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
President Says No (Comments Off on President Says No)
The President went on live TV shortly after 5pm today to say that he would not appeal the decision of the Constitutional Council.
He spoke from Akorda in front of the Prime Minister, the Cabinet Ministers and other government officials.
President to Announce Decision (Comments Off on President to Announce Decision)
The Constitutional Council of Kazakhstan has made a decision regarding the proposed law by Parliament to hold a referendum extending the term of the President until 2020. They have declared the law unconstitutional. The proposed amendments would have also codified the President’s status as Elbasi or “Leader of the Nation” in the Constitution itself.
As of yet, the official decision hasn’t gone up on the Constitutional Council’s site. However, the head of the Council, Igor Rogov has said the final decision rests with the President because he has the right within one month to object to the Council’s decision.
Meanwhile, advisor to the President Yermukhmet Yertysbayev claims that the decision was made in objection to the way the amendments were proposed and passed in Parliament, not the idea of a referendum itself.
Apparently tonight at 5pm, the President will speak on live television about the referendum and his decision although I can’t confirm this from any official source. Rumor has it he will reject the idea.
Winter Games Opened Yesterday (6)
The Opening Ceremonies of the 7th Asian Winter Games yesterday went very well. Still waiting for video of the proceedings to go up online somewhere. The ceremony definitely felt reminiscent of the Beijing and Vancouver Olympics opening ceremonies. I guess that giant floor video-screens and pre-recorded clips that tell the history of the nation in poetic terms are with us to stay. There were some new effects like making large parts of the stage disappear and then reappear. The parade of nations was very good, and I liked particularly the floor effect. As each nation paraded in, they showed a graphic in the middle of the floor that represented that country.
I do want to note that the commentators were awful. They never stopped talking except during the national anthem and the President’s speech. The most egregious violations were when one of them said, “OK let’s listen to the beautiful voice of this opera singer,” and then thirty seconds later began talking again. And when they sang along with one of the songs, badly. Which led me to believe that the out-of-tune singing was part of the actual ceremony.
In any case, the games are on, and with a few friendly hockey match victories under our belt, let’s go Kazakhstan!
Of course, the most important event will be the selection of Miss Asian Games, on 1 Feb in Almaty:
Taraz Under Siege (6)
I haven’t heard anything about this through the grapevine, but I’ve seen a couple of items here and there. It seems like Taraz has some serious problems with criminal gangs of youth. NewEurasia.net posts a little about how the gangs work and even the local officials have had to admit defeat [RUS].
One wonders if the problem is indeed serious, or if this is a bit of panic on the part of older people and the media, especially with that silly photo on the Express.KZ piece. Anyone have any first-hand information on this?\
President Waiting for Constitutional Council (1)
Gazeta.kz has a better summary of the President’s words on the referendum than my liveblogging on the Address. Could be because their Russian is better than mine.
In short (via Google Translate) he said:
I vetoed the law and sent it to the Constitutional Council, as it was given to me, and they must determine its constitutionality and legality. Only then will there be a final decision. What the Constitution demands, our law demands…The main thing I learned today is this signal from the people: do not leave your post, continue to work further. Whatever decision we, together, take after the verdict of the Constitutional Council, I promise that if my health and strength allow, if there is such unanimity and support from the people, I’ll work as much as I am able
It is notable that he brought it up at all. Many people feel that the reason this year’s Address wasn’t announced until late was that they were hoping the decision would be made before the President had to speak. It is also notable that he brought up health and strength, as there are people, both supporters and opposition, who feel that the President will be unable or unwilling to serve as he enters into his 70s.
State of the Union of Kazakhstan 2011 (1)
Just a quick public service announcement, since I have heard conflicting information about when the Address to the People of Kazakhstan will be broadcast on TV. It looks like Khabar will be showing it live at 11:00am Kazakhstan time (i.e. in 1 1/2 hours) and then again at 11pm. If you’re not in the country, it seems that Khabar has online transmission, so you should be able to catch it online.
EDIT: Just heard that government officials got a message this morning saying the Address would be on at 11am, and that they should tell everyone in their organizations to watch it. Are they afraid no one wants to watch it on their own?
11:01 Interesting to note that he was introduced as Elbasi. And that he is starting out in Kazakh. Which unfortunately I don’t understand a word of.
The big question on everyone’s mind of course is whether he will talk about the referendum or not, though he did speak about publicaly last week.
11:07 Here we go in Russian. Comparing Kazakhstan’s progress in 20 years to South Korea, Malaysia and Hungary.
11:08 Forced Industrial Innovation Strategy is going well–new small and medium businesses. Lots of investment from foreigners and government development funds. Unemployment down.
11:10 Need to develop the meat industry and agriculture to export more meat. This will create jobs and income for the people.
