KZBlog

Tag archive for ‘Politics’

• Image

  I am constantly amused by the way Kazakhstan government officials choose to portray themselves when a scandal breaks. For example, when rumors started spreading that President Nazarbayev was having surgery in Germany recently, government officials answered by saying he was on vacation and no one knew where he was. The government was, quite understandably, trying […]

  7/28/11 • (1)

• December 86 a Rebellion?

  Some interesting news from RFE/RL: the movement Zheltoksan AkitatAkikat wants the government to investigate the December 86 protests and classify them as a rebellion. I assume this is a separate group from Zheltoksan 86, but I honestly don’t know what Akitat means in Kazakh (Zheltoksan means December). EDIT: Akikat, the actual name of the movement, […]

  3/25/11 • (2)

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  Happy Victory Day

  Today is the 65th anniversary of the surrender of Nazi Germany in World War II or the Great Patriotic War. Victory in Europe Day is celebrated on the 8th of May, but the former Soviet countries celebrate Victory Day on the 9th of May. Apparently Stalin insisted that because the Soviet Union had contributed more […]

  5/09/10 • (Comments Off on Happy Victory Day)

• Request to Extradite Kyrgyz Officials

  According to the latest news, a number of officials under Bakiyev’s government have escaped to Kazakhstan, but now the opposition government wants to extradite them and put them on trial. The interim government also asked Kazakhstan – where Bakiyev is believed to be hiding – to extradite his son Murat Bakiyev, former prime minister Daniyar […]

  4/18/10 • (Comments Off on Request to Extradite Kyrgyz Officials)

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  Bakiyev Resigns

  History made in #Kyrgyzstan: Roza @otunbayeva looks at #Bakiev resignation letter faxed from #Kazakhstan, #freekg: from @Baisalov via on Twitpic. Click “read more” to see the picture.

  4/16/10 • (Comments Off on Bakiyev Resigns)

• Propaganda

  They’ve done it before and they’ll do it again. President Nazarbayev and President Obama both attended a nuclear summit this weekend and Nazarbayev managed to get some private time with Obama. Obviously this is a big chance for Kazakhstan to promote its “brand image” in the world and for the President to gain more popularity […]

  4/12/10 • (2)

• Breaking News: Out with the Old Ministries, In with the New

  Today, speaking at a meeting with the local governors (akimats) on the Industrial Innovation Strategy 2014, President Nursultan Nazarbayev introduced a number of large changes to the Ministries [RUS] of Kazakhstan. The Ministry of Tourism, Information and Communication will be split into two Ministries, the Ministry of Tourism and the Ministry of Information and Communication. […]

  3/12/10 • (Comments Off on Breaking News: Out with the Old Ministries, In with the New)

• Who Needs Kazakh?

  The Internet news site Oasis has an interesting opinion piece up called
  Linguistic Illusion. The author, who would appear not to be Kazakh, claims that 1) she speaks Kazakh well and 2) she has never had any need for the language at all. So why is the government pushing people so hard to learn the official language of Kazakhstan?

  3/11/10 • (12)

• Barack Obama Wins the Presidency

  Barack Obama won a clear victory over John McCain, taking several key states that were under contention–Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Florida. That combined with the traditionally Democratic states in New England, the Great Lakes region and California, Washington and Oregon put him over 270 electoral votes at around 10am this morning, Astana time. John McCain gave […]

  11/15/08 • (1)

• Older Post: Visit to KZ

  Another old one—ignore the word recently and pray that the links still work! What slowed me down posting this one was finding sources for a lot of my claims here but I think by now they are old news and don’t need referencing, right? Esther Dyson of the National Endowment for Democracy recently was in […]

  9/24/07 • (Comments Off on Older Post: Visit to KZ)