KZBlog is going down (2)
After some thought, I have decided not to renew KZBLog’s lease. As you may have noticed, I don’t do a lot of posting here anymore. I don’t have time to blog regularly. Thus I am taking the site down–it does generate some ad revenue but not as much as it costs to keep it up. […]
Culture
- Yurts Are High Fashion and Slum Fashion Too
2011-12-05 - Apples, Sure. But THC is from Kazakhstan too?
2011-10-05 - Naked Man Pot
2011-09-23
- Yurts Are High Fashion and Slum Fashion Too
Resources
- Oh, CNN
2012-07-21 - What Do You Know About Kazakhstan?
2012-07-19 - Books for Kazakh Students
2011-11-06
- Oh, CNN
Politics
- Image
2011-07-28 - Sub Rosa Endorsement
2011-07-26 - The Naked Truth
2011-06-12
- Image
News
- KZBlog is going down
2013-09-10 - Oh, CNN
2012-07-21 - Repentence
2012-07-15
- KZBlog is going down
Fun
- What Do You Know About Kazakhstan?
2012-07-19 - Yurts Are High Fashion and Slum Fashion Too
2011-12-05 - House Hunters Bishkek
2011-12-02
- What Do You Know About Kazakhstan?
Tourism
- Asian Games Torch
2011-01-12 - Wikitravel
2010-08-07 - ALZHIR, the Soviets and Democracy
2010-07-30
- Asian Games Torch
Life in KZ
- Photo Gallery: Almaty Subway
2011-12-07 - Healthcare and the Private Sector
2011-11-30 - Naked Man Pot
2011-09-23
- Photo Gallery: Almaty Subway
Redbubble
Trailer to Babushkas (Comments Off on Trailer to Babushkas)
Found the trailer to the film I mentioned earlier:
If you haven’t checked the comments to that post, Z. did a bit of researching and found out that the filmmakers are hoping to get funding and put the film up online.
Babushkas (4)
Anyone in Texas planning to see this documentary? Anyone know if there are plans to distribute it more widely?
Babushkas a documentary by a Rice student about Russian grandmothers living in Kazakhstan.
The movie tells the stories of five elderly women, barely able to pay their food, utility and medical bills….
Early in the process, Chennisi and Hook thought they were making a movie about health care and food distribution. But everything changed when they interviewed the babushkas last summer. That’s when the two young women realized that the stories about love, loss and the fight to survive are universal, and that the documentary wasn’t about differences between older women in Kazakhstan and the United States but the similarities.
“The things the babushkas talked about — love, he asked me to the movies, fear of dying, fear of being alone — that’s what every human goes through,” Chennisi says. “The women wanted to tell their stories. They wanted to be heard.”
Baikonur a Russian Company? (Comments Off on Baikonur a Russian Company?)
Speaking of Baikonur, there’s an interesting proposal on the table to make the space station a joint-stock company with Russia holding 70% of the shares. Anatoly Perminov, head of Roscosmos, made the proposal recently and Talgat Musabayev, head of KazCosmos and well-known Kazakh astronaut, has said they will consider it.
As I reported earlier, Russia is building a new cosmodrome and in the future will only use Baikonur for about 11% of its space flight. One wonders what they will do in the Kazakh launch pad to deserve a large majority stake which would allow them to outvote other shareholders.
Gagarin’s Baikonur (Comments Off on Gagarin’s Baikonur)
There’s a really nice photo essay of Baikonur by Anton Verstakov up, with great shots of the house where Gagarin stayed and even his bedroom among other things. It really is amazing how desolate Baikonur looks. Verstakov notes that the cosmodrome reminds him of Soviet times:
For me it is a sort of a flashback, a visualization of my best memories from Soviet times. I was 10 when USSR collapsed, so my memories are quite blurred and not systematic at all. But this sense of calmness, silence, and peace is very real. These empty clean streets, wide squares, green alleys, monuments, no one in a hurry, everyone living by the working schedule–bring back warm memories. Baikonur is a precious historical reserve where time has frozen.
