release a report on Monday. As [...] -
Doctrine of National Unity
Astana Calling, the newsletter from the Kazakhstan Embassy in the US is out with its latest issue. (To subscribe to this newsletter, write to pressa@mid.kz).
There are a couple of articles that caught my attention and I’ll be writing about them in upcoming posts. But the first one I wanted to discuss was Public Debates Encouraged [...] -
Customs Union Means Higher Prices?
The Customs Union which is likely to come into force in January of 2010 between Belarus, Kazakhstan and Russia has not been getting a lot of press in Kazakhstan. Lukashenko, President of Belarus recently made some interesting comments on the Union, criticizing the fact that there has been no good analysis on whether or not [...]
-
Who Will Watch the Watchmen?
I have heard from a number of my friends who work in the government-understandably they preferred to remain anonymous–that the government is doing something about government cars being used for personal purposes. However, the program they have put into place doesn’t seem to be optimal.
To the casual observer, this does seem like a really [...] -
Radioactive Corruption
Yeah, lame post title. I haven’t written about the firing of Mukhtar Dzhakishev as head of Kazatomprom, Kazakhstan’s state uranium company. Dzhakishev. In and of itself this would be newsworthy because Kazatomprom can genuinely be called an internationally competitive country. Kazakhstan has been blessed with a lot of uranium but Dzhakishev has done a lot [...]
-
Internet ad absurdium
As a protest against the new Internet media law currently under consideration in the Parliament of Kazakhstan, which would empower the government to block access to websites that “run counter to” the legislation of Kazakhstan” , an NGO has sent a draft law to Parliament proposing regulation of graffiti.
Parodying the language of the law on [...] -
BTA Bank Officials Held
After the government takeover of BTA Bank, chairman of the board and long time opposition figure, Mukhtar Abliyazov, and his deputy Zhaksylyk Zharimbetov, were both fired. As an investigation began into misdeeds by BTA Bank, both fled the country. The General Prosecutor claims that Abilyazov laundered money through the bank by giving “credit” to front [...]
-
One Religious Repression I Can Get Behind
The public prosecutor of Karaganda oblast is seeking to close its Scientology Center, Caravan newspaper announced last week, on charges that they cause physical and psychological harm to people.
Last year, the KNB charged the Church of Scientology with abusing financial laws to avoid taxes while making a profit, importing substances to be used as [...]
