A rights group has hit out at hip-hop superstar Kanye West for performing at the lavish wedding party of the Kazakh president's grandson, calling the country a "human rights wasteland." Thor Halvorssen of the New York-based Human Rights Foundation said President Nursultan Nazarbayev's "regime crushes freedom of speech and association."

US rapper Kanye West is the latest musician to find himself embroiled in controversy after reportedly accepting millions of dollars to perform for a Central Asian autocrat. West was shown rapping at the lavish wedding of Aysultan Nazarbayev, grandson of Kazakhstan's President Nursultan Nazarbayev, on August 31, in video posted on Instagram. For his labors he was paid "a hefty sum" of around $3 million, celebrity gossip site TMZ.com reported, citing "our Central Asian sources."

U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Robert O. Blake performed the diplomatic equivalent of gold-medal figure skating last April in a meeting at the authoritarian central Asian nation of Kazakhstan's Nazarbayev University when a student asked him about warnings by American critics and human-rights monitors that "a democracy cannot have its universities making partnerships with authoritarian governments," as the questioner put it.

At least 16 people were injured during a rare riot in normally supine Almaty after a pop concert was abruptly cancelled late on August 31. Popular singer Kairat Nurtas, who was making a guest appearance at the concert in the parking lot of one of Almaty's major shopping malls, left the stage after performing one song when fans became unruly, a video posted on YouTube shows.

Kanye West is embroiled in controversy again after the rapper raked in a reported $3 million to perform at the wedding of Kazakhstan President Nursultan Nazarbayev's grandson, according to TMZ.

Kasachstan ist reich an Öl und Gas. Seit 1991 regiert dort der autoritäre Präsident Nursultan Nasarbajew über die etwa 15 Millionen Einwohner. In der früheren Sowjetrepublik hat die Korruption Hochkonjunktur.