High Times in North Kazakhstan (Comments Off on High Times in North Kazakhstan)
Apparently police in North Kazakhstan oblast seized seven bags of marijuana this weekend from a car on the Karaganda-Omsk road and put them in a warehouse in Petropavlosk. However when it came time to incinerate them, they discovered that 5 bags totaling 100kgs had been replaced by tobacco and bricks!
The matter is under investigation, but that won’t do much to instill public confidence in the police department.
Balkhash Regatta? (Comments Off on Balkhash Regatta?)
You can even download the Balkhash Regatta Anthem!
100% Kazakh-Speaking Generation (1)
Nursultan Nazarbayev, speaking Monday at the Assembly of the People of Kazakhstan, expressed the hope that the new generation of schoolchildren will be 100% Kazakh speaking:
We would like 100% of those who will start learning Kazakh language in the first class to be able to speak Kazakh. I am sure this will happen,” Nazarbayev said at a meeting of the Assembly of People of Kazakhstan.
He emphasized that over 80 percent of the residents of the country should be able to speak the national language by 2017.
“The knowledge of Kazakh language is not just a sound bite, it means that the people will also know the history of our country, the history of the Kazakh people…This will help consolidate the people of Kazakhstan and boost mutual confidence day after day.
At the same time he acknowledged some of the issues of going too fast, citing the problem of clinics and hospitals where signs are all in Kazakh, making it impossible for non-Kazakh speakers to find doctors and treatment rooms:
People come to a new clinic. And there all the signs in the doctors’ offices are in the Kazakh language only – from overenthusiastic officials from the Ministry of Health. So patients walk around as if in a labyrinth and don’t know how to get to the right doctor
He acknowledged that the goal of increasing the percent of the population that speaks Kazakh was better served by educating the young generation, rather than taxing the older generation with learning or relearing a new language. This seems like a reasonable approach to avoid alienating Russians, Ukrainians and other ethnicities who have lived their whole lives in Kazakhstan, while at the same time promoting the state language.
More Western Interference in Central Asia (Comments Off on More Western Interference in Central Asia)
Ferghana news reports that the Duma discussed preventing revolutions in Central Asia. In a closed session, members of the Russian parliament identified the possibility of popular uprisings or “North African syndrome” as a potential security threat to Russia.
According to the report, Nadezhda Gerasimova, deputy chairperson of the Duma, believes that the best way to keep peace in the Central Asian region is 1) the presence and consolidation of international organizations that Russia participates in, 2) more Russian investment, 3) the protection of Russian citizens above all, and 4) excluding third parties.
Alexei Ostrovskiy, chairperson of the Committee for CIS affairs, believes the situation is “extremely alarming” as the population of Central Asia is growing fast, tribal relations are strong, and many people live in poverty. Only the opportunity to send labor migrants to Russia has prevented a “social explosion”. Russia’s strategy should be to exploit the “part of the political elite in the region [which] is pro-Russian”.
Other members pointed to the need for cooperation with the US, the EU and other countries and organizations active in the region to prevent serious conflicts and raise the living standards of the population of Central Asia.
Horsemeat and Vinegar (Comments Off on Horsemeat and Vinegar)
Registan’s very own Joshua Foust has a fun article up on Need to Know by PBS about the joys of Kazakh food.
There’s also what looks like a pretty good recipe for lamb and pumpkin manty, my favorite. Never had horse manty and I don’t agree with using lean meat. Manty should have a bit of fat in them to be truly Kazakh, and truly good.
It is nice to hear people standing up for Kazakh food, although Kazakhstan is a multi-ethnic country that therefore has a multi-ethnic kitchen. Genuine authentic Kazakh food is meat. Just meat. And dairy products. The ancient Kazakhs were nomads after all.
Kazakhstany food is quite good and most of it is not as exotic as you might think. Plov is rice pilaf, and much like stir-fry. Manty is steamed dumplings. Beshbarmak is meat and noodles. Kurdak is compared to haggis for its contents, but it’s much like a stew (except without a lot of broth).
Great analysis of Shumenov v G… (Comments Off on Great analysis of Shumenov v G…)
Great analysis of Shumenov v Goossen http://www.boxinginsider.com/columns/legal-analysis-beibut-shumenov-v-goossen-tutor-breach-of-contract/
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