KZBlog

An American expat living in Astana, Kazakhstan

Tag archive for ‘Nursultan Nazarbayev’

  • 2007 Address to the People of Kazakhstan

    On the 28th of February, the President of Kazakhstan, Nursultan Abishevich Nazarbayev, gave his annual Address to the People of Kazakhstan, the speech where he gives the government its tasks and strategies for the year. You can go to Akorda.kz for the full text of the speech. Overall the speech focused on improving social protection […]

    3/01/07 • (3)

  • Blogger Arrested

    There’s been some big changes in my lifestyle that have prevented me from spending much time on this blog for the past two weeks, but I noticed an item today that is well worth mentioning. Leila at Kazakhstan.Neweurasia has an article up about a blogger on trial for insulting the honor and dignity of the […]

    1/27/07 • (Comments Off on Blogger Arrested)

  • NurOtan

    Yesterday at a meeting of the party of Otan, the party that holds the majority in Parliament and the party of the President two major decisions were made: 1) Otan will change its name to NurOtan. While Nur means “sunlight” in Kazakh, and Otan means “fatherland”, no one can doubt that the name change refers […]

    12/23/06 • (Comments Off on NurOtan)

  • Leaders of Kazakhstan on Niyazov’s Passing

    Nazarbayev, currently in China, sent a telegram to the acting President, reading in part: Saparmurat Atayevich was an outstanding leader of the Turkmen people, a politician with foresight, constantly working hard for the good of his homeland. He played a key role in creating and strengthening the independent state of Turkmenistan, and developing the economic […]

    12/22/06 • (Comments Off on Leaders of Kazakhstan on Niyazov’s Passing)

  • Respect Wealth

    Yesterday, President Nazarbayev announced that Kazakhs should learn to respect rich people, that there should be some kind of cultural program to inculcate this new attitude, and that businessmen should be more open about their wealth. The comments at Zonak.kz are well worth reading. In short, the questions that will need to be worked out […]

    12/14/06 • (Comments Off on Respect Wealth)

  • Right Hand Cars

    As has been widely reported, on the 14th of November, Nazarbayev announced that Kazakhstan will ban cars with right-side steering wheels. The reason cited is that these vehicles cause traffic accidents, and presumably there is a reason why nations that drive on the right side of the road tend to have cars with wheels on […]

    11/27/06 • (Comments Off on Right Hand Cars)

  • Kazakhsha

    Kazakhsha

    A number of issues regarding Kazakh language have come out recently. First, there was the announcement on the 24th of October that Kazakhstan will switch to the Latin alphabet, whereas now it uses a Cyrillic alphabet. Historically, Kazakh was originally written in a Turkish script and then in Arabic script, and briefly in Latin script […]

    11/16/06 • (18)

  • Astana, two sides

    Two articles came out last week about Astana. Both focus on the Palace of World Peace and Unity—the new pyramid designed by Lord Foster, a well-known British architect. The pyramid was designed to host the second World Congress for Religious Tolerance, a conference of religious figures and political leaders which attempts to bring together religious […]

    10/26/06 • (Comments Off on Astana, two sides)

  • This time has he gone too far?

    Borat’s defense in my mind was always that he had nothing against Kazakhstan itself. And many say that Kazakhstan has brought the personal war on themselves. But, this might be going too far. While Nazarbayev is in the US, Borat gave a press conference in front of the Kazakhstan Embassy in Washington, claiming that the […]

    9/26/06 • (Comments Off on This time has he gone too far?)

  • Shakeups, Rumors and Scandals

    Registan.net reports on the HIV crisis in Kazakhstan. Yesterday the Minister of Health and the akim of South Kazakhstan oblast

    9/21/06 • (Comments Off on Shakeups, Rumors and Scandals)