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An American expat living in Astana, Kazakhstan

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Tag archive for ‘President’

  • 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)

  • Cvet, Kamera, Motor!

    Or Lights, Camera, Action! Is this what they say in Russian when they film a movie? Just an interesting article I came across the other day, Nazarbayev tries to set an example by personally taking an interest in Kazakhstani films [RU]. The President plans to visit movie theaters and watch Kazakh movies in order to […]

    12/12/09 • (4)

  • Doctrine of National Unity

    Astana Calling, the newsletter from the Kazakhstan Embassy in the US is out with its latest issue. (To subscribe to this newsletter, write to pressa@mid.kz). There are a couple of articles that caught my attention and I’ll be writing about them in upcoming posts. But the first one I wanted to discuss was Public Debates […]

    11/27/09 • (6)

  • Another Library?

    Another Library?

    Registan is reporting that they are building a national library in Astana. We already have a Presidential Library and an Academic Library, both of which are very good as well as the National Archive. So what role will the National Library play? Besides being another futuristic funky looking building? Or boosting the construction industry? From […]

    8/27/09 • (Comments Off on Another Library?)

  • New Law on Religion Declared Unconstitutional

    The proposed law on religion in Kazakhstan has been declared unconstitutional by the Constitutional Council, whose primary function is to rule on the constitutionality of draft laws. The President sent the controversial law to the council last month. Interestingly, TOL reports that On 11 February a deputy foreign minister told the Constitutional Council, a state […]

    2/18/09 • (Comments Off on New Law on Religion Declared Unconstitutional)

  • Police Crackdown on Protests; Court Shows Restraint

    Housing problems in Almaty are nothing new. Real estate prices are incredibly high and cheaper housing is destroyed to make room for new and inevitably high-priced development complexes. A number of regions on the outskirts are home to squatters who are forcibly ejected and denied compensation, or given inadequate compensation, when the land is marked […]

    12/22/08 • (Comments Off on Police Crackdown on Protests; Court Shows Restraint)

  • The President is Now a Water

    The President is Now a Water

    First it was vodka. Then it was the political party Nurotan. Then it was half the buildings and complexes in Astana, adding a Nur to their name. Now it’s table water. I was surprised to see Nureke water in my local store the other day. Nureke is a diminutive form of names that begin with […]

    9/30/08 • (Comments Off on The President is Now a Water)

  • Astana to be Renamed Nursultan?

    Among the amendments and laws discussed in Parliament this week [RU], the most interesting and entertaining was a proposal by member of Parliament Sat Tokpakbayev to rename the capital city to Nursultan in honor of the President, Nursultan Nazarbayev, and his role in not only running the nation but also building the city of Astana […]

    6/08/08 • (Comments Off on Astana to be Renamed Nursultan?)

  • Dariga Nazarbayeva Monitored Kazakhgate Trial

    According to a recent Wall Street Journal article, Dariga Nazarbayeva hired private consultants to collect information about the Kazakhgate trial. One of the companies she controls, World Media Corporation, hired private consultants to investigate the case, in which the Justice Department alleges that businessman James Giffen bribed President Nazarbayev with a total of $84 million […]

    5/14/08 • (2)

  • Maybe It Wasn’t Eni’s Fault

    After the recent scandal over the Kashgan oilfields, it is a bit surprising to hear that estimates of when the field will start producing have been pushed back again, to 2012-2013. Eni, the Italian oil company which held the controlling share in the consortium that is developing the Kashgan field, was criticized and threatened with […]

    5/13/08 • (Comments Off on Maybe It Wasn’t Eni’s Fault)