ALEXANDER KLEIN
The question of succession in Kazakhstan has drawn greater attention as the country's long-serving leader Nursultan Nazarbayev advances in age. Nazarbayev has been in power for more than 20 years, and at 72 years old he is well past the average life expectancy for Kazakh males. Kazakhstan is important because of its strategic location -- flanked by Russia to the north and west and by China to the east -- and its sizeable energy and mineral resources. This gives the succession issue significant domestic and regional importance.
Tony Blair, 
Wien. (sir) Sechs Jahre sind vergangen, seit in Kasachstan zwei hochrangige Bankmanager der Nurbank verschwunden sind. Vor zwei Jahren wurden ihre Leichen gefunden, sie waren stranguliert, zuvor gefoltert und schließlich vergraben worden. Noch im Jahr 2007 erließ Kasachstan einen internationalen Haftbefehl gegen den damaligen Botschafter in Wien, Rakhat Alijew, der einst Hauptaktionär der Nurbank war.
Last Friday the Atlantic Council, the Washington think tank chaired by Chuck Hagel, President Obama's nominee for defense secretary, released a list of its foreign donors. The move came in response to a demand by 25 Republican senators ahead of a Senate vote on Hagel's confirmation. In a letter addressed to Hagel, the Council's president and CEO, Frederick Kempe, a former columnist at the Wall Street Journal, included the donor names as well as some details on the think tank's ethics policies.
Kazakhstan Army may be used against swinging the situation inside the country. President Nursultan Nazarbayev instructed to study the existing capacities of the country's Armed Forces and set several tasks to the law-enforcement authorities, Tengrinews.kz reports citing the President's official website.
An arrest warrant has been issued for Bergei Rysqaliev, the former governor of Kazakhstan's western Atyrau Province.
Aliyev subject of interest to German federal intelligence Former Kazakh diplomat Rakhat Aliyev subject of interest by the German federal intelligence service.
