The railroad locomotive factory here on the outskirts of the capital of Kazakhstan is one of the most modern in the world, with huge yellow overhead cranes and a work force of 1,100. An engine factory being built next door will soon make some of the world's most fuel-efficient 12-cylinder diesel engines.
Just over two years ago, former British Prime Minister Tony Blair signed on as a political consultant with the government of Kazakhstan. His performance as an adviser to the Central Asian nation remains a source of contention. But what is indisputable is that Kazakhstan's democratization record is far poorer today than it was when he started.
When Bulat Utemuratov's boss told him to go to Europe and open the first trading house for their newly independent Kazakhstan, his reaction was pure Soviet. "Oh no, They want to exile me," Utemuratov remembers thinking with alarm. The year was 1992. The Soviet Union had just been disbanded, and Russia had introduced its own ruble, sparking hyperinflation in former republics such as Kazakhstan that were still using the old Soviet currency. The first, and still only, president, former Politburo member Nursultan Nazarbayev, was desperate for hard currency.
Prime Minister Joseph Muscat yesterday declared in parliament that Kazakh exile Rakhat Aliyev would not be able to procure himself a passport under the Individual Investor Programme. Speaking in his reply to the speech by Opposition leader Simon Busuttil for Budget 2014, Muscat reacted to news broken by MaltaToday that Aliyev, who lives in Malta and faces criminal investigations on money laundering and even if involvement in a double murder in several EU member states, would not qualify under the IIP.
Anyone awaiting the clinching evidence with which to counter John Major's critique of Monday, when he bemoaned the collapse of social mobility under New Labour, did not have to wait very long. One short day after the former PM dwelt wistfully on the renewed centrality to career prospects of a public school education, heartwarming proof emerged that no one need attend Eton or Winchester to get on in this world after all.
President Xi Jinping's latest, highly ambitious tour through the Central Asian republics [in September] took regional political circles by surprise. From the points of view of Central Asian capitals, it seems clear that Beijing is marching through Moscow's turf in Central Asia, forging close ties by offering more money and less meddling compared with the Kremlin's often troublesome integration schemes. However, the cordial ties between Beijing and Central Asian regimes stand in sharp contrast to popular attitudes to China.
Tony Blair's multi-million-pound deal to boost 'good governance' in Kazakhstan has resulted in civil rights and freedom of the Press getting worse, it was claimed yesterday. The former prime minister was accused of helping to preside over heavy reversals in human rights as he advised the Kazakh regime led by dictator Nursultan Nazarbayev. The two-year contract has come to an end but could still be renewed.
