Des documents, mis en circulation par des ennemis politiques du clan au pouvoir au Kazakhstan, montrent que des centaines de millions, qui auraient été blanchis par le gendre du président, auraient transité par des banques suisses. Le Ministère public de la Confédération a ouvert une enquête, apprenait-on il y a trois semaines.

High fees, spying, and outright blockage -- Central Asia's regimes are not short of ways to control Internet blogs and social networks which have mobilised the recent protests in the Middle East.

Communism fell, but liberty has yet to arrive in Central Asia.

Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbaev has wrapped up a visit to China and is heading home with lucrative contracts to supply China with energy resources and promises of some $7 billion in Chinese loans for projects in Kazakhstan.

Almaty residents have found some unusual post in their mailboxes this week. Among the usual stack of adverts for supermarkets and pizza delivery lies a mysterious political tract on the tumultuous events in the Middle East entitled: "The Tunisians, the Egyptians...Who's Next?"

Kazakhstan announced billions of dollars in deals with China on Tuesday, underlining central Asia's gradual shift away from Moscow and towards Beijing.