Registan.net

Via Ben, I’m really glad Kazakhstan has no other problems than how to light its not-fake capital’s overly elaborate 10th anniversary. Like Ben, I think that even if it hadn’t been canceled I could imagine Uncle Nazzy wanting this thing put on. Last I was in Astana, I had the dubious pleasure of watching a […]

I’ve heard some news. That makes it hearsay for you, gentle reader, but it’s still interesting.
Kazakhstan has decided to spend some money on serious English education. A friend just leaving the Peace Corps in Kazakhstan has signed on for a promised $2000/month, plus reimbursed travel. That might not cut it in super […]

That’s the running theory. The latest angry outburst from former U.S. President Bill Clinton was in response to an article in Vanity Fair magazine, detailing the Clinton’s many shady connections to backroom deals and his “intemperate manner of speaking.”
The Kazakhstan connection here is that infamous handshake Clinton arranged for Canadian mining magnate Frank Giustra […]

Last year, Nathan noted some strange objections by James Love to KazAtomProm’s 10% purchase of Westinghouse from Toshiba. They just didn’t hold up:
It would be a shame if CFIUS blocked the deal. Kazakhstan has been responsible with nuclear technology. And because it will become a more important player in nuclear energy with or without links […]

When last I touched on the global food crisis and how it is impacting Afghanistan and the rest of Central Asia, I noted that countries continuing to ban wheat exports would make the problem worse by restricting the global market, driving up prices even more, and limiting national coping mechanisms. One of the countries producing […]

Tanya at Siberian Light has an interesting thought about Russian reforms in the Putin era:
In comparison with Kazakhstan what does Russia have to boast about? Unfortunately, not one of Russia’s reforms has been finished during the last 4 years and, moreover some of these reforms failed completely. It is enough to remember monetization of reduced […]

Hell hath no fury like a Nazarbayev scorned: Rakhat Aliyev, the bête noir of Kazakh politics for his probably association in a bank heist (but more importantly, disputing the holy rule of the holy family), has had his original sentence, which was handed down after a sham of a trial, extended by 20 years.
With […]