And it is KZBlog to the rescue again 🙂
They have posted a small summary (and some relevant links to other related posts) of President Nazarbayev’s online press conference, where he answered questions electronically submitted by citizens. See What Would You Like To Ask Him? for a little background on the process that occurred leading to this conference.
He answered some of the questions people were asking re. Aliev (Aliyev?), which is definitely an improvement over what may possibly have occurred years ago, with a blanket ban on such matters being aired in public. Whilst this country, if directly compared to ‘matured’ democracies in the West, still has a long way to go in some respects, there does seem to be an acceptance that some discussion is unavoidable, and that it is better to deal with/manage a situation, rather than simply stick your head in the sand.
June 26th, 2007 9:49 pm
Same thing in Russia, two of the top questions the president was asked were “Is it true that the borders of Russia will soon be patrolled by giant battle robots?” and “Please comment on the forthcoming awakening of Chtulhu”.
June 29th, 2007 3:13 am
lmao at the second question.
I’m assuming those questions never made it to the final draft? Would have been good to see him field the question with a straight face, remaining true to the style of the book. Not sure foreign press would have known how to take it though, they might have thought Putin was switching from virtual tea-total to another Yeltsin!
June 30th, 2007 2:41 am
I’m not sure about the first question, but the second one was actually asked! Putin, a bit surprised, managed to held his face straight and answered he knows little about Chtulhu, but suggests to worship normal gods. 🙂
July 3rd, 2007 11:05 pm
By the time I got around to replying to your comment, you have arrived back in Astana 🙂
I am surprised Putin or his cronies allowed those questions to make the final draft, but at least they played along…
Good to see you again, we will hopefully manage to meet a few more times before you return to Moscow.