Jun 08 2007

Aliyev Discussion

Category: In The Media,Kazakhstan — ChrisM @ 2:20 am

I mentioned a while ago about the situation with Nazabayev’s (the President of Kazakhstan) son-in-law Rakhat Aliev (also spelt Aloyev). Thanks to this post at KZBlog, I have now read a good couple of posts that summarize the situation well. Two hours ago the links worked fine, now I can not access them.
The most likely explanation is simply that the server for that site is having problems, though other issues, such as a block being placed by Kazakh authorities are possible. Hopefully not too likely, but something to consider… Anyway, the 1st (and newer) post details the issues surrounding Aliyev’s extradition, and the second was written a little earlier, and is a more general summary of what has been allegedly going on with Aliyev and accusations of kidnapping.

Thanks to KZBlog once again for the heads up on those two posts.

Tags: , ,

Jun 04 2007

What Would You Like To Ask Him?

Category: Kazakhstan — ChrisM @ 5:33 pm

Thanks to KZBlog, I have had my attention drawn towards an initiative setup by President Nazarbayev’s government to allow ordinary citizens to submit questions to him. Check the linked post for the correct address to be used, and note that you can also choose to e-mail him questions, should you wish.
The questions are limited to non-personal, and will be voted on, presumably with the most popular ones being put to the President. If this were an e-election, some might query whether any government workers may accidentally vote for favoured questions more than once, or if people should use anonymising proxies to submit any particularly cutting questions, but as this isn’t quite that serious, I’m just hoping some interesting questions will be allowed through…

Tags: , , ,

Jun 01 2007

Childrens Conference In The Park

Category: Kazakhstan,Pictures — ChrisM @ 1:11 pm

As I recently mentioned here, there is some sort of meeting going on across the road. I spoke to Ira, and she believes it may be related to a children’s conference going on today.

Childrens Conference Astana Kazakhstan

If you look on the left, you can see a poster featuring our beloved President. The area the crowd is in, is one of the entrances to Astana Park, which has a lot of cafes in open in the summer, fairground rides, and eventually leads down to the River Ishim.

I’ll come back and update with more information, as I receive it.

Tags: , , , , ,

Jun 01 2007

Borat Used Inappropriately

Category: Kazakhstan — ChrisM @ 12:49 pm

Registran has a post (Deep Breathing) reviewing an article by a British journalist, and they seem spot on in their critical analysis of the journo’s weaknesses. Lazy writing seems to have ruined the introduction to the article.

As if to prove the point, the 7th comment at the Registran post is by a Jonny The Monkey ignores the article linked to, the issue of corruption in Central Asia, and makes some Borat influenced comedy comments regarding Uzbekistan. At least they are original, rather than verbatim movie quotes. I have to admit when I launched this blog, I did comment at quite a few places that mentioned the film, but only those that were not serious pieces on Kazakhstan itself.

Tags: , , ,

Jun 01 2007

You know you’ve been in Kazakhstan too long if…

Category: Kazakhstan — ChrisM @ 10:33 am

Quite a funny list – a few of them apply to Almaty (the old capital) more than Astana. Here is a small extract, see below for the link to the original and full list.

…you think that car seats for kids are only used by overprotective parents with OCD.

…you find a recently cleaned street rather empty.

…you get scared/worried when the checkout lady smiles at you.

…you buy several of certain things in the supermarket because you expect a shortage.

…sitting in a car you think that pedestrians are careless maniacs jumping onto the crossing when the light is green for them.

…you forget something but unable to force yourself to go to the house with shoes on in spite of being in a hurry.

Have a read from the original – Bogar Harrison’s move to Kazakhstan , then check out her other posts, if you have not been there before…

Tags: , ,

Jun 01 2007

Some Sort Of Concert

Category: Kazakhstan,Personal,Pictures — ChrisM @ 2:34 am

Over the last couple of days, at the entrance to the park across the road from us, they have been building a stage.
We are not sure exactly what the occasion is, but Irina thinks it may be ‘Childrens Day’ tomorrow, so perhaps there is some sort of connection?