11:12 Nazarbayev notes that while he is making brief comments about goals, there are already well-developed plans. Which is a good note because there hasn’t been a lot about concrete plans or strategies yet.
11:17 New social policy, because the goal of the forced industrial innovation strategy is the good of the people. New programs in
Development of education and language
Development of healthcare
Drinking water
11:19 Need to develop education, computerization, and technical education.
Missed his point on PhDs but it got big applause. Ah…he said we need to reduce the number of universities to ensure high quality education.
11:20 Nazarbayev University will be one of best universities in the world and Kazakhstan needs 2 such universities.
11:25 More preventative care in healthcare. Couldn’t agree more.
11:30 Switches to Kazakh when talking about developing the Kazakh language and making more people speak Kazakh. Then back to Russian to talk about developing Russian language too.
11:32 Anti-Crisis Roadmap program was successful in helping every family in Kazakhstan. And we will continue with rural development programs.
11:34 Self-employed. 30% own small businesses. Government needs to give micro-credit to them. 30% are temporarily employed and they need education. 30% can’t work and therefore they need social help so that everyone has permanent work.
11:44 Special Commission to Plan celebrations of 20 years of independence. And do all sorts of good things he already said.
11:46: Here it comes. About the referendum, he thanks all who signed the petition and the initiators. Notes the huge number of people who signed.
NurOtan has started a program about democratization in Kazakhstan 2015. And these people who signed this petition are a good basis for these new programs of democratization and grassroots movements
I had every intention of running for President for 2012. After this initiative group, questions came up. But we will follow the Constitution. But I am very grateful for the support. Nothing has been decided yet but I see this is a signal from the people that I have to keep up my work.
11:57 It’s over. Ended in Kazakh. I know I missed a lot but those were the highlights.
What did you, dear readers, think of the Address? What did I miss?
Compare the US to Kazakhstan (6)
A fun little tool I stumbled on, If It Were My Home lets you compare two countries based on some basic statistics like GDP per capita, infant mortality rate, and oil and energy consumption. What makes it cool is that it gives the results in individual terms.
For example, comparing Kazakhstan to the US, the average Kazakhstani is 4.1 times more likely to die in infancy. Interesting that Kazakhstani consume far less energy and spend a lot less on healthcare.
If you want to look at the world from a Kazakh point of view, go to this page and click on another country and it will tell you about the quality of your life if you lived there instead of here.
Fun little tool.
For more statistical output, check out the wolfram alpha widgets I made a while back.
Tomato (2)
Chris Merriman has up a link to a great resource: Tomato, which is a Kazakhstan-based review site for businesses.
A little like Yelp for Kazakhstan, Pomidor (which means “tomato” in Russian) lets people put up reviews and stories of their experiences at different businesses in Kazakhstan. It needs a little more work–be nice to have a rating system and a more advanced navigation system to find businesses more accurately. It would also be good to have author profiles. At some point, the businesses themselves will notice this site (if they haven’t already) and start putting up fake positive reviews.But since Kazakhstan doesn’t really have a Yellow Pages and most businesses don’t have a strong web presence or freely available information, this site is very much needed here.
There’s already a lot of content, and it covers everything from restaurants and cafes, to furniture stores, to banks and telephone companies, to companies that offer Santa Claus actors for parties!
I certainly will try to find some time to put up a few good and bad reviews. I should note that the site is in Russian, and I assume they would expect reviews to be in Russian as well. Maybe the expat community should organize an English-language review site from the perspective of foreigners.
When and Where to See Kazakh Sportsmen? (Comments Off on When and Where to See Kazakh Sportsmen?)
Liter.kz has a schedule up of which events Kazakhstani sportsmen will compete in in the Asian Winter Games in Almaty/Astana.
The list is in Russian, the Google Translate version is under the cut.
All Signatures Will Be Destroyed (Comments Off on All Signatures Will Be Destroyed)
An interesting twist on the referendum story. The Central Election Committee issued an order that all signatures will be destroyed, which is to say,
All the [petition] papers with the signatures have the status of confidential information and should be kept at the [Central Election Commission] for three months and then should be destroyed in accordance with this resolution.
What makes it so interesting is that this resolution was issued on the 13th of January, and the initiative group handed in the signatures on the 14th. Many critics of the referendum to extend Nazarbayev’s term until 2020, which would annul elections in 2012 and 2017, believe that the signatures are being destroyed in order to prevent any investigations into irregularities. It does seem odd that the resolution to destroy the signatures wouldn’t include a clause that specifies they will be preserved as long as there are legitimate investigations.
I can’t find anything specifically in the laws about referendum signatures and what is supposed to happen to them. I assume eventually they would be destroyed, as all documents are, but shouldn’t they be kept for some time? Any lawyers out there who can put this into perspective?
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