This is a translation of Adam’s post from Russian-language neweurasia Kazakhstan.

Offering the budget for 2008, Bush administration will ask the Congress to decrease the financing of a number of broadcasting services, supported by the US (“Voice of America” (VOA) and Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL), and even close some of them. The Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG) suggests to stop the work of Russian and Uzbek “Voice of America” and cut the budget of Radio “Azzatyq”, Kazakh-language service of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty.

BBG bases its offer on the need to re-channel the funds to the Middle East, North Korea and Iran, thus saving on Kazakhstan, Russia, Uzbekistan and China, where freedom of media is still threatened. The human rights activists have already expressed their concern that the source of professional, uncensored and independent news will disappear in those countries where it is still needed.

Radio “Azattyq” broadcasts to Kazakhstan, where yet another package of limiting amendments to media legislation was adopted last year. One of the reasons for cutting the “Azattyq” budget, according to BBG, is its low coverage (about 3% of population). However, the audience of any non-entertainment media is not big in Kazakhstan.

Besides, the BBG has obviously chosen the easiest way to redistribute resources, though the Board could have reconsidered its spending for other programs, not related to broadcasting. In this wat they could - if not increase, then at least leave the financing on the same level. However, it seems that BBG was not ready for self-reform and chose to simply transfer the money from one place to another.

FreeMediaOnline, non-governmental organization from California that aims to support the press freedom, said that BBG decision is a “good news to dictators, authoritarian rulers and suppressors of press freedom”.

“Instead of assuming the responsibility for making these services more effective, the BBG decided to eliminate or reduce them. It seems that if an authoritarian ruler … is clever enough to prevent RFE/RL and VOA programs to be distributed within the country and to introduce enough fear so that people are reluctant to admit that they rely on RFE/RL and VOA for news and information, the BBG will then use low audience figures to justify eliminating these broadcasts”, wrote me Ted Lipien, the President of FreeMediaOnline.

Some think that “Azattyq” and Russian “Voice of America” (where deceased Anna Politkovskaya was involved) fell victim to geo- and oil – politics, whereas others reckon it is a pure budget issue that relates to the economics.

According to Evgeny Zhovtis, a well-known human rights activist and head of Kazakhstan Bureau for Human Rights, limited broadcasting to Russia, Kazakhstana nd Uzbekistan, coupled with general cut of finances of the US government programs in the region (which was announced on Wednesday by the US Ambassador John Ordway in Astana), demonstrate “sad changes in American policies”.

“It makes us think that the White House is disappointed with the situation in former USSR countries, realized that their mechanisms of influencing the processes do not work, and decided to just forget about it. The direction now shifted from developing the positive issues – reforms, human rights, etc., to trying to stop the negative ones – drug trafficking, radicalism, extremism”, says Zhovtis.

However, Ted Lipen still thinks that Congressmen might not approve some or even all suggestions to cut the financing:

“We still hope that the U.S. Congress will reverse these cuts and perhaps devote more resources to broadcasting and Internet-based communication”, said the President of FreeMediaOnline in his email to me.