KZBlog

Category archive for ‘Politics’

• The Big Day

  Today there will be a joint session of both houses of Parliament and the referendum to extend Nazarbayev’s term until 2020 is on the agenda. The Central Election Committee in a record 3 days checked all 5 million signatures and found only 194,000 were invalid. They have sent the petition on to the President. The [...]

  1/14/11 • (0)

• People’s Referendum

  Hope everyone had a nice New Year’s. Following up on the referendum to allow Nazarbayev to remain in power until 2020, which requires 200 000 signatures to be approved, one group in Almaty reports that they already have 300,000 signatures in support of the referendum. However they will continue to collect signatures until 11 Jan [...]

  1/05/11 • (1)

• President For Life, Or At Least Until 2020

  As has been widely reported, a movement to keep Nazarbayev as President until 2020 is underway. The “Initiative Group For Conducting a National Referendum to Extend the Powers of the First President of Kazakhstan” met on December 23 Ust-Kamenogorsk and called for a referendum that would extend Nazarbayev’s term until 2020, in other words giving [...]

  12/27/10 • (2)

• Deputy Calls for Solution to Evolution/Creation Debate

  I never did get around to posting about the Kazakh student who beat up 2 men in the UK after hearing them make a joke about Borat. I then failed to post about member of Parliament in Kazakhstan, Bekbolat Tleukhan’s reaction to the attack, mainly that he blames Sascha Baron Cohen because “our students abroad [...]

  12/26/10 • (1)

• 

  OSCE Summit

  Apparently I have achieved a certain status as a Kazakhstan/Central Asia blogger status where people expect me to comment on events. I even get mentioned in the same sentence as Registan.net, something I had only dreamed of. So here is my take on the OSCE summit. First though let me point out that it is [...]

  12/07/10 • (2)

• How Tolerant is Our Society?

  An ethnic Russian plans to run for President in 2012 raising issues of how Kazakhstan views itself. Is it primarily an ethnic homeland of Kazakhs or a multicultural society? Does a Russian running for president echo the imposition of Kolbin by Soviet authorities in 1986, which led to the famous December protests? How much disorder [...]

  11/13/10 • (0)

• Nazarbayev University Freed From Curriculum

  Parliament has agreed to pass legislation giving Nazarbayev University “special status”, meaning that it will be able to set its own curriculum. Nazarbayev University, where students started studying about two weeks ago, has invited Western universities in to run the academic programs University College of London at the moment is running the course for undergraduates. [...]

  10/19/10 • (0)

• Doskaliev Summary

  RFE/RL has a pretty good timeline of events surrounding the investigation, stroke, revelation, and now arrest and replacement of Zhaksylyk Doskaliev former Minister of Health. Especially useful since in my coverage I occasionally got things confused or reported on rumors and allegations: Dosqaliev was hospitalized on September 27 with an apparent stroke after being interrogated [...]

  10/12/10 • (0)

• Kazakhstan 2017

  It appears that Nazarbayev is planning to run again in 2012 and possibly in 2020, according to adviser and apparently defacto spokesperson Yermukhamet Yertysbayev. If he runs and wins, he will rule until 2017, and be 77 years old. According to Yertysbayev, the President would like to see out the industrial-innovation strategy.

  9/16/10 • (1)

• Giffen Trial Ends Not in a Bang

  After prosecuting James Giffen for seven years, Giffen pled guilty to avoiding paying taxes by failing to give information about a foreign bank account in his 1996 tax return. As for the accusation that he bribed government officials in Kazakhstan for oil deals to the tune of $84 million, well apparently consultants will be consultants. [...]

  8/17/10 • (0)

«Older Entries
Newer Entries»

Page optimized by WP Minify WordPress Plugin