KZBlog

According to the MSNBC.com, Kazakhstan will likely not be given the chairmanship of the OSCE in 2009. As the preliminaries get underway for the OSCE annual meeting in Madrid on the 29th of Nov, sources indicate that Kazakhstan will be offered the chairmanship in 2010 or 2011. Spain, as the current chairman is putting together a plan it thinks Kazakhstan will be willing to accept, including taking off the table any conditions liked to democratic development.

Under the compromise, Greece will take the chairmanship in 2009 and Kazakhstan in 2010. Lithuania, another former Soviet Union nation, would assume leadership in 2011. Finland has already been selected to lead the organization next year.

However, nothing is certain. The plan relies in part on Kazakhstan agreeing. It is possible that having put so much energy into securing the rotating chairmanship for 2009, the government will feel that any compromise is unacceptable, a form of losing face. And there is no information as of yet on which nations support the compromise and what other alternatives may be put on the table.

For more on this issue you can check out my post on the debate over giving Kazakhstan the chairmanship and throw your voice into active debate in the comments!