Astana-Park-Stage

The slightly worrying aspect was when they were rehearsing on Wednesday; a few minutes after they left the (all metal) stage, we had a huge thunderstorm with lightning striking with in 1/2 mile. I just hope that should the weather repeat whilst they are performing, that the singers will be taken off the stage quickly.
If I’m around when they start the show, I’ll try and grab some photos from a close location.

Tags: , ,

May 30 2007

Looking for news in the Stans?

Category: Kazakhstan,Personal — ChrisM @ 2:34 am

Central Asia Now is a relatively new site dedicated to covering current affairs, well, in the Central Asian region.

Central Asia
In the above image, Central Asia is apparently shown as any country that on top the thick red line…

Central Asia now specifically covers Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan.
The site will aggregate news from the region, and once every couple of weeks will feature an original article on matters effecting those who live within Central Asia. Topics that will be covered include democracy, economics, human rights, energy, strategic issues, the military, governance and religious questions.

This post is not sponsored at all, just thought that as this is a Kazakhstan blog, readers might appreciate the heads up on the site…

the site’s address is http://www.centralasianow.org , but I’ve removed the live link for now, as the site is down.

Tags: , , , , , ,

May 29 2007

BBC Reports On Kazakhstan

Category: Aware Or Conspiracy Nut...,In The Media,Kazakhstan — ChrisM @ 2:20 am

A couple of friends in Britain sent me links to some interesting articles on the recent events in Kazakhstan, from the BBC. They are quite similar, and the articles are listed in date order, the earliest first. One friend commented that the 2nd last paragraph in the 3rd article was very interesting indeed.

1st (oldest article)
2nd
3rd (newest article)

Please do not comment on these articles at this blog, as media laws in this country can be difficult to interpret, and I do not wish to fall foul of the fine upstanding legal system that is strongly in place here.

Tags: , , , ,

May 26 2007

Irina Is Back In A Few Hours

Category: Kazakhstan,Personal — ChrisM @ 1:05 am

Ira was away this week again in Moscow, for work. They require her to go to the office tomorrow and possibly Sunday as well, which will mean that by this coming Friday she will have worked 19 of the last 21 days, with international travel on four of her nights ‘off’. Luckily, it looks like she won’t be required to go with her boss to Moscow again next week, fingers crossed. Also hoping they won’t need her in the office next weekend, as that would then equate to 21 out of 23 days away from home. 🙁

This is another example of why I want to make sure I earn enough money from my sponsored posts and other online incomes – the idea of being EXPECTED to work those sort of hours, with a vague promise of 1 extra day off, if things are not too busy, puts me off ever wanting to work in an office over here, even more than I disliked the prospect of doing so in an English office. (Kate’s team not withstanding, she was a boss who knew how to get the best out of her workers, and maintained a good office atmosphere. She has recently won a local election to become a Labour councillor, so huge congrats to her, as I couldn’t find any reference to this event elsewhere on this blog).

Tags: , , ,

May 26 2007

Life Continuing Probability Rises!

Category: Kazakh Driving,Personal,Pictures — ChrisM @ 12:30 am

Long term readers of this blog will remember from previous posts on driving in Kazakhstan that crossing the road, especially in front of our flat is a scary experience.
Well today I noticed that cars were seemingly randomly slowing down and even stopping on the road, with people crossing. As I couldn’t see a policeman anywhere, I couldn’t figure out what was going on till the daylight disappeared – it looks like they have installed a proper pedestrian crossing 🙂 🙂 🙂
This may not seem like much to any American or British readers, but trust me, go ask Mum, John, Nick, Dad or ChrisD if you need to hear just how much things differ over here… I’ve said it before, imagine a UK motorway with no central barrier, and even the zebra crossing at the other end of the road doesn’t cause drivers to stop – if you are lucky, they will slow down enough for you to wonder about the driver in the next lane across. No more 🙂

New Traffic Lights Installed On Sary Arka

Please excuse the low quality piccie, it is night time without a flash, and zoomed in – I’ll try and get a better quality picture tomorrow daytime. Slightly better quality picture now 🙂

Tags: , , , , , , , ,

« Previous Page — Next Page »