KZBlog

Adam Kesher has an article up about a meeting between the head of NurOtan, Zhumagulov and the Italian Ambassador to Kazakhstan (full article is here). While I have extremely strong opinions on this, and Mr. Kesher seems to share my concerns, that a political party leader is meeting with an ambassador! As of late NurOtan has been strengthening its position–and showing up in key locations including government meetings. Nor is this the first time NurOtan has met with with foreign parties. As I remember from Khabar broadcasts, NurOtan has a signed agreement with a party in Malaysia (a country much loved by the powers that be here) and in other nations.

As an American, this is very strange. It isn’t the role of a political party, as I understand it, to meet with officials from other governments or to try to gain an international role. The job of a political party is to get its candidates elected and push forth a platform of issues. Foreign connections do nothing to help with either of these functions.

I am curious, though, how Kazakhs feel about this. What does a political party do? What should a political party do? Does it bother you, or does it seem quite normal that a political party (any given party) should have foreign relations?

Apropos of nothing, I would like to note that while my comment form asks for an email address, it does not verify that address, so it is very easy to post anonymously by just putting in something like anau@minau.kz.