Translation of Marat’s post from Russian-language blog.

Everybody knows that president Nursultan Nazarbayev personally determines the nation’s foreign policy. Thus, he is the first in a queue to be awarded for successes. But who should be the second one? Longtime foreign minister Kassym-Zhomart Tokayev? Or, say, current foreign minister Marat Tazhin? Or somebody from the prime-ministers or chiefs of presidential administration?

But, in actual fact, the second should be a foreign citizen, who contributed a lot to the success of Kazakhstan.

It is Islam Karimov, the preisdent of Uzbekistan. His policies brought Uzbekistan to the desperate poverty and decreased regional competition in favor of Kazakhstan. However, in the 1990s many people thought that Uzbekistan will become a regional locomotive:

In spite of rivalry between Astana and Tashkent for the leadership and regional center of influence, the initiative is more in hands of Uzbekistan. According to many indicators (like entry to GUAM, pro-Western alliance of Georgia, Ukraine, Azerbaijan and Moldova) the Americans are bidding for Tashkent in the Central Asian great game. The Republic of Uzbekistan is becoming a leading state in the region, causing jealosy and displeasure of the Kazakhstani leader.

But, it never happened this way. So, the kazakhs owe a monument to Karimov in Astana.