KZBlog

Tag archive for ‘CIS’

• Problems in the Financial Sector

  As the banking sector in Kazakhstan is viewed internationally as unstable, the government is taking controversial measures to try to stabilize the financial sector, including buying out shares of Kazakhstan companies and cutting the budget to put 4 billion tenge aside as a reserve fund to bail out banks. Last week it was reported that […]

  10/18/07 • (Comments Off on Problems in the Financial Sector)

• 

  19th C Photographs

  The Library of Congress has put up four albums of photographs of Turkestan commissioned by the first Russian governor of Turkestan, Konstantin Petrovich Von Kaufman, which were taken from 1850 to 1860. The Archeological Album focuses on Islamic architecture, mainly in Samarqand. The Ethnographic part includes individual portraits of different ethnic groups (c.f. the Kara-Kazakh […]

  10/10/07 • (Comments Off on 19th C Photographs)

• Public Corruption Percieved as Worse

  The Corruption Perceptions Index for 2007 from Transparency International was released on the 27th of September. A table of the results can be found here. Kazakhstan, with a score of 2.1 out of 10, is tied with Azerbaijan, the Republic of Congo, Kyrgyzstan, Liberia, Tajikistan, Zimbabwe and 5 other countries as 150th for corruption in […]

  10/06/07 • (Comments Off on Public Corruption Percieved as Worse)

• Bread Revolution?

  For the past two weeks, there has been quite a bit of coverage on TV and in the print media about the increases in prices of bread in Central Asia. This week, in Kazakhstan the issue came to a head and was brought to the government’s attention. Some report that in Shimkent a leposhka (flat […]

  10/03/07 • (Comments Off on Bread Revolution?)

• Another Russian Rocket Crashes in Kazakhstan

  Following the Russian Dnepr rocket which crashed taking off from Baikonur, Kazakhstan last year, A Russian Proton rocket crashed in Karaganda Thursday. No one was hurt as the rocket crashed in an uninhabited area about 30 miles southwest of Zhezkazgan and the rocket was unmanned, carrying only a Japanese satellite. However the environmental damage to […]

  9/08/07 • (Comments Off on Another Russian Rocket Crashes in Kazakhstan)

• Sexiest Leader in the Post-Soviet Space

  NR2.ru is holding a contest to vote for the sexiest CIS President. At the moment, Putin (Russia) and Edward Kokoyty (South Ossetia–and his presence in the list tells you this is a Russian survey!) are neck-in-neck. Nazarbayev, whose birthday is in 2 days (and I will post on what’s been going on in Astana for […]

  7/04/07 • (Comments Off on Sexiest Leader in the Post-Soviet Space)

• Paul Theroux on Turkmenistan

  Paul Theroux, the prolific and noted travel writer, probably most famous in this region for his book on traveling the Trans-Siberian railroad, has written an article for the New Yorker on Turkmenistan and the cult of personality, Letter from Turkmenistan and given an interview with RFE/RL in Turkmenistan. Interesting reading, particularly the end of the […]

  6/08/07 • (Comments Off on Paul Theroux on Turkmenistan)

• The New Great Game Take infinity

  President Vladimir Putin was in Kazakhstan yesterday and he and President Nazarbayev will be traveling to Turkmenistan this week together. Two issues are on the agenda. First, Russia will be assisting Kazakhstan in enriching uranium for its nuclear energy power center. The two countries will be setting up a joint-uranium enrichment center. It looks like […]

  5/11/07 • (Comments Off on The New Great Game Take infinity)

• Some of the Big April Events

  I apologize for not posting more often. Mainly I’m just busier with other things. Normally I don’t like just posting links and summaries of big stories. I prefer to post stories when I have some more in-depth information or some angle or information I don’t see covered elsewhere. Or something I have a strong opinion […]

  4/29/07 • (Comments Off on Some of the Big April Events)

• Kazakhs released from Guantanamo Bay

  Three Kazakhs out of four allegedly held have been released from Guantanomo Bay: The three Kazakhs arrived in their Central Asian homeland on Saturday and were met by relatives who took them home, said Foreign Ministry spokesman Ilyas Omarov. Omarov said the three would not face investigation and charges “because their release means that they […]

  12/22/06 • (Comments Off on Kazakhs released from Guantanamo Bay)

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