Last week, the World Economic Forum (WEF) issued annual report on “Global Competitiveness Indexes”. Reminder: on March 1, president Nazarbayev proclaimed “Strategy of Kazakhstan’s entry to 50 most competitive countries of the world”. The report was neglected by Kazakhstan’s official and semi-official media, although the WEF ratings are the main guideline in estimation of […]
On September 27, Kazakhmys PLC, a UK-incorporated company (and a predominant owner of the biggest Kazakh copper producer Kazakhmys Corporation), has distributed a press release on redistribution of shares between main stakeholders. It reads that Vladimir Kim, ex-functionary of one of the lower district committees of Soviet Communist Party (currently, a member of political […]
2006 has not so far proved to be a very positive year for Kazakh media, with more restrictive media bill being adopted in July 2006, and every other news item being a closure of a newspaper or a trial of a journalist. The OSCE, which Kazakhstan hopes to chair in 2009, has repeatedly tried […]
Although President Nazarbayev, following the underground explosion in a MittalSteel-run mine near Temirtau, said that mining accidents are an unavoidable risk, employees of the Indian-run steel conglomerate think otherwise. Even state-sponsored media took up the story, quoting the angry protesters that gathered on a central square in Shakhtinsk:
In Karaganda mines there are “terrible […]
Last Friday I had a chance to visit “Polyton”, a discussion club that regularly convenes in one of the flats in the center of Almaty. Their website in English, though not regularly updated and has occasional mistakes, gives you an idea of what issues are being discussed there. The last topics (dated January, though […]
Almaty, Kazakhstan
In this roundup I will review English-language blogs that write about Kazakhstan and Central Asia (apart from those we all know - Registan , for instance). There are not many of them, but all are interesting and deserve reading.
News from the Caravan - blog written by 2 ladies, one of whom […]
This week was marked by series of perturbations in higher echelons of the government - E. Dosayev, health minister (who actively blamed the regional officials for the infecting children with HIV), as well as “old guardsman”, akim of South Kazakhstan (who, in turn, blamed the Ministry) - were both dismissed for “omissions”. Thus, the […]
Earlier in September this year, World Bank presented its annual report, rating 175 countries by ease of Doing Business. According to the report, Kazakhstan has gone 20 points up in the rating. Certainly, this fact was presented by the Kazakh semi-official and loyal media outlets as “another breakthrough” and “sign of leadership”. However, for […]
One of the favourite themes of the Kazakh mass media - a bid for chairmanship in the OSCE - was significantly saddened last week. Besides the ongoing scandal with infection of 55 babies with HIV and continued reduction of the country’s science potential (both factors vividly show the level of human dimension), politics have […]
The country’s bid to chair in the OSCE and the president’s visit to Washington are the main themes in the “Great PR Attack” of the Kazakhstani officials and news agencies.
For example, on August 8, Agence France Presse reported on the German non-paper in support of Kazakhstan�s bid for OSCE chairmanship. Kazakhstan Today informed […]
