Monthly Archive

New York Times reporter Jo Becker said that after Bill Clinton gave Kazakhstan's President Nursultan Nazarbayev a "propaganda coup," businessman Frank Giustra got a large uranium concession in the cou... read more..

A Uranium One sign that points to a 35,000-acre ranch owned by John Christensen, near the town of Gillette, Wyo. Uranium One has the mining rights to Mr. Christensen's property. Credit Matthew Staver ... read more..

As oil-rich Kazakhstan votes for a president Sunday, the governing elite is pounding home a mantra of stability as fears percolate about the country's massive Russian minority taking inspiration from ... read more..

Since 2013, the nuclear energy arm of the Russian state has controlled 20 percent of America's uranium production capacity. Rosatom's acquisition of Toronto-based miner Uranium One Inc. made the ... read more..

Mitt Romney held nothing back when he was asked about a recent wave of allegations that hit Hillary Clinton's family foundation on Thursday. In an interview on the Hugh Hewitt Show, Romney said o... read more..

Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan, the authorities don't even have to stuff the ballot boxes, their presidents have done everything they can to appear irreplaceable. In post-Soviet Central Asia, presiden... read more..

The 74-year-old president is set to be reinstated by his loyal followers on Sunday, but the failure to consider a successor is making the outside world nervous. From nervous students to frail war... read more..

Interesting Facts about KazakhstanThe EU's keen interest in Kazakhstan's upcoming presidential elections on 26 April is due to a number of reasons – the engagement of two parties, resulting in the con... read more..

On January 26, 2009, Tony Blair arrived in the Gulf state of Kuwait in his capacity as representative of the "Quartet", for talks with the Emir, Sabah Al-Ahmed Al-Jaber Al-Sabah, on the Palestine ques... read more..

The trial of two Kazakh men charged in connection with the abductions and deaths of two bankers in Kazakhstan has begun in a Vienna court. The main suspect died of apparent suicide in a Vienna prison ... read more..

Central Asia's leaders are excited by the progress in negotiations between Iran and the P5+1. Hemmed in by sanctions-hit Russia to the north, an energy-hungry but distant China to the east, war-torn A... read more..

Two Kazakhs are due to appear in court in Austria in one of the country's most unusual murder trials. The men, who include a former intelligence chief, are accused of aiding the abduction and mur... read more..

The United States is often – and often fairly – maligned for a distinct lack of strategy in its relations with Central Asia. Tacked on to Chinese or Afghanistan policy, bogged in securitization or sti... read more..

 A cold drizzle fell on Istanbul on the morning of Dec. 10, 2014, as Abdullah Bukhari made his way to teach his students at a madrasa nestled amid apartment blocks and hardware stores in the Zeyt read more..

Ever since communist bosses morphed into democrats after the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991, they have polished a veneer of democracy. It means staging elections from time to time. It does not mean ... read more..

Uzbekistan, a Central Asian state of 30 million people with vast natural resources, has recently witnessed two major back-to-back events – the Navruz holiday and the 4th presidential elections since t... read more..

As expected, Nursultan Nazarbayev has been confirmed as the ruling party's candidate for the presidential elections that will be held next April in Kazakhstan. At the Nur Otan convention in Astana, Na... read more..

An ex-adviser to the French presidency was indicted on corruption charges linked to a trade agreement between Paris and Astana during Nicolas Sarkozy's term, a source close to the probe told AFP Thurs... read more..

Russia is disappointed in the unwillingness of Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan to cooperate with its collective security bloc, and considers Iran to be a model those countries could follow, a senior Russi... read more..

The daughter of Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak and Datin Seri Rosmah Mansor will be getting married today, a spokesman for the leader's family for the engagement and wedding ceremonies said. &n... read more..

On London's Billionaires Row in Hampstead, the seven-bedroom Carlton House with its 50-foot ballroom, underground swimming pool and 10-person Turkish bath is for sale for 14 million pounds ($21.5 mill... read more..

Prison authorities discovered his corpse at 7.20 on a Tuesday morning late last month. Rakhat Aliyev's body was hanging from a noose made from gauze bandages which had been attached to a peg in the ce... read more..

It's no secret that 2014 ended on a poor note for Kazakhstan. Sagging oil prices coupled with an economic crunch in Russia to hammer Astana's economy. Russian adventurism – and not-so-veiled threats a... read more..

A key element to President Vladimir Putin's vision of growing Russian influence in the world is his plan to lead the former Soviet republics into an economic union. Right now, though, what he's m... read more..

Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan are both expected to re-elect their leaders this spring. Few will be surprised if Nursultan Nazarbayev keeps his job in Kazakhstan - though he's yet to announce he is running... read more..

It's the damning new book that lifts the lid on Tony and Cherie Blair's lust for money. Yesterday, in our exclusive serialisation, we told how revelations about his relationship with a tycoon's wife p... read more..

The ignominious end of Rakhat Aliyev, Kazakhstan's most feared man, heir apparent, sugar czar, fugitive. On the morning of February 24, the warden of Vienna's Josefstadt prison announced the suic... read more..

I am in Astana, the gateway to southern Siberia. The temperature in the afternoon is around -10 degrees Celsius. All around us the ground is covered in ice, but Astana residents still say, "We've made... read more..

The lawyers of former Kazakh diplomat and Malta exile Rakhat Aliyev are insisting that his death in an Austrian prison was no suicide, and are calling for an independent investigation into the matter.... read more..

A suicide in the prison of Vienna put an end to the first phase of a political-financial thriller which preoccupied the governments of Malta, Austria and the prosecuting authorities in Europe for year... read more..