From the category archives:

Kazakhstan

Back to Central Asia to Start

by Asher Kohn

I had the opportunity to have a long talk (or to be technical, listen to three different talks) with a woman who does Law and Central Asia stuff for the US Government. I’m not going to get into specifics because I haven’t asked her if I can get into specifics on an internet forum, and [...]

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If Mandela Could’ve Blogged…

by Alexander_Visotzky

Since Kazakhstan assumed chairmanship of the OSCE on January 1st, I haven’t heard much regarding Kazakhstan’s two high-profile political prisoners, Evgenii Zhovtis and Mukhtar Dzhakishev. 
I was slightly and pleasantly shocked to learn this week, however, that Zhovtis is somehow blogging from prison. Presumably there isn’t much to do at prison colony 156/13 near Ust-Kammenogrsk other [...]

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No Mere Frontier

by Asher Kohn

Stumbling into this project, as well as looking at the maps Mr. Foust put up in his last post, got me thinking. The Rewilding is exuberant, exaggerated, and almost entirely academic at this point, but it is interesting:
A Marshall Plan for the environment, rewilding promotes the expansion of core wilderness areas on a vast scale, [...]

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Glutting Kazakhstan’s Wheat Industry

Thumbnail image for Glutting Kazakhstan’s Wheat Industry by Joshua Foust

In mid-2008, Kazakhstan was on the verge of outright panic: with several major world producers coming up drastically short on their wheat exports, the world price of the grain was soaring. The price got so high that normal Kazakhs could barely afford bread.
In response, the Kazakh government restricted wheat imports, further spiking the price [...]

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Gauging Kazakhstan’s Chairmanship of the OSCE

Thumbnail image for Gauging Kazakhstan’s Chairmanship of the OSCE by Joshua Foust

William Courtney, the former U.S. Ambassador to Astana, is guardedly optimistic about Kazakhstan’s chairmanship of the OSCE this year:
Democratic activists are crying foul, saying President Nursultan Nazarbayev represses dissent. Others worry that Kazakhstan will be used by Russia, which has undermined the O.S.C.E. in the past, to advance Russian initiatives.
Based on my experience as U.S. [...]

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Rule of Law-dee-dah

by Asher Kohn

I was a bit into writing an entirely different post about the concept of “Rule of Law” when I stumbled into Erica Marat’s Twittercast of Freedom House’s new rankings. Kyrgyzstan has been dropped, joining the rest of Central Asia as Unfree. One of her tweets said, “Rule of law, civil society & freedom of the [...]

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I want YOU to mumble a few words of Pashto

by Asher Kohn

The US Military’s Joint Chiefs of Staff, or I suppose someone on that board, came up with a moderate reorganization of the military. The plan is for a corps of experts in Afghanistan and Pakistan to help drive military goals and make sure that their operations won’t blow up in their faces. I really don’t [...]

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The Plot Sickens…

by Alexander_Visotzky

Interesting Eurasianet article on the video clips of former Kazatomprom chief, Mukhtar Dzhakishev that somehow made their way onto Youtube a couple weeks back. (Check it out here)
The story adds a whole new dimension to the Dzhakishev saga. The Kazatomprom chief, it seems, was courting a Canadian company, Uranium One, to be the leader in [...]

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Kazakhstan, Beacon of Anticorruption Activity?

by Alexander_Visotzky

To preface this entry I should say that I’m not really in a position to be objective on this issue, but I’ll attack it nonetheless:
 When your girlfriend or wife asks you if she looks fat or ugly, you tell her no, even if she does look fat or ugly. Sometimes a little lie doesn’t hurt. [...]

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Kazakh OSCE and Virility

Thumbnail image for Kazakh OSCE and Virility by michaelhancock

The run up to Kazakhstan’s chairing of the OSCE [Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe] means that we’ll probably see more human-interest stories like this one.  Nazarbaev was in Italy to sign some deals [more on this later], and stopped in to visit the Pope in the Vatican.  They exchanged pleasantries, Nazarbaev got some [...]

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