Registan.net

As said before, I am studying in Almaty this summer, trying to get my Kazakh Language skills as high as possible.  Here’s a link to some of my efforts - comments welcome.
To begin with, I want to say a few sentences in disclaimer.  I understand that writing from a specific place is an easy way […]

From your friendly correspondent in Almaty:
I can say that prices in Almaty have changed since the last time I was here two years ago, and according to local friends, things have changed more or less steadily.  The fall of the tenge back in spring still looms relatively large in public memory.  For a few lucky […]

As Nursultan Nazarbayev celebrates his second decade of running Kazakhstan (he rose to power in 1989, two years before declaring independence from the USSR) through a nice big visit to the nuclear wasteland of Semey(palatinsk), there comes to light a few more scandals shaking his government.
Courtesy our friends at neweurasia.net, we learn that three […]

Just a note that one of the Registan regulars is off to Central Asia.  I’ll be working on my Kazakh over the next eight weeks while living in Almaty.  That is where the program is centered, and I know that might not be the best place to learn Kazakh.  I’ll be living with Kazakh-speaking Kazakhs, […]

There is a lot of blog-buzz over the allegation by the KNB that former (arrested) head of KazAtomProm Mukhtar Dzhakishev stole half of Kazakhstan’s uranium rights.
Given the allegations of political malfeasance behind Dzhakishev’s arrest, it’s probably a bad idea to take the KNB’s word on this one.
Authorities did not explain how Dzhakishev managed to steal […]

One of the strangest things about studying Central Asia is grappling with the severe inequalities. The big cities in a country like Kazakhstan are bastions of wealth sometimes difficult to comprehend.

 For example, this is a photograph I took of the waterfront along the Ishim River in Astana, the capital of Kazakhstan, in July of 2003. […]

Last week Chinese owned Alibaba.com ran a story about Kazakhstan’s government shifting some positions in the nuclear industry of the country.  Namely,that Vladimir Shkolnik, former Industry and Trade Minister, would be moving into the position as head of Kazatomprom, following confirmation by Nazarbaev.  The story includes this interesting sentence:
It was unclear if Kazatomprom’s veteran boss